Castle Peak
June 15, 2000 - Northeast Ridge
Castle was my first peak of the Elk Range and I was curious about the “red, rugged, and rotten” motif mentioned in the earlier Borneman and Lambert guide. I figured I would start with the least challenging of the range and had checked out the approach during the fall of 1999 when Debbie and I had camped at about the 11,000 mark on the Montezuma Road. I returned to the same camp spot, just above the Pearl Pass road cut off, and made camp for the night.
The next morning I started out from camp and headed out up the Montezuma Road to the 4WD parking spot at 12,500 feet. I could have driven to about the 12,000 mark but I was, and remain a 3000-foot gain proponent, so the road march was inevitable. Castle Peak rises above the end of the road and may be reached from the road’s end by the northeast or northwest ridges. I chose the route to the northeast ridge because except for the final 500 feet of vertical, it would be exclusively a snow climb. I climbed the berm at the end of the parking flat and hopped onto the snow. The route is flat, then climbs, then a gentler rise and a climb to the saddle between Castle and Conundrum Peaks. The snow climbing was moderate and as I was a beginner, I took it easy and prepared for the self-arrest option in the event of a fall. The snow was hard and perfect for cramponing, making a degree of caution for a beginning cramponer the appropriate option. I topped the saddle, added a wind layer and made for the summit
The trail to the summit wound up the reverse side of the slope and provided easy access to the top of Castle. After a snack on top, I headed back to the saddle, tried the glissading technique, and soon arrived at the base of the slope. Up on my feet; walk across the flat, and then onto the butt again for the slope leading down to the end of the road parking spot. It was one hell of a lot faster trip down than my climb up just an hour or two before. Castle on snow was both a good climb and means of putting to use the snow travel skills I had learned during a three-day course with CMS in Estes Park. The course had covered the use of crampons and ice axe for ascents and the axe once again for unanticipated descents. Without such background, I would not have set foot on the hard snow on Castle or any other 14’er.
September 16, 2001 - Northwest Ridge
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Heading up the ridge on Castle, the rounded summit is visible in the distance |
The day before this climb, Gary and I had summitted Pyramid and then faced the even greater challenge of locating a campsite near the Maroon Bells. We had one the prior night but it, and every other official site, was reserved for this evening. We double-checked the campgrounds and all spaces were taken or reserved so before heading out to find a commando camp spot up toward Pearl Pass, we stopped at the USFS gatehouse to inquire about last minute cancellations. There were none but the ranger offered us a day use picnic site for the night. It had been years since I had a ranger offer an unofficial spot and we gladly accepted. The next morning we headed to climb Castle Peak and parked just above the intersection of the Pearl Pass and Montezuma roads. This spot would make for a decent vertical climb, though half the vertical would be on the mining road. Regardless, we could not bring ourselves to drive to the top and simply do a ridge climb to bag the summit.
The road march was in the shade of increasing clouds and by the time we reached the toe of the real climb, the snow started to fall in earnest. We chose the northwest ridge route and made up way up the switchbacks leading out of the bowl and onto the ridge proper. The ridge hike is just that; a walk with a few climbs up here and there before a minor scramble to the summit point. We were more intrigued by another climber who seemed headed for Conundrum but stopped shy of the summit and turned around. He descended back to the Castle Conundrum saddle and then chose to descend to the snowfield route and out through the center of the bowl between the peaks. The problem was he did not seem to be equipped with ice axe or crampons and was forced to stay right on the snow wall margin. When the wall went to vertical he was truly in a conundrum but then he appeared to find a set of tracks that gave him a route to the less steep ground and a means of exit. He played the game and won, this time.
September 14, 2003 - North Face Direct
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Castle from the road's end at 12,500 feet |
The thought of climbing Castle Peak for a third time was tempered only by the opportunity to climb Conundrum, the adjacent sub peak I skipped twice before. Conundrum in an of itself was not sufficient to bring me from Cheyenne to the Elks, instead the opportunity to help “Reach Around” nab two more 14’ers was the draw.
The day before, we had attempted the North Bell with a group of four but failed due to snow conditions and fatigue. Two members of the group were one-day climbers, leaving Reach and me to climb Castle the next day and giving him his 27th 14’er, i.e. the halfway mark of the quest. After getting some feed in Aspen, we camped on the road leading up to Castle and were out by ten p.m., comforted somewhat by the late start we planned . . . on the trail by 6 a.m.
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Up the center couloir toward the rock bands |
The alarm went off at 5 and I debated a return to the ways of the Cottoneer but within a few minutes we were both able to bring ourselves to dress, drink some juice, eat day old donuts, and head for the trailhead. Of course you can drive to 12,500 feet on Castle but I’ve always made the climb from the 11,000-foot contour and Ed agreed that since he was officially peak bagging, he had to do the same. We parked the Blazer in a wide spot and after pumping a bit of water for the nalgenes; we were on our way at just a few minutes after six. The morning was cold and crisp, about 20 degrees but the weather forecast promised a sunny day and the abundance of stars in the clear sky led us to believe this would be the case.
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Reach's last step before the summit traipse |
Our walk up the road went quickly and we were soon at the high flat spot where multiple trucks are usually parked in the Cottoneering season. The snowline began at just over 11,000 feet but the road was fully melted off but for the last half-mile or so. We climbed the mound at the fore of the parking area and found a vista of white and generally well crusted snow. A line of tracks snaked their way up the first moraine and after stumbling over and into a few post hole leg breakers, we hit a packed trail and a set of well kicked steps leading to the top of the first rise. Once atop the rise, we had to decide whether to take the ridge route or continue up the valley to climb the headwall separating Castle from Conundrum. The ridge route looked a bit snowy and rather than fight a snow sloped trail, we took the straight-ahead option and headed toward the headwall.
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Early fall colors in the Elks |
As we rounded a curve in the trail and dropped off some rocky high ground, I turned to Ed and suggested that instead of taking the headwall and the well-traveled path up to the saddle, that we instead take a direct route up the north face of the peak. I had read of a route up the face in Dawson’s guidebook but instead of taking the couloir that provides a route up the left side of the face, we chose the center couloir and the challenge of breaching some small cliff bands either by climbing or various slot moves through weak areas in the cliffs. Now the cliffs are not that large and from a distance it appeared that we could meander our way up and around while still holding a fairly well centered line.
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Crossing the saddle to Conundrum |
We cut a gently climbing path across the snowy bowl, aiming for a band of exposed scree below the main face. The scree was semi frozen but we did not come there to climb scree, so we went over to the adjacent snow. The snow was in fine shape, a single layer, no facets, not obvious signs of instability and still frozen enough to take a good kick or two to set the foot halfway in. Up we went, passing off the lead once or twice before we reached the first obstacle to our progress. The ten to fifteen foot rock band consisted of two five-foot pitches, separated by a snowy slope. Ed made the first climb and I followed, we then shifted a bit left and made our way up the second half of the move. Then more snow and another similar but higher and tougher band to cross. But . . . after looking left, we saw a narrow cleft that would provide a means of bypassing the steeper ground. We waded through the slot and took off upward on more snow to the base of the summit itself.
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Our route was directly up the center couloir, through the rock bands and then hard left to the ridge for the last 50 feet (tracks faintly visible) |
At this point, just below the summit, we were looking at a solid class 5 pitch versus a jog to the left and completion of the climb on the final few feet of the ridge route. We chose discretion over valor and moved left to finish up the climb. The summit was soon ours and we took a break before down climbing the ridge to the saddle and adjacent Conundrum Peak. After a bite and drink, we were off and within minutes we were at the base of the climb up the flat-topped sub peak. There was snow for almost the entire ridge and with little additional effort we both scored this subsidiary highpoint. However, we spent little time on the flat ridge summit before moving back down our route and dropping down into the valley below via the snowy headwall. We stepped lively, planting our heels with every bound until we arrived at the flatter ground below.
We paused to look at our route and to chat with the skiers and boarders heading up to the saddle to carve turned through the seasons’ first real snowfall. Then we dropped some layers and headed for the parking bench and road march below. Both came and went soon enough and after just 7 hours, we arrived back at the truck, giving Reach #27 and me a third climb of Castle, by yet another route, and the sub peak for the “base 58” 14’er tally.