TL;DR---- Snow climbing conditions for Conundrum Couloir are good but season is closing quickly. Colorado is CHOSS, I am moving to Kansas

Prompted by the forecast showing a weather window on Wednesday morning (7/13), I departed from Denver at approx. 10 pm on Tuesday and arrived at Castle Creek Trailhead just before 2 am. The first of 9 campsites along Pearl Pass Road was open, so I pitched my hammock and got a few hours of shut eye.

I set off from my camp at 6 am. Since I do not trust my 2002 CR-V to make it through the creek crossing, I walked up the road from the 2WD trailhead. The weather was clear and the temperature was comfortable. I made it to Montezuma Mine at around 7:30, took a short rest and continued on. From the end of the road, I kept right toward the snow headwall. Between the road and the start of the snow was approx. 75 ft of talus hopping. At the edge of the talus, I put on crampons and walked across the snowfield to the base of the headwall. Snow conditions were fantastic on the headwall, no post-holing! Once at the top, I continued on snow toward the apron of the couloir.

The snow was nearly continuous all the way to the couloir, with the exception of approx. 20 ft of miserable scree between the highest point of the headwall pitch and the lowest point of couloir. Just as I started ascending, I heard and saw a medium/large rockfall a few hundred meters to my left very close to the South Ridge route on Conundrum. Thankfully, the only other parties on the mountain that day were on the standard route up Castle. There was evidence of rockfall in the couloir, but there was none during my climb. The snow conditions were consistent with the headwall below, very good!! I made 3 to 5 kicks per step, wielding an ice axe in my left hand and a trekking pole in my right. The cornice at the top of the climb was not much to worry about this late in the season. The overhang is gone, leaving 10 ft of vertical snow that is very easily avoided by keeping to the right. I made it to the top of the line at 9:45 and was greeted by a beautiful sight of wispy clouds above the Bells.

From this point, the technical difficulties of the day were finished. The scramble to the 14,060 ft summit of Conundrum took only a few minutes. From this point, I could see clouds to my east and west moving toward Montezuma Basin, so I hustled up the NW ridge to Castle's summit. After another quick break and a photo op from another party, I began the descent of Castle's NE ridge. I moved quickly on the way down, however the monumental choss of the Elks made the descent careful and tedious, and the route- finding slightly confusing at times. The group descending 500 yards behind me set of a pretty big rockfall over the east side of the ridge. I made it to the bottom of the basin in good time and began the trek back to camp.

Just as I crossed below treeline, a slight drizzle started and looking back I could see Montezuma Basin under a cover of dark clouds. I heard thunder rumble 3 or 4 times as I walked through the woods, but saw no lightning. I made it back to my camp just before 1:30 pm. Total stats for the day were approx. 11.5 miles round-trip and 4,500 ft gain. The couloir still goes for climbing but not for much longer.......get after it while it's good!!!