TR: Castle Peak, East Face, 14,265' 5.28.06

**iskibc** · 05-30-2006, 03:51 PM

TR: East Face, Castle Peak 14,265’ 5.28.06
Figure Eleven, mbsc, iskibc, goldenboy, kya
Route: Montezuma basin to Northeast ridge

East Face Castle Peak (photo courtesy of C. Davenport):

Castle Peak flanks the southern tip of the rugged Elk Range in Central Colorado. The peak rises along the Pitkin-Gunnison county line, approximately 15 miles south of Aspen. Castle Peak is the 15th highest mountain in the continental United States and stands guard over the Elks Range of Central Colorado. Named for the mountain's complex and intricate castle-shaped ridgelines, it is the highest peak in the Elk Range. Castle Peak stands high above the famous mining grounds of Montezuma basin and the ghost town of Ashcroft.

In the spring of 1880, prospectors Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead left the boomtown of Leadville to search for silver deposits in the Castle Creek Valley. After a grueling and fierce jaunt up the Castle Creek Valley, they settled down and made camp, which was named “Castle Forks City”. By 1883, the camp, now called Ashcroft, was a town with a population of perhaps 2,000 with two newspapers, a school, sawmills, a small smelter, and 20 saloons—bigger than Aspen and closer to the railroad in Crested Butte.

The Ashcroft Hotel:

The town appeared to be booming, but quickly became vacated as broken promises to build a railroad over to Crested Butte and strikes in the nearby town of Aspen forced most to leave.

For a long while Ashcroft was empty, and only a few lonely miners vacated the area. Miners dug for silver along the banks of Montezuma Basin and the surrounding hills hoping to strike it rich. That never happened and the area and its roads leading up to the base of Castle Peak were permanently vacated. In the early 1930s a couple of fames sportsmen from overseas came into Ashcroft and brought with them some new ideas. They built the Highland-Bavarian Lodge (north of Ashcroft on Castle Creek Road) and planned a European-style ski resort in Ashcroft with an aerial tramway up Mount Hayden. Their plan died soon after WWII, and the ski area never got off the ground. Mount Hayden is now known as one of the more popular backcountry spots for skiers and boarders of the Aspen area.

Without the effort of the early miners, access to Castle Peak would be much more difficult. The old mining road leading up into Montezuma basin now allows peak baggers, skiers, and mountaineers easy access to one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring peaks in the Elk Range. The East Face of Castle is filled with endless opportunities for ski lines and exploration. The ridge of Gendarmes lowering down the south side of Castle is mesmerizing. It’s striated and jagged pinnacles rising up into the sky form some of the most amazing ski lines in the area. Its complexity and intimidating slopes make for a backcountry skiers delight.

Alright, enough with the boring history lesson and on with the trip report. Every Memorial Day weekend I try to get the hell out of town and escape the crowds. For as long as I can remember, each year involves skiing, camping, boozing, and meeting up with new friends. This year was no different. Several years ago I met two of my best backcountry ski partners on a random camping-ski trip to Snowy Range up in Wyoming. A couple of years ago I spent a very snowy and un-prepared ski-backpacking trip up in the IPW with Figure Eleven and gf. It ended up being one of the best spring skiing weekends I had in a long time.

A plan was developed and fingers were crossed for some good weather. Three separate parties were scheduled to rendezvous somewhere along the Montezuma Road late Saturday night. I met up with Figure Eleven around 11:00 PM at the end of the pavement of the Castle Creek Road and we journeyed up along the rugged Montezuma Road searching for Kya and family. Along the road we met up with goldenboy and mbsc. After driving up and down the road a couple of times we spotted Kya’s ski poles on the side of the road. We took a short side road down to their campsite and settled in for the night.

The 2.5 hours of sleep we all got wasn’t much, but enough to get motivated and make an attempt of Castle. We gathered our gear, piled into the truck and drove the rest of the way up the road to the snow closure around 10,400’. We began our march up the old mining road just as the first rays of light began to creep up and over the eastern horizon.

Red in the morning, Sailor's take warning?:

The sky was painted with all sorts of colors making for an amazing sunrise:

Despite our tired and weary minds, we made good time climbing up into Montezuma basin.

mbsc taking a break:

The snow was set up and frozen solid from the night before making the climb up and through the basin very easy.

Kya and mbsc skinning:

This was by far the coldest morning we have had in a long while.

Looking back towards Pearl Pass:

We cut up through the basin and reached the beginning of the NE ridge to a strong cold breeze and building clouds to the west. The NE ridge was a pleasant scramble up to the summit.

goldenboy working his way to the NE ridgeline:

Much like many peaks in the Elks, the rock along the ridge was rotten and unstable.

Loose scree anyone?

kya:

Near the top of the ridge we got our first glimpse of the east face and noticed a climber coming up the final pitch. Since we did not climb the face first, we were glad to see the climber as we figured we could get some beta out of him on whether or not there was a skiable line.

kya working his way up the NE ridge:

After a fun climb up the last portion, we made the summit sometime after 8:30AM.

Look, there's snow on the summit. I guess it will be "official"

:

mbsc working her way to the top:

The views from the top of Castle are some of the best in the Elks.

Pyramid Peak and Capitol Peak to the north:

We relaxed, ate some breakfast, and took in the views as the morning sun began to work its magic on the eastern snow of Castle.

Crew hanging out on the summit:

Conditions were still a little firm, so we waited around for a good 45 minutes before making our descent. The climber we had spotted coming up the face told us that there were several lines that went all the way. This was good news, as we weren’t too keen on having to ski the melted out north couloir.

Looking over towards Snowmass Mtn.:

Condundrum Couloir:

**iskibc** · 05-30-2006, 03:51 PM

After giving the face some time to corn up we geared up and prepared for our descent. This line has been on my ‘to do’ list for quite some time and I was excited that we finally had the chance to ski it under good conditions. Looking down the face from the summit really gives it that big mountain type of feel. There are several large spines that run down from the summit that form narrow and deep gullies. The valley below is a good 2,000’. The ridge of Gendarmes runs to the south and makes the face even more interesting.

I dropped in first and skied the upper face a bit down to the start of the first spine. The rest of the crew dropped in one-by-one and made nice turns down to me.

From the summit:

mbsc making some nice turns off the summit:

In case you haven't already noticed, this chick can ski pretty darn good

:

The snow was near perfect corn. The first part of the face has a nice pitch of around 45 degrees and doesn’t mellow out much until you reach the lower apron. We continued down and picked different lines through the tight chutes between the spines.

mbsc working it:

Kya's turn:

It was pretty steep:

kya again:

goldenboy:

Figure Eleven and his tele steeze:

goldenboy dropping into his line:

Lower down the snow was much softer, but not sloppy like it’s been lately. Once we popped out of the apron we gazed in awe back up at our lines and immediately began pointing at all of the other opportunities along the ridge of gendarmes.

The crew looking back up at the line:

Part of the Gendarmes:

We still had a good 1,200’ of skiing before joining up with the road again, so we continued on and cruised down the valley. When we reached the road we were all wearing big grins on our faces from the excellent descent down east Castle. We had a super fun group and everyone skied it with finesse. It was still early and the thoughts of heading back up for something else crossed our minds. However, the lack of sleep and the thought of sipping beers and grilling up some burgers lured us back to camp. We had an easy ski back down to the truck and were back at our campsite shortly after 11AM. Not a bad morning outing at all.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the camp and sharing stories. I always meet some new and great people on these Memorial Day trips, and this time it was a pleasure to meet up with goldenboy.

That afternoon we packed up camp and moved the junk show over to the east side of Independence Pass to meet up with Frank Zappa. We departed our wonderful campsite outside of Ashcroft and headed toward the South Fork Lake Creek Road on the east side of the pass. After picking up some extra supplies and wood we met up with Frank Zappa at the start of the road. Temps were cooling dramatically and clouds were moving in fast, so we cruised down the road a few miles to the National Forest boundary and set up camp. Soon after getting our tents set up it started snowing big fat flakes. We quickly got a camp fire started to get warm, as we really weren’t expecting it to snow this weekend. It snowed at a pretty good clip for the next few hours and left a nice coating of white on the ground and trees. Hopes of a powder day on the pass the next morning grew as it showed no signs of letting up. But, to our dismay the snow stopped just before nightfall and the sky began to clear revealing some faint stars. We huddled around the fire for the rest of the evening and then called it quits early as we were all exhausted from the previous 24 hours.

The next morning we woke up, packed up camp, and then headed up to the top of the pass to meet up with Figure Eleven. Our energy and motivation wasn’t all that high, so we decided to take it easy. We decided to give the Cosmic Chute a try and started walking along the flats over to the ridgeline. There were maybe a couple of inches of fresh snow on the ground, and a bit more on the wind loaded sides of the ridge. Not bad considering it’s almost June. We got a nice 1,000' of vert or so from cosmic and called it quits after making our way down to the switchback. It was a great way to finish off a fun weekend.

Looking back at Castle East Face:

Grizzly chute looking real nice:

Frank Zappa dropping in:

goldenboy:

Figure Eleven:

Thanks to Kya & family, mbsc, Frank Zappa, goldenboy, and Figure Eleven for making this another memorial day weekend to remember. I can't wait to make my way up into the Elks again sometime soon.

**lemon boy** · 05-30-2006, 04:00 PM

ZING!

Nicely done Dave!

**climb2ski** · 05-30-2006, 04:06 PM

you were driving in we were driving out... ireallylike2ski and I did Castle and Conundrum on Saturday. We left camp around 3:00 on Saturday.

**Bodhi** · 05-30-2006, 04:21 PM

In case you haven't already noticed, this chick can ski pretty darn good

Ummm, "darn"???? Wee bit weak of an explitive there, mang!

FKNA for MBSC!

Bagging a 14'er like twas nothing atall...

Couple more teachers and you guys could hold school up there.

Damn, any chance of some of that corn staying on those honeycomb cobs this August??? --gonna be swinging close by there on my way east this summer for a trip to NE...

peace,
D.

**Yossarian** · 05-30-2006, 04:22 PM

That Grizzly has been on my list for a couple years, looks like this will be the season to hit it, as soon as that road gets opened up a bit. Thanks for the beta, and great TR. Looked great gang!

**Marv Albert** · 05-30-2006, 04:25 PM

Yesss!!!!

**LIP** · 05-30-2006, 04:48 PM

Noice!!
Heh, I drove right by your campsite on South Fork Lake Creek w/ my gf & her mom and camped just up the road at Sayres Gulch. That was nice little snow squall. Nothing a little bourbon couldn't fix!! No turns though to due to playing tour guide for mom. ISKI, how do you access the Grizzly coolie?

**iskibc** · 05-30-2006, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by LIP

Noice!!
Heh, I drove right by your campsite on South Fork Lake Creek w/ my gf & her mom and camped just up the road at Sayres Gulch. That was nice little snow squall. Nothing a little bourbon couldn't fix!! No turns though to due to playing tour guide for mom. ISKI, how do you access the Grizzly coolie?

You should have stopped by. Frank Zappa and I drove up that road the next morning to do some recon. You can get quite a ways back there. We took Rd. 392 up high.

You access Grizzly by taking Lincoln Creek Rd. from the west side of Indy Pass. It's not open until this weekend due to construction. Once you get in there the access is real easy. Park at the reservoir and climb around the north ridge and then up the couloir.

**LIP** · 05-30-2006, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by iskibc

You should have stopped by. Frank Zappa and I drove up that road the next morning to do some recon. You can get quite a ways back there. We took Rd. 392 up high.

You access Grizzly by taking Lincoln Creek Rd. from the west side of Indy Pass. It's not open until this weekend due to construction. Once you get in there the access is real easy. Park at the reservoir and climb around the north ridge and then up the couloir.

Thanx mang,
I had heard the 9th, but I'll check it out this weekend and see what's up. I'll let y'all know how it is.

**adam** · 05-30-2006, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by iskibc

Yes! I think this is my favorite TR so far this summer!

**alpinepronghorn** · 05-30-2006, 05:05 PM

Can't say I'm really suprised that this crew was up to something awesome over the weekend... Great sunrise, great line, great pics; looks like you guys had an awesome trip. You just have to love it when all that, plus a solid crew, comes together.

Loved this shot:

**Ireallyliketoski2** · 05-30-2006, 05:12 PM

Beautiful pictures and nice history lesson, is there going to be a quiz later? Those turns right off the summit of Castle got this gapers attention, that's for sure. How did you find your way down that face, was the route finding tricky for the descent?

**nhtele** · 05-30-2006, 05:13 PM

We had a solid weekend here in the Tetons too, but those pics sure make me wish I hadn't bailed on the trip to CO.

**kona12** · 05-30-2006, 05:14 PM

Simply Stunning. Almost better than some morning Joe for waking up the senses!

Originally Posted by iskibc

The sky was painted with all sorts of colors making for an amazing sunrise:

**Squirrel99** · 05-30-2006, 05:14 PM

that snow looks waaaaaaaaayyyyy better than the slide prone slop we skied in the PNW last weekend! still killing it in the Rockies, gotta love it!

**arg** · 05-30-2006, 05:20 PM

Excellent...great TR.

It was a great weekend to be out. The skiing around Indy pass makes me slightly less sad to have left the Tetons.

APH and NHtele, what kind of trouble did you find this weekend.

**bcrider** · 05-30-2006, 05:28 PM

I really like this one!

Thanks for the SICK TR (and history lesson).

**alpinepronghorn** · 05-30-2006, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by arg

APH and NHtele, what kind of trouble did you find this weekend.

Dude, you've got some catching up to do...go and do a search for "moran"

This weekend was skiing off the Tram at the village; caught up with Gramps and Trackhead and did a few laps on Powder 8s and one in Four Shadows. Gramps' "Dispatch from the Tetons - Part 1" has some good shots of Trackhead and the conditions we found yesterday... [/hijack]

**FigureEleven** · 05-30-2006, 06:25 PM

Thanks for putting up a killer TR Iski. The E. Face of Castle exceeded my expectations. So many options over there. It was also a pleasure to meet everyone else. I look forward to seeing MBSC's pictures as well.

PS: I have heard that Lincoln Creek is opening on the 6th. I will be getting Grizzly done some time shortly after. We should gang up on this little line.

**Dside11-11** · 05-30-2006, 07:26 PM

Good shit, guys. Grizzly looks sweet!!!

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-30-2006, 07:27 PM

Here's some pics I took from the weekend

View of Castle and Conundrum from Independence Pass the day after we climbed Castle.

View of Castle from Crested Butte with Teocali in the front.

Iskibc was acting camera shy this weekend

I was busy playing camera-man and forgot to hand the camera to someone else. Well, no worries, I've got pics from my own camera. Iskibc showing off on Castle without even knowing it:

Got a couple good shots of Kya on Caslte too:

As iskibc said, we came back to our camp at Castle creek road and moved to a camp on Independence Pass where it proceeded to snow for a few hours.

Frank Zappa getting cold in the snow. He was quite stubborn about the weather... not wanting to give in and change from shorts to pants!

In the morning we woke up to bluebird and snow-fall beauty:

Where to ski? Independence Pass is next....

A

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-30-2006, 07:34 PM

View of La Plata from the pass:

We scope things out on the pass and decide on this line off Mountain Boy:

FigureEleven downclimbing into the couloir, the line on lookers left:

Iskibc skiing:

All in all it was a great weekend despite shivering in the cold snowstorm the second night we camped. Thanks to all the boyz for being so dang entertaining

and for not making too much fun of me when I thought I heard voices in my head

**goldenboy** · 05-30-2006, 09:26 PM

It was good to finally put a face to the people I'm always seeing here. A good time was definitely had by all...

Iski- If I ever get a digi cam, and then actually figure out how to post pics, and then do a TR, I hope the Tr is 1/10th as good as yours. The story behind the ski, that's what makes it...