Castle Peak

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/20/2024, By: 5meodimte
Info: We ignored a "Mountain-Forecast" doom and gloom prediction and had a beautiful day. At the top of the headwall we (and a dozen others over the morning) made a rookie mistake of blindly following the people ahead of you on a trail. This resulted in us going up the trash gully to climbers left of the actual trail. We noticed and corrected ourselves about halfway up. We shouted across to other hikers about the correction. Too many footprints in snow down below will continue to lead climbers up that trash gully. Hopefully this condition update will give a head-up to others. Other notes; the shortcut down Conundrum has lost enough snow to make it very unpleasant for most. We got down with careful foot placement on the loose steep rock leading to the snow. Once at the snow, everything was cruiser. Some other very fun glissading was had back to the road as well. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: steved08
Info: Overall, great conditions! There is still a good amount of snow when you start the climb into the lower basin. We used our micro-spikes on our ascent, as the snow fields were still a bit icy and slick, but had no problems ascending. Be sure to ascend the second headwall if you want to remain on the trail and reach the upper basin. Many climbers (including us) ducked left into a couloir too early (I would not advise you do this). Follow your GPS instead of other hikers! Lots of talus to deal with if you end up there, but we were all able to safely navigate out. After reaching the upper basin and being done with the snow, the trail is very clear with plenty of solid rock. Castle and Conundrum combo is straight forward. In terms of the shortcut back down on the saddle, there was not enough snow for us to be confident in safely descending that way. We saw others navigate it successfully, but if you plan on that, I'd suggest having the spikes and the ice axe ready to go. All depends on your skill level and how you're feeling that day! 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: catward77
Info: Started at 4am, parked at sites 8-9. The river crossing right after is the most difficult section for a while, so if your vehicle can make it past there, you can easily shave off another 2-4 miles. Saw a couple trucks near the end of the "road" around 12,500 ft. We brought helmets & felt they weren't necessary. The few snow sections in the basin were icy in early morning & spikes would've helped, but we did not bring them and felt fine. Looks like that snow will be there a while yet. The shortcut descent off of the Conundrum ridgeline looked sketchy, so we re-ascended Castle instead. Saw 2 people (not us lol) do that descent section with no problems. Snow is melted a ways so you'd have to brave the very steep, loose rocks to get to your long, fast, steep glissade. You could definitely do it if you feel confident enough. We hit 2 fun & relatively safe glissades on our descent later. With lots of stops, we finished around 11:45am. Also, the white car upside down that fell off the cliff into the basin waterfall has been reported; it's not from this week. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: asorbera
Info: After an angel named Randal in a lifted Tacoma gave us a ride from campsite #3 to 12,600ft, the route was stellar. Microspikes are nice to have for the first few sections as we opted for the direct snow line instead of sticking to the rocks. Once on the ridge you have full summer conditions. The trail was fairly straightforward with fun exposure on class 2/3 rock. The cross over to Conundrum was surprisingly easy and quick. There are so many other combos that are a draining slog to complete (Harvard and Colombia) but this one was over before I realized I was out of breath. Finally- THE GLISSADE- as of 7/15/24 the glissade required class 2/3 loose dirt navigation to get to the start of the slide. It becomes a bit of a choose -your-own-adventure to get to the start and we opted for downclimbing some class 3/4 rock instead of the loose dirt at the end. It's a little scary but definitely worth the time and effort you shave from going back over Castle. We were able to glissade almost the whole way back to the road which made everything wet but was totally worth it. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/14/2024, By: john5698
Info: Last IPhone (blue case), near Castle Peak trailhead. My gf, Evey (if you met her on the trail), lost her iPhone while hiking Castle Peak at around 1pm today (7/14). It is in a blue case. She hitched a ride with a party of 3 (+ 2 dogs). If you see this, she thinks she left it in your car. That said, the phone may also be on the mountain near 11k ft. or at campsite 3. Please let me know if fou find it and I can coordinate getting it back to her. Thanks! John Murray john33158@gmail.com 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/13/2024, By: edwardmgmt
Info: Great conditions. At the end of the road you hike a couple of sections in the snow - microspikes were helpful. After summiting Conundrum, we glissaded. The top part of the glissade 50~100ft vert was dry, and a little sketchy. The glissade was steep at the top, but a lot of fun. The snow is soft. Like most, we exited right of lake (instead of the usual left). We glissaded the bottom two sections too. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/5/2024, By: conorod
Info: Fantastic climb today under the bluest sky I've ever seen! Parked by the footbridge (not wanting to risk the rental any further!) and hit the trail at 6 AM. Uneventful hike to the headwall and snowfields, arriving around 8:30. My boots are borderline racing slicks at this point so spikes would have been helpful but were in no way necessary. The ridge trail was easy to follow but I zagged right at the first "castle" below the summit instead of zigging left and ended up where I didn't want to be. One slightly hair-raising climb back to the trail later and I summitted at 10:30. What a view! I didn't have time for the Conundrum twofer so headed down (this time following the trail with no issues). Glissaded down the snowfields - so much more fun than trudging up - and began the 4-mile hike back to the car, arriving around 2 PM. Didn't see a cloud all day and, as always, met some cool people on the way. Shout out to the staff at Ute Mountaineers in Aspen for their beta and advice the day before my climb. This is a fun, challenging 14er. The exposure along the ridge isn't too bad but is good for an adrenaline shot or two. Views from the ridge and especially the summit are some of the best. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: If you have a good clearance 4WD, you can drive up to ~12K. Big snowdrift blocks the road at that point. I parked at 10,200 because I didn't particularly like the creek crossing, but upon further consideration it seems a-okay for a good clearance vehicle. Still plenty of snow on the headwall and definitely in the high basin. After the headwall, though, the route is dry up to Castle and beyond to Conundrum. The glissade is in. Snow is still to the saddle. Never been so thankful to have my ice axe! 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: MarcyMullet
Info: Weather was perfect. Snow on the glissade between the two mountains was just right, but it's steeper than I expected. I still attempted it and with and ice axe, practice and no spikes on my feet, I ended up upside down sliding down the mountain. There was a big crowd watching that all did it more gracefully then I did. If anyone took a video of my wild ride, I'd love to see it. I wasn't afraid, even upside down, because it goes down into a big bowl and I knew I would stop eventually. No injuries. Thank you to the lovely gentleman to made it back up to retrieve my hat and sunglasses for me. I needed those for the long hike back to the trailhead. I lost my ice axe near the top. If anyone comes acoss it... ... a little sheepish, but mostly laughing. Have fun out there and be safe! 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: Gator Wrasler
Info: Great hike, drove stock dodge ram and land rover LR4 to almost 12,000 ft (popped two all terrain tires on 20 inch rims - make sure you have a spare and good jack). River is fun and crossable. Saw several 4 runners and jeeps with bigger tires. Camped at bend in road above 11,000. Definitely a lot of snow, but some including teens in our group did okay without micro spikes/ice axe. I personally used snow gators and micro spikes and was glad I had them. Not necessary though. Summited both peaks without problem. Slid down the coular /shoot just as you come off conundrum. Several of us did it, 1 out of 2 or 3 got hurt, broke or lost something. Mostly jamming/cutting fingers or bruises from hitting rocks. Its fast. Be careful. Kind of stupid to do, but would do it again. Shaves off an hour+ compared to going back up Castle. Total drop from start to lake at bottom (was the only one that made it that far with slick wind pants) is 400 feet, maybe 1200-1500 feet of sliding to lake. More glissading lower is safer and worth doing. Lots of rain while camping two nights. Great hike. Had kids 12-18 years old who did great. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Piotr
Info: Montezuma Basin Rd can be driven up to switchbacks/parking at 11,600, blocked by snow shortly after. Basin still has plenty of snow. The snow is still up to the saddle for glissade, although it was very soft by 9am with no overnight freeze. Had to downclimb first 30-40' of cornice since I was sinking knee deep. Snow got more solid after that. Bear and moose along the road. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/18/2024, By: esabers
Info: Did Castle/Conundrum combo on 6/17. Made it through creek crossing and to 10,700 in stock 4Runner TRD Pro. Parked there due to 2 snow piles that I didnt want to risk going through (and when we finished our hike there was a lifted 4Runner stuck in one of those snow piles). Overall, trail is clear until just below the headwall where there are some snowfields and then the headwall is still full snow. From the top of the headwall route was clear of snow and dry with the exception of one snowfield close to the summit of Castle. Glissaded down from Castle-Conundrum saddle and again down the headwall. Started from car at 5am, back to car at about noon. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: masonzastrow
Info: Did both peaks from the Castle standard route, then glissaded down from the saddle. Snow is set up well in the basin, aside from around the lake where we were postholing badly. That said, I do not regret leaving the snowshoes in the car. Spikes and an axe were good enough all day. Subaru impreza had to park at the very lowest lot, we were sad we couldn't make it to a campsite. Most of Castle's ridge is dry, aside from a short pitch for maybe 30 feet just below the summit. Conundrum had a tiny bit more but was never more than ankle deep. The road is very wet, I dunked a boot twice. We planned on Castle's north couloir, but it peters out about 3/4ths of the way up. Two folks did it this morning, but their path looked too spooky from the ground to follow. We found a water bottle on the glissade from the saddle, tell me the brand and color and I'll get it back to you! Started at 3, summited Conundrum at 9:15, back to car about 1. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/15/2024, By: Dan_Suitor
Info: I did Castle after summiting Conundrum via the couloir. I returned via Castles Northwest Ridge. I originally planned to do Castle Couloir, but the snow ran out 2/3 the way up. Later I saw somebody climbing the couloir, but it did not look fun when he ran out of snow to climb. There is still plenty of snow, both on the road and on the Headwall, but I never needed floatation. The upper class 1 and 2 sections are dry, but there is a small patch of snow near the summit. 

Route: North Face Couloir
Posted On: 6/6/2024, By: rachel
Info: With an overnight forecasted low of 30 and clear skies (NOAA), we started at 3:15 AM at the Castle Creek crossing at 10,200'. The creek is flowing high, but we used the log bridge to cross. We walked the road on a combination of dirt and somewhat supportive snow until 11,300 where we transitioned to skinning after it was finally continuous snow to the summit. Initially in trip planning, we discussed climbing/ skiing Conundrum Couloir first and adding Castle Peak second. As we climbed the east-facing headwall at 7 AM, we started punching through the surface in one area, finding wet grains underneath. Additionally we saw the huge amount of avy debris in Conundrum Couloir, we decided against that idea and headed to climb Castle's North face to the summit. The north-facing snow remained frozen but once we reached the top of the couloir, the final 100' had knee to hip deep post-holing up the east-facing snow. We summited at 8:45, quickly transitioned, and carefully skied down the occasionally post-holing, with skis, non-supportive east ridge. The north couloir was still frozen and required jump turns. We could have waited longer, but wanted to time the lower mountain, which was perfect corn. The ski down was uneventful with a segment of road walking.