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Climb Along on a Rockies’ Classic: Brewer Buttress

Tyler Davidson and Travis McPhee recently climbed the well-known 5.6 on Castle called Brewers Buttress and brought along a headcam.

The 13-pitch dolomite route climbs an esthetic prow up a buttress from the Goat Plateau near the Alpine Club of Canada Hut. There is unlimited potential for new routes on the walls around the hut.

Brewer Buttress on Castle Mountain.
Brewer Buttress on Castle Mountain.

Brewer Buttress was first climbed in 1961 by Dave Brewers and Lyle Irwin. For a topo, visit here.

Dave Brewer wast the first director of the ski school at Whistler in the 1960s after his time at the ski school at Mount Tremblant in Quebec. On June 2, 1982, he was killed by lightning in Wells Gray Provincial Park in B.C where he was working as a park warden. Irwin recently visited the Rockies and told his story about the first ascent of the 1961 Castle Mountain route. When it came to naming their route, which was first called the South Face of Mount Eisenhower (Castle Mountain was once called Mount Eisenhower), Irwin said he doesn’t know who first called it Brewer Buttress because it wasn’t him or Dave.

In 1962, Brian Greenwood made an early repeat of Brewer Buttress in a snow storm and said, “This route, in my opinion, is an excellent example of the many fine rock routes waiting to be done in the Rockies. The rock is good, the standard is high (IV) but nowhere extreme. The route, about 400 metres high, leads directly to the summit of Mount Eisenhower and is a much more interesting climb than the long walk up the back slopes, by which an easy descent can be made.”

In 1987, Tim Auger, P. Sheehan and C. White climbed a route on the lower tier below the hut and called it Super Brewers. It is one of the best 5.9 routes on the mountain and when combined with Brewer Buttress makes for a 20-plus pitch day and is called Ultra Brewers.

In 2013, Sonnie Trotter climbed the most difficult route on Castle with his send of Castles in the Sky 5.14, for more visit here.

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