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A freind of mine and I climbed Castle Peak yesterday which ended in a bad experience everyone should be aware of if planning to Climb Castle. After we summited we descened to the saddle between Castle and Conundrum. We glissaded down the slope and began the walk across the basin to continue our descent. As I was almost directly below the Conundrum Couloir and just before stepping back onto the rocks, the snow opened below me and I fell about 20" into a crevass.
From below, I could see this crevass was about 4" wide and 50-60 feet in length. Absolutely no signs of it from above(with the exception now of the hole I made falling through) and the edge of it sits right on the edge of the traveled path leading out of the basin. I was extremely fortunate to be rescued by some other climbers(THANK YOU SPENCER GRAY AND SHAUN KENNEDY! and all the others who donated webbing, belts dog leashs etc.) after spending about an hour and a half in this crevass with runoff water raining down on me the entire time. Had they not been able to fashion lines long enough to reach me that I could pull myself out with and I had to wait several hours for Mountain Rescue, it could have been a much worse outcome for me other than a a few dozen stitchs in my face and head.
In the photo, the crevass lies just on the right of the traveled path, directly below the couloir on the left, just past the small patch of rock.
All be aware, VERY DANGEROUS!
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No , it was not a continuation of the obvious forming crack. My climbing partner dropped down in that crevass to see if there was an undeground exit for me but there was no connection.
Vince, Glad to hear that everything is ok! It is good everyone is getting the word out about this, but sorry it took this to find out about it. Sorry for asking if the head was ok so many times on the way, just playin it safe. Take care.
Yeah, I thought of that several times as I saw other solo climbers. Had I been alone it would have been pretty unlikey anyone would have ever known I was down there.
I was just there last week. I guess I lucked out. I did notice the glacier pulling away. You can see it in your picture as well. Is the crevass a continuation of this large crack that is forming? There was just a little more snow the week before. Anyways, glad you survived your adventure! Thanks for the warning as well.
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