14erFred wrote:Thanks for your open honesty and clear thinking, Aug Dog. I agree completely with your insightful take on this issue. Descending from the Castle-Conundrum saddle under current conditions is a serious accident just waiting to happen. The potential cost is simply not worth the benefit.
Your wise advice could well save lives, Aug Dog. I note that the 14ers.com online guidebook makes the descent from the saddle seem inconsequential: "From the saddle, turn left (east) and descend snow or loose rock/dirt towards the small, high basin between the two peaks." As your post underscores, however, this descent route is far from reasonable when the snow cover has melted out.
I recommend that Bill revise the online guidebook to warn climbers about the danger of descending from the Castle-Conundrum saddle when the snow pack is absent and the slope is bare. The online guidebook should recommend that climbers climb back over Castle to descend, when the slope beneath the saddle is free of snow.
Kind of a touchy matter for me, asking Bill to revise the route. I would be on the fence on this topic for several reasons. Several factors play into that: (a) each climber is different. My best climbing buddy and I vary quite a bit in what we both feel is sketchy. For some reason, steep, exposed, walled gulleys don't bother me, but they bother him greatly. Airy walls tend to bother me a bit more, but not him. It's all relative. (b) the descent from the saddle might be a perfectly viable option for some and that's cool. It wouldn't be fair to pull that info.
Now, would I be supportive of revising this to maybe even label it by class? Absolutely. I know the line we picked REQUIRED facing in, four point climbing, so I would call it low class IV. I would only ask that the route, in summer, be classified better and suggest against climbers with class II or II+ comfort using this route.
Does that make sense?