Castle East Face Ski
Partners: J Weingast, Andrew Hollenbeck
Date: 05/24/2021
Trailhead: Castle Creek (parked at the creek crossing)
Summits: Conundrum & Castle
Distance: 12 Miles
Elevation Gain: 5000ft
Time: 9.25 Hours
GPX
At 5:00am J, Andrew and I shuttled from the lower trailhead to where the road crosses Castle Creek. We hiked the road in trail runners on firm snow to just below the upper basin. At this point we transitioned to skins and it wasn't long before we donned ski crampons and climbed to the upper basin between Castle and Conundrum. At the base of Conundrum Couloir we transtioned to crampons, climbed the coulie and summitted Conundrum Peak. Climbing the couloir took about 25 minutes. The views of Castle's north face were incredible from the summit.
Skiing Conundrum Couloir was a mixed bag... it was an amazing place to be, but the snow was bullet and entrance felt steeper than it did on the climb. We entered the couloir one at at time and skied conservatively until the snow softened midway down.
From the base of Conundrum Couloir we traversed to the bottom of Castle's north face couloir where we transitioned to booting. After wallowing in deep cold powder for a bit we transitioned back to skins. The skinning was steep however it worked much better than booting. The snow was wintery cold and midway up I had skin adheasion problems and switched back to booting which worked much better up high. J was able to skin to the top of the couloir where we met up and booted the rest of the way to the summit.
Castle's summit views were off the hook. The Elk's big boys (Pyramid, the Bells, Snowmass and Capital) were stunning under the blue skys and warming temperatures. We spent a short time taking it all in before stepping into our skis and making our way over to Castle's east face.
The first few turns off of the summit were exciting and the snow was firm. However after a turn or two we found ourselves on corn. We skied the ridge south until spotting an obvious line which dropped all the way to the basin below the east face. We skied one at a time to the basin floor. The skiing was playful and fun and we had to manage wet sluff most of the way down... but man o man what a classic line!
At the base of Castle's east face we admired our line and took in the awe inspiring place we found ourselves in. We soon cruised some fast and fun corn to the Tagert Hut where we relaxed and reflected on the day. Our only mistake was not bringing beer!
From Tagert we were able to ski to within a quarter mile of the truck where the beer was waiting.
What a great day!
Photos by all
12 Miles - 5000ft - 9Hrs
J and Andrew at the entrance to the upper basin
We used ski crampons to climb the slopes to the base of Conundrum Couloir
Andrew
Andrew enjoying the climb
Andrew tops out
Alex and J taking in the views from Conundrum's summit
Castle's north face from Conundrum - We would boot the couloir to the saddle on looker's left of the summit
Alex enters Conundrum Couloir on firm snow
Andrew
Andrew
J
Booting Castle's north face couloir
Looking back to Conundrum and the line we just skied
J below the summit
Andrew summits
The Elk's big boys from Castle's summit
Summit Selfie
J excited to ski
We dropped the summit and skied the face south to an obvious line that ran to the basin floor
Alex
Alex
Jay
J
Andrew on our line to the basin floor
Andrew
J
J
J
Oh yeah!
Castle's east face from below Pearl Pass (image from a previous year)
Taggert Hut - Hey... who brought the beer?
Looking back to Castle from the truck