6/12/2020 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: Unknown Info: Basically dry from castle, nothing harder than class 2+ needed but class 3 options. Glissade is still in but hard corn in the evening. Heard rockfall near the couloir. Idk why the pics are sideways |
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5/23/2020 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 5/24/2020, By: cseanm Info: Conundrum Couloir was in great shape, good climbing conditions, and perfect corn ~10 am. Snow started about 2/3 of a mile after the stream crossing, and was continuous except for a 300 vertical foot patchy section between the Pearl Pass bridge, and a bit after the Pearl Pass junction. EDIT: I am trying to add pictures but running into an issue adding photos to this report. I will add them when I can. |
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5/16/2020 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 5/19/2020, By: TakeMeToYourSummit Info: I almost didn't post since someone else put one up for Castle. No pictures on that one though. We managed to drive all the way to the 10,200 creek crossing. Couloir is in pretty good shape. Some haze & wind kept the snow cold enough for our 10AM descent. We managed to ride 98% of the vertical & distance back to the truck. Enjoy this one while it is in great condition! |
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10/14/2019 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 10/15/2019, By: gsmhikerdude Info: Conundrum Couloir is still in, all the way from the base to the summit. Used ice axes and crampons. An ice tool would have been nice. |
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8/18/2019 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 8/18/2019, By: KJMc Info: Snow is continuous from 12,800', easy top out to the right. I intended to ski it but the runnels were too deep for me to attempt, so I down climbed it. Choke is plenty wide. Then skied what was almost corn from the apron down into the lower basin. Still a great snow climb. Plenty of cars made it to the upper trailhead. |
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8/9/2019 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 8/12/2019, By: Cereal Info: The couloir was very much IN this past Friday. In fact, it was actually a little on the hard side, in the shaded part around the choke (started the couloir at ~8am with temps in the 40s). I estimate it'd still be in and continuous for at least a couple more weeks at this rate. Snow is continuous, as expected, from the flat area at 12,800, up the right side of the headwall to the upper basin, and onward to the couloir. So putting the crampons on at 12,800 is reasonable. Side note: Traversing over to Castle and then descending via its NE Ridge was an excellent option for bagging both peaks. Traversed against traffic, and avoided the scree-y descent from the saddle that folks seem to be having issues with (rockfall from other parties). I got a worthwhile glissade from the base of the Castle's NE Ridge (bottom of the switchbacks) down to the flat area at 12,800. |
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7/27/2019 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 7/30/2019, By: cmbaker Info: Conditions about as described. Two nice gentlemen were doing some work on miscellaneous trail debris with chainsaws, had a lot of fallen timber cleared between when we started and got back down. Get out there before the snow's gone! |
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7/26/2019 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 7/30/2019, By: JDG7 Info: Following up on what Jhorne6 said, did the couloir on Friday. Hit it late, about 1015, was concerned the snow would have softened too much. Unfounded concern. Snow was amazing. Solidity and grip. If you have time, it is worth giving it ago still. At this rate, it will last the summer. Enjoy (and the serac still looks solid) |
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7/22/2019 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 7/23/2019, By: Jhorne6 Info: Conditions in the couloir are still excellent. Hit the bottom of it at about 645 and snow was bomber the whole way to the top. Little evidence of recent rockfall and the cornice at the top looked stable. |
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7/4/2019 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 7/5/2019, By: Cranfillpe Info: (see my 7/4 report filed under Castle Peak) |
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6/3/2019 Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 6/3/2019, By: JulianSmith Info: Both Castle and Conundrum are in great shape for skiing now. Snow level is somewhere around 10,000'. Actually, it's right at the point where the road is obliterated by 2 different avalanches that converged on the same point in the road. This is right above campsite 8 & 9. If you look closely, you will see some boulders blocking an old road to your right. Don't be like us and wander around in the avalanche debris in the dark. Take the old road to the right, which skirts like 90% of the avy debris. There is a generous helping of avalanche debris above this point on Pearl Pass Road, but none as bad as this or as confusing to navigate in the dark. Conundrum couloir is in from the summit (with a little side slipping for me). Lots of snow coverage on both Castle and Conundrum. It will be covered with snow for a while. If only we can get some good overnight freezes to keep the season going… |
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10/6/2018 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 10/6/2018, By: jfm3 Info: Conundrum had much less snow on it than Castle today. The wind was much stronger on Conundrum and the whole route up from the saddle was blown fairly clean. I descended the gully from the saddle to the tarn. This was the hardest part of the day for me. The gully is steep and there is loose rock & dirt hiding under the snow. Spikes were extremely helpful. I plunge-stepped down most of the gully in 6-8 inches of loose snow. Talus-hopping across the basin to the top of the headwall was very tedious. The combination of loose rock, spikes and snow obscuring everything made for slow progress. |
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9/8/2018 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 9/8/2018, By: tcphoto87 Info: Conundrum was pretty dry and Castle had some snow on it. The saddle is about melted out so we reclimbed Castle on the way back |
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8/12/2018 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 8/13/2018, By: trailboss88 Info: Route is clear of snow and mostly easy to follow. There are multiple trails in some areas but they all get you there. Descent from saddle wasn't bad at all, just typical Elks/San Juans dirt/scree mix. |
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8/7/2018 Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 8/9/2018, By: RockyMountainMustang Info: Straightforward mountain to hike from Castle, loose below the summit of Castle, but otherwise the ridge is fun and nice. Anyone planning to loop it down the snow route should rethink that plan, as it is deathtrap once melted out. We went back up and over Castle for the descent. As I said in the Castle report, a more cautious person may want to use a helmet on this route as a few spots are steep and loose. pic 1. Conundrum seen from Castle. Pic 2 Castle seen from Conundrum. pic 3 summit shot |
