Castle Peak

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: gbledsoe
Info: Great climbing on the NE ridge via the summer route. We parked at 10,700', where the snow became too deep to drive any further. The big fallen tree across the road is at 10,900'. The upper shelf road still has snow, but can mostly be avoided when walking the road. In the lower basin, we postholed in a few places, but found a good snow route all the way to the upper basin. The traverse to the ridge and the ridge both had the perfect snow for climbing, all the way to the summit. We included some pictures of the skiers climbing the Conundrum Couloir and saddle (pretty amazing!). 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: andibertolina
Info: Ascended Conundrum couloir, topped out Conundrum Peak then skied back down the couloir. We were ascending the couloir around 800am with boot-top deep booting conditions and skiing down was pretty mushy but still fun. We then traversed over to near the saddle between Castle and Conundrum to ascend back to the ridge to head for Castle. We were able to skin almost back to the ridge (just had to boot the last 50 or so feet). The ridge from Conundrum to Castle is mostly snow free, just a few drifts here and there but we didn't need crampons to ascend. We topped out Castle then headed fort he N couloir to descend. Despite other trip reports, we were able to ski down the N couloir pretty easily. Sure there are some rocks, and these will melt out more as we are in June now but from a skier's perspective, I would rather deal with minimal rocks on skis than walk down the summer trail. We started from campsite 7 right before the creek crossing but some 4 runners made it up about 1 mile and 500' further up the road until they were stopped by snow drifts on the road. Even if the snow melts there is a big fallen tree about 2 miles in that is blocking the road for now. 

Route: North Face Couloir
Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: S-Parx
Info: I would not consider the N. Couloir in at this point. Thin/rocky/narrow in the upper 1/3rd. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 6/3/2025, By: JerJerBinks
Info: Mostly posting to reinforce that Castle's NF couloir is not in and drop some pics. It's much thinner than the pics might make it seem. We camped at spot 8 or 9 just before the crossing. Summer conditions here and all but that camp spot was occupied when we showed on Sat at 4pm. Our plan was to climb the NF couloir on Castle early the next morning. I couldn't believe how warm it was that night. Snow started on the 4wd Rd maybe 1 mile past the bridge but was mostly avoidable until shortly before the head wall. Headwall had a complete blanket and despite t-shirt weather was fully supportive early am. Arriving at the upper basin it was disappointing to see how bare the NF couloir was. One glance and it wasn't for me. Also important to note nf couloir was taking rando rockfall. Conundrum Couloir however was definitely in, but hadn't even been considered so we headed for the standard combo. Final push on Castle had some decent wet snow, but we managed without any traction. Conundrum looked a little precarious but went for us with micro spikes and an axe. The descent gully was super soft and when I investigated it I was waist deep immediately. We decided to go back over Castle in fear of swimming our way back to our snow shoes at the headwall. Fairly supportive for temps back to the th. Only wound up in full body post holes a few times and never used our snow shoes. 

Route: North Face Couloir
Posted On: 5/20/2025, By: Youngan
Info: New snow made for variable conditions climbing and skiing.Lots of sharks up high. Started at campsite 7. On and off snow on the road for the 2 miles 

Route: North Face Couloir
Posted On: 5/4/2025, By: Splitboard14ers
Info: The drive to Castle Creek trailhead is wide open. Once at trailhead, you could make your way around 1 mile or less up road to dispersed camping sites, however multiple snow piles still exist on road, most can be driven through, but the last one is deep and no vehicles have driven through it. Once across the creek crossing you’ll find full snow coverage the rest of the way up. The road can be skinned on the remainder of the way up. Take note that at 3 miles the Pearl Pass junction is not well marked, and the entrance into the gulch towards Montezuma Mine goes away from the road and is tough to locate, as it sits kind of in between some willows. I missed this, but only went 5 minutes before realizing it and doubling back to find it. Once in the gulch keep pushing forward and uphill, and don't turn left into the first basin, which also has a headwall and resembles the Castle/Conundrum basin. Continue on past that. After another 2000 feet or so you will see a small vertical rise of about 300 feet in elevation. Ascend that, then you look to the left and see the headwall. Climb up that and you’ll be right at Castle Peak and Conundrum basin. Snow was good quality all the way in on approach. Easily boot packed the North Couloir for Castle. Snow on Castle was prime and skied very well, however a little sharky at top entrance into couloir. Conundrum snow was much more slushy, and spots frozen from being heavily ridden, so boot packing the Conundrum couloir was slightly more challenging, and ice axe was critical. Crampons, or micro spikes would be valuable. On descent back out of the gulch snow was warmer and slushier, but rode well until reaching the road again. From there down it was warm and slow moving, but I stayed going downhill and rode all the way to the creek crossing where snow line ends. 1.3 miles hike back to trailhead. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 10/26/2024, By: shaines90
Info: Road is mostly dry, though some snowy/icy patches remain in shaded spots after the campsites end. Myself and one other guy - shoutout to Crazy Bob - put in a bootpack since there wasn't much of one beforehand, so that should last through the next day or two until the storms roll in this week. Saddle to Conundrum is holding some snow but easily manageable, despite some postholing on the way back to Castle. Definitely not enough snow to attempt descending the saddle to the basin just yet - perhaps after the next storm. Recommend bringing microspikes and poles. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/26/2024, By: Cthulhu 2008
Info: Road is mostly dry (some icy sections) and drivable to the Pearl Pass/ Castle Creek Junction. Some snow, but nothing too crazy. Should stay accessible for a quick summit bid Sunday and Monday before the next storm rolls in and then we might have winter conditions until the spring... so get after it soon! 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 10/9/2024, By: sean23
Info: Mostly avoidable snow and ice up high on the route. We brought spikes but used them only for ascending the snowfield on the headwall. Avoiding snow higher up does require some class 3 moves, but overall, the peaks are still good to go! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/2/2024, By: nutella262
Info: More icy patches on the ridge than I was personally comfortable with so I turned around at ~14k. Perhaps avoidable by someone with a stronger skill set and a higher risk tolerance. Conundrum from the saddle up looked completely dry. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: NativeTransplant
Info: You can climb these peaks without touching any snow or ice if you want to. Trail has small and inconsequential spots of snow that you can avoid. No traction devices or ice axe required. Downclimb scree slope from saddle is fine if you are comfortable scree-surfing; otherwise, go back up castle. Stock tacoma made it to 11,200' easily, and could probably make it to 12,800' without issue. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: dakotasmama
Info: Alpine lake looks terrible, water is a sickly green color and the snow on top is covered with the invasive algae that turns it pink. Permanent snow field is virtually non-existent. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 9/26/2024, By: CodyAnschutz33
Info: For the conditions on the road, I was able to drive my Tacoma all the way up to 12,800 feet without much difficulty and no snow. For the actual route, as the previous conditions update said, the snow made this a lot longer and more difficult than usual, both in route finding and in making a few areas slick. I was the first one up and was trailblazing through the snow the entire route. Though you could get by without traction, I found it to be helpful on the way up as I would step, posthole, and slide almost every step and there were a few "sketchy" areas because of the snow/ice. Wish I would have brought my gaiters as the snow was deeper than anticipated (~6-8 inches at parts) and my feet were soaked by the end. Fun and beautiful day in the mountains overall though! 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 9/16/2024, By: BricART
Info: The snow from the previous days made this a little more sketch than normal. While there wasn't a lot of it, there was snow/ice on portions of the use trail up the East ridge of Castle and down the North ridge on the way to Conundrum. It was easy enough to go around, but I definitely got into some (very very easy) class 3 terrain. More snow this week will only complicate things if any of it sticks. 

Route: Castle and Conundrum
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions. Couple of patches of snow on the headwall, a little slippery in the morning, but didn't need traction. Soft in the afternoon. One tiny glissade patch near the bottom/base people created. One person ascended the saddle gully and said it was awful and sketchy with some class 3 moves and didn't recommend descending that way. A couple of other groups did descend that way and we heard tons of rock fall. As the route describes it's best to regain Castle; we were glad we did. TH road is as described, see my TH condition update for more details.