Conundrum Peak Trip Report 06/28/2015

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Conundrum Peak - 14,037 feet Castle Peak - 14,274 feet
Date Posted	06/28/2015
Date Climbed	06/27/2015
Author	Somewhat of a Prick
Additional Members	falcon568

Conundrum Couloir, plus Castle. Caulk the wagons and float!
Chad and I drove up on Friday night, really really really hoping to get the Xterra across the raging river so we could park at Pearl Pass and save ourselves a lot of garbage road miles and suffering the next morning. The last conditions image of the river on Castle Creek Road looked pretty full so we were not sure what to expect. Chad drove like a boss right through it: We were on the move a little before 3:30am the next morning with a beautiful clear night sky, I had to snap a pic before we headed up: There was quite a bit of water on the road shortly before the first switchback. We had our mountaineering boots on so we stayed dry, but if you head up soon with just regular hiking boots or trail runners it will be difficult to remain dry. I would take off your socks or bring a 2nd pair. The road to the upper trailhead was dry up until the last quarter/half mile or so, then there was some snow/water but not really a big deal. We donned our crampons shortly after the upper trailhead, before the headwall that leads into the basin. There is still a LOT of snow in Montezuma Basin. The headwall to the basin will be hard right now without at least microspikes, the crampons were very useful here and I was not expecting to put them on until the couloir. We timed it perfectly and caught sunrise right when we approached the start of the couloir: The couloir conditions were great, the snow wasn't quite bulletproof but also wasn't mushy either. Here are our pics headed up: It took us roughly 30 minutes or so to go from the bottom to the top of the couloir. Summit shots from Conundrum: We headed to Castle and the ridge from Conundrum all the way to the summit of Castle was fairly clear of snow. Just a regular talusy class 2 ridge to follow up. We made short work of it and Chad got his 2'fer. Summit shots from Castle: We headed back to the saddle between Castle/Conundrum to glissade down to the lake and head out of the basin. The glissade was fun, we got some serious speed heading down. We popped out right before the lake and fortunately it was still early enough that we were not postholing in the basin. Another 30 minutes to an hour later and we would have had some problems. Chad strolling past the lake We caught a couple more glissades down the headwall out of the basin and were on the road back to the car in no time. We arrived at the car at around 9:30am, for a total of about 6 hours round trip. We re-crossed the river and were home free from there. We had our snowshoes but did not put them on the entire day, barely. We punched through the snow a few times on the way out but not bad enough to warrant stopping and putting them on. The early start was critical.

Conundrum Couloir, plus Castle. Caulk the wagons and float!

Chad and I drove up on Friday night, really really really hoping to get the Xterra across the raging river so we could park at Pearl Pass and save ourselves a lot of garbage road miles and suffering the next morning. The last conditions image of the river on Castle Creek Road looked pretty full so we were not sure what to expect.

Chad drove like a boss right through it:

We were on the move a little before 3:30am the next morning with a beautiful clear night sky, I had to snap a pic before we headed up:

There was quite a bit of water on the road shortly before the first switchback. We had our mountaineering boots on so we stayed dry, but if you head up soon with just regular hiking boots or trail runners it will be difficult to remain dry. I would take off your socks or bring a 2nd pair.

The road to the upper trailhead was dry up until the last quarter/half mile or so, then there was some snow/water but not really a big deal. We donned our crampons shortly after the upper trailhead, before the headwall that leads into the basin. There is still a LOT of snow in Montezuma Basin. The headwall to the basin will be hard right now without at least microspikes, the crampons were very useful here and I was not expecting to put them on until the couloir.

We timed it perfectly and caught sunrise right when we approached the start of the couloir:

The couloir conditions were great, the snow wasn't quite bulletproof but also wasn't mushy either. Here are our pics headed up:

It took us roughly 30 minutes or so to go from the bottom to the top of the couloir.

Summit shots from Conundrum:

We headed to Castle and the ridge from Conundrum all the way to the summit of Castle was fairly clear of snow. Just a regular talusy class 2 ridge to follow up. We made short work of it and Chad got his 2'fer.

Summit shots from Castle:

We headed back to the saddle between Castle/Conundrum to glissade down to the lake and head out of the basin. The glissade was fun, we got some serious speed heading down. We popped out right before the lake and fortunately it was still early enough that we were not postholing in the basin. Another 30 minutes to an hour later and we would have had some problems.

Chad strolling past the lake

We caught a couple more glissades down the headwall out of the basin and were on the road back to the car in no time. We arrived at the car at around 9:30am, for a total of about 6 hours round trip. We re-crossed the river and were home free from there.

We had our snowshoes but did not put them on the entire day, barely. We punched through the snow a few times on the way out but not bad enough to warrant stopping and putting them on. The early start was critical.

Comments or Questions

snowymountainsrock	Beautiful Pictures! 6/28/2015 2:13pm Great trip report! The pictures are incredible. I’ve been wanting to do these 2 in the snow for quite a while and your pictures inspired me even more!
zdero1	Great job,buddy! 6/28/2015 8:59pm But I think this would be better in the "condition update" category.
Somewhat of a Prick	You’re right! 6/28/2015 9:01pm :D
Mike Shepherd	Stars 6/29/2015 12:01am How did you get the star photo to come in so well? Good job with the creek crossing as well.
Somewhat of a Prick	Stars 6/29/2015 6:35am It came out so–so, I’m happy with it being a noob with astrophotography still. I just did a long shutter to capture all the light
Jay521	Super pics! 6/29/2015 10:53am What a nice report! That’s the way to do Conundrum....

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