Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: pbarn Info: For the descent off of Conundrum: there is still some snow beneath the ridge and a trough from glissading. However, I wouldn't recommend it anymore this summer. The drop in is loose and step, and the snow is now a mixture of snow and rocks, and pretty yuck. Glissading down the headwall is a different story though - go get it |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 7/27/2023, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh Info: Still climbable, well consolidated from top to bottom, came in from the right side where the snow was still continuous past the first head wall from the trailhead parking lot. Ended up using one ice axe but had two just in case. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: wintersage Info: Conundrum couloir is still in good shape. Despite a late start entering the couloir at 10am, the snow was firm but just a bit slippery. Only an hour earlier and it would have been totally fine. The ridge to Castle Peak and down its standard route (northeast ridge) is completely dry. The Headwall can be done either on snow or rock. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/7/2023, By: Istoodupthere Info: Plenty of snow still. Headwall was doable in the morning with just poles. The snow was still firm around noon and great for glissading. The south ridge route is completely covered in snow until the ridge. Lower 2/3 of the slope up to the saddle had good firm snow. Upper 1/3 was bad. Ice axe pick was just sliding through the snow, making the upper steep section dicey at 9am. I had to climb some loose class 3+ rock at the top to gain the ridge. Myself and the 4 others on the mountain who saw my struggles decided to go over Castle instead of trying to glissade down. It would have been tough to stop. A couple hours later, I watched from just below the castle summit, 3 guys getting ready to glissade conundrum Couloir. I thought they have bigger cahones than me. 1st guy no problem. 2nd guy couldnt stop and went tumbling into the rocks at the bottom. I saw them walk away so luckily he wasnt dead. I hope you didnt get banged up too badly! |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: doeeth Info: Conundrum couloir is in! Castle couloir is not! Took conundrum couloir, my favorite 14er route to date. Crampons necessary for that route. Otherwise I had a friend whom I met on this hike who barely used his microspikes (on the standard route) although the trail crosses over sections of snowfields where you would not want to slip. Trekking pole at the minimum is necessary, would recommend ice axe for descent. It is much easier to descend by glissading but it can be dangerous to glissade from the steep saddle section. Just be very careful plz. Castle couloir is no longer in with a big stretch towards the summit of rocks. Yes there are lots of loose rocks on the route and this is remote, with only a little reception at the summit. Also, I think all trails might label the wrong summit as the true Conundrum summit, with the true summit being further North, past the other summit. Id guesstimate conundrum couloir could be in as far as 1-2.5 weeks from now. No post holing, and with the snow texture it felt like it would be hard to slip/fall the whole way down unless you straight up fell backwards. Theres snow pockets up and down the whole couloir about 0.5-1 feet deep that kind of feel like a big staircase/ladder. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: ryantasto Info: Climbed up castle north face couloir which is still filled in (but top is getting much more rocky) and had a boot pack going up. Then traversed across to conundrum and skied down the couloir which was in great shape. Was then able to ski down to 12k. |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: andlours Info: The descent from Castles summit to Conundrum was covered in 3 - 6 in of dusty snow, helping to mitigate the loose rock issue. Conundrum Couloir looked like it was nicely filled in from above. Lots of great glissading to be done from the saddle down to ~12k where the continuous snow stops. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 6/18/2023, By: SARAH342 Info: Oh my. This is a hell of a hike right now. We did the standard route through the saddle of Castle then veered right to bag Conundrum only. Tried to follow the standard route, but the snow makes it impossible to walk just under the saddle as the map indicates. 1. Trail is blocked off by a about 2 1/2 feet of snow around 10,600. We were intending to get up to at least 11,200 in a 16 inch clearance Jeep wrangler with a great driver, but the snow is a major block. Not a *single* car made it past that stretch. We got stuck after taking a few runs for momentum at it and thankfully another car was right there to give us a tow out of the drift (major shout out to Trout and Tuna!) Best guess is that it may be passable in another 1 1/2-2 weeks - maybe less if it's very sunny? 2. The snow in the upper basin going towards Conundrum is...not great. Extremely difficult/impossible to traverse the upper basin just under the saddle across as the map/reviews indicate. We had a few accidental glissades using poles and microspikes (the kind with teeth). Finally gave in and tried from the bottom of the upper basin straight up to the crux of Conundrum. This ish is *steep* and the snow in the morning only has a little bit of soft top to coming up that way is a huge task. We're talking kicking in every single step and using poles as anchors for each move; it's something like a 40% grade up a quarter mile. That being said, we got up and summited Conundrum which was LOVELY. Pretty sure our boot tracks in the upper basin got wiped out by skiers + it will probably melt more soon. Expect to be breaking trail if you go with this route. 3. Glissading down - have something to self arrest. Most people today had ice axes, we did just fine with shortened poles + spikes + backpacks on backs to create extra drag. Super fun (+fast)!! 4. Snow is getting VERY slushy up there. Not just the top, the whole mess. Coming down between 11am-noon was like skating through a 7-11 Slurpee. Definitely bring poles. Brought snow shoes, didn't need 'em. Enjoy! |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: fbriones Info: Excelent condions on June 10th, 2023. Camp at designated spots. Depart at 4 am. Climbed Conundrum couloir first, then traversed to Castle. Descend by the saddle, glissade. No flotation was necessary, but the snow was melting fast. A lot of snow on the road from the junction to Pear Pass. Patches at the ridge. Couloir is in great shape. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 6/2/2023, By: ClangClang Info: Did Conundrum Couloir on Tuesday with a buddy. There is a large snow drift, maybe 2ft deep, and about 150 ft long just after the river crossing which can't be driven past unless you have a triple locked serious 4x4 and are prepared to do some winching as well. But if you can get past this drift, you can drive on the road for at least another 1/2 mile, perhaps a little more. Might be fun? We got a dignified start at about 8am. Snow was firm and supportive the entire way. We carried snowshoes but never used them and finally stashed them at around 12k. The couloir itself was fun, safe, and supportive, however there is a lurking crevasse/bergschrund just below the left side rock band at the choke at the top. Make sure to stay in the center of the couloir! We descended Conundrum down the NE Ridge and then glissaded down to the col from the saddle between Conundrum and Castle. Even with our late start (and late finish) the snow was mostly supportive on the descent as well with minimal postholing. I expect this to get worse over the coming days though with continued warm weather. We're getting into the season where early starts are mandatory. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: jfm3 Info: I climbed Conundrum Couloir before going over to Castle. I parked at the end of the pavement. The road is snow-free until ~10,500 feet. It is mostly continuous to the Pearl Pass junction, though some of it can be avoided with a small strip on the right side of the road. From the Pearl Pass junction to the top is full snow cover. I started at 3:15 AM and reached the top at 8:20 AM. I put on crampons just above the treeline. At ~12,000 feet, the road starts to switchback to the north and stays high on the slope. I recommend ignoring the GPS route and going straight up the basin to the top of the road below the headwall. The snow is good and side-hilling with crampons on the road track was annoying. I went up the right side of the headwall to the bottom of the couloir. The snow up the couloir is in great shape. It had great "crunch" consistency for crampons- not icy, not bottomless, and there was a track with kicked-in steps about halfway up. There isn't really a cornice at the top. The final 30 feet to the summit was delicate with crampons. I took crampons off to traverse the south summit and ridge down to the saddle. The top of the ridge and the west side are mostly dry, junk rock. In a few places, the snow was slightly drifted (not really corniced) beyond the rock. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 5/28/2023, By: rhammond530 Info: Conundrum Couloir is in great shape. We started our climb at 6:15 AM and topped out by 7am. The snow was slightly too firm to kick steps in some sections, but perfect in others. We could have probably started climbing at 7am to let it soften up a little more. There is not much of a cornice up top, exiting to the right was trivial. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 5/26/2023, By: gotpow Info: Did the N couloir on Castle today, but got a pic of the Conundrum Couloir. Decent amount of slide debris in the apron, cornice is small and only present on climber's left side of couloir. |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 8/16/2022, By: Outbounder Info: LOST a pair of black and gray ladies c9 gloves, as seen in this picture. If you find them I'll pay you to ship them. Thank you! |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 8/8/2022, By: csf-lhiver Info: Fun hike over to Conundrum with good views of the Maroon area. Descending is loose but going slow makes it fine. Once on the level part of saddle it's a quick walk getting to the base of Conundrum and ascending. Rock is for the most part solid here as well. That saddle descent is a bit sketchy. If I were to do these peaks again without snow to the top of the saddle, I would not descend the saddle and instead go back over Castle and descend via the NE Ridge. Since I started so early, nobody would be attempting that descent anytime soon which is what made me okay with going this way. Bring a helmet for this section if you plan to do it. Going back down the 500' headwall, the snowfield to hikers left made for a more stable descent than staying on the scree/talus. Micro spikes could be useful here especially on the steeper section of the snow. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 7/10/2022, By: pbergmaier Info: Couloir is still in for climbing. Skiing, not so much. A decent amount of rockfall and debris scattered throughout. There was also some active rockfall during my climb, thankfully below me. I had crampons and an ice axe, which are a requirement at this point. Would not have made it without both. Started ascending it around 9:30 and reached the top by 10:30. Maneuvering up the steep rocky mess to get to the base of the couloir was most unpleasant. Descended via saddle glissade luge. Melting out quick! |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 7/8/2022, By: mtgoatmike Info: From Castle to Conundrum's summit there is zero snow. The glissade is doable, rocks are poking out throughout the run out...I tore 2 holes in my pants. Ice axe was very useful for decent control, if you don't have one, a hiking pole handle or even a good sized rock would suffice. |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 6/18/2022, By: AspenAlpinist Info: Drove from Ashcroft to 12K on Montezuma Road just below the hairpin. Climbed right moraine headwall in crampons to apron of Conundrum Couloir. Couloir is in great shape with snow wall to wall. Used 10pt rigid crampons and dual axes. No rock fall. Cornice at the top is not a factor. Quick summit of Conundrum then walked the ridge to the exit saddle. Downclimbed top 30 meters then a nice controlled glissade to the lake. Easy glissading from the right moraine (climbers right) to basin. I don't think the exit couloir will last long as it takes a ton of solar. Bergshrund is already opening. SM |
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Route: Conundrum Couloir Posted On: 6/8/2022, By: ReggieBop Info: Unlike Castle's N.Face Coulior last weekend of blizzard, thunderstorm and rain…. Conundrum Coulior was a balmy walk in the park. No snowshoes- left them at home (thanks to prior reports). Left the car at 6:30, scampered up to the summit at 10. The snow quality even with the warm day was superb. The cornice is there before topping out, very avoidable to climbers right. On the descent, downclimbed from the saddle- I was too scaredypants to glissade at mach30. Glissaded the head wall though- much many fun was had. And I ran into the Mayor of Pearl Pass on my way down. That man is a legend. Alllllll the cred to him, and his efforts in mountaineering and the community of Aspen. The realest of GOATs. He cannot be thanked enough! |
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Route: Castle and Conundrum Posted On: 6/6/2022, By: bsiegs Info: Started from campsite 1 at 4am, but road is clear to creek crossing. Decided at the last minute to leave the snowshoes in the car and that was 100% the right call - postholing was not an issue. There's a few snow drifts to cross as you make your way on the trail/road to the headwall, but nothing too major. Spikes/poles were sufficient for climbing the headwall itself, and there's various sets of established tracks on it. Once gaining the Castle NE Ridge, it's dry to the Castle summit and over to Conundrum. Coming back, if you choose to descend from the saddle, I would highly recommend down-climbing it rather than glissading. I attempted to glissade, but underestimated the steepness and speed. Lost control for a stretch and sprained my thumb + banged knee before self-arresting. Could have been a lot worse. I think a big contributing factor was that I glissaded in a previously established glissade path which significantly reduced friction and sped things up. The headwall itself is probably a bit more glissadable than the saddle, but I didn't take any further chances and just down-climbed. Popped some ibuprofen and was able to finish up without any further challenges. |
