This small rocky hill is hardly a mountain by local standards and reaches a height of only 310 m above the Banff town site. However, it has two major climbing areas, both of which have long climbing histories. The East Face is very prominent from the Trans-Canada Highway when driving west towards Banff and has climbs over 200 m in length - see photograph below. The more broken South Face parallels the Bow River and overlooks the golf course and Banff Springs hotel. Both areas are identiied on the photograph below which principally shows the east side of the mountain.

Both areas are close to the town of Banff and can be reached on foot quite readily. They offer a wide variety of climbing styles although recent development has focused on sport climbs in the more moderate grades. The Black Band on the south side of the mountain has climbs in the 5.8 – 5.10d range in a sunny and easily accessible location. Climbs on the east side are more shaded but the Scoop and Industrial Playground areas have climbs in the same range of difficulty which are ideal for summer evenings. There are very few sport routes in the higher grades, however, although the long established test pieces Gonda Roof (5.11d) and Mini-Gonda (5.11b) are prominent exceptions. Longer climbs include two multi-pitch sport routes Ballista (5.10b, 210 m) and Tonka (5.11a, 250 m) and the classic gear route Gooseberry (5.8, 250 m).
The South and East Face areas have different approach routes and are described separately.