Castle Peak Trip Report 09/02/2015

Peak(s):	Castle Peak - 14,274 feet
Date Posted:	09/02/2015
Date Climbed:	08/29/2015
Author:	sheilahbo

Dangerous Mistakes
We left our nearby campsite (beautifully situated between two waterfalls across a narrow valley) by foot at 5 am, and got to the end of the 4WD road by 6 am (easy walk on a beautiful, dark morning). Our goal was to take the Northeast Ridge approach. Once we set out on the actual start of the trail at the end of the 4WD road, I mistakenly had Roach's words in my head, which said "Don't continue up the basin." To me, that meant cross the river, and head up the east side of the northeast ridge approach"a big mistake. At first, there were countless cairns to make us think we were on track (why do people do that?). It quickly became apparent we were not on an "easy to find" trail, as all the trip reports said. Instead, we were in a ridiculously dangerous, loose, boulder field. Experience and logic would have turned us around, but for some reason, at 12,800' those qualities did not govern. We continued to climb, thinking that 2+ meant difficult, large boulders, and the trail would declare itself "soon." It never did. We realized we were off course, but felt too committed to turn back (lack of helmets on this portion was foolish). My only reason for writing this report is to help others not repeat these mistakes. Thankfully, our line eventually led us to the actual trail on the front or western slope of the northeast ridge approach- a pure blessing at that point, as we could have ended up in several very difficult places. We summited by 10 am. The rest of the approach was very much as reported by others"very nice, and enjoyable. Our next mistake came after summiting Conundrum, an easy 40-60 minute hike across the precarious ridge. During our hike to Conundrum, a very dangerous rockslide occurred into the basin below. I had determined not to descend along the South Ridge route of Conundrum due to perceived danger even before the rockslide, but tired legs and the view and idea of heading BACK UP to the top of Castle changed my mind"that was my second mistake. I highly recommend avoiding this rocky, steep descent in its current state of no snow. Standing still as I waited for others below me to clear, I accidentally loosened rock that injured another climber below me (really bummed me out, and her, I'm sure). Not many people had helmets- I STRONGLY URGE HELMETS on these two peaks. The hike across large boulders at the bottom of the south ridge route was depressing, and scary in light of the earlier rockslide. It's possible my injuring another climber set my poor mood, and if I had it to do over again, I'd certainly choose to take the time to go back up Castle and descend the traditional route. We began our descent at noon, and did not arrive at the base of the boulder field until 2 pm"a long time for a short distance. Most of the slowness occurred as we waited for climbers below us to clear harm's way"a great reality during the entire descent. After 26 summit attempts, my mistakes felt like rookie mistakes. It's a beautiful climb, but hopefully you will not make the mistakes I did.

Dangerous Mistakes

We left our nearby campsite (beautifully situated between two waterfalls across a narrow valley) by foot at 5 am, and got to the end of the 4WD road by 6 am (easy walk on a beautiful, dark morning). Our goal was to take the Northeast Ridge approach. Once we set out on the actual start of the trail at the end of the 4WD road, I mistakenly had Roach's words in my head, which said "Don't continue up the basin." To me, that meant cross the river, and head up the east side of the northeast ridge approach"a big mistake.
At first, there were countless cairns to make us think we were on track (why do people do that?). It quickly became apparent we were not on an "easy to find" trail, as all the trip reports said. Instead, we were in a ridiculously dangerous, loose, boulder field. Experience and logic would have turned us around, but for some reason, at 12,800' those qualities did not govern. We continued to climb, thinking that 2+ meant difficult, large boulders, and the trail would declare itself "soon." It never did. We realized we were off course, but felt too committed to turn back (lack of helmets on this portion was foolish). My only reason for writing this report is to help others not repeat these mistakes. Thankfully, our line eventually led us to the actual trail on the front or western slope of the northeast ridge approach- a pure blessing at that point, as we could have ended up in several very difficult places. We summited by 10 am. The rest of the approach was very much as reported by others"very nice, and enjoyable.
Our next mistake came after summiting Conundrum, an easy 40-60 minute hike across the precarious ridge. During our hike to Conundrum, a very dangerous rockslide occurred into the basin below. I had determined not to descend along the South Ridge route of Conundrum due to perceived danger even before the rockslide, but tired legs and the view and idea of heading BACK UP to the top of Castle changed my mind"that was my second mistake. I highly recommend avoiding this rocky, steep descent in its current state of no snow. Standing still as I waited for others below me to clear, I accidentally loosened rock that injured another climber below me (really bummed me out, and her, I'm sure). Not many people had helmets- I STRONGLY URGE HELMETS on these two peaks.
The hike across large boulders at the bottom of the south ridge route was depressing, and scary in light of the earlier rockslide. It's possible my injuring another climber set my poor mood, and if I had it to do over again, I'd certainly choose to take the time to go back up Castle and descend the traditional route. We began our descent at noon, and did not arrive at the base of the boulder field until 2 pm"a long time for a short distance. Most of the slowness occurred as we waited for climbers below us to clear harm's way"a great reality during the entire descent. After 26 summit attempts, my mistakes felt like rookie mistakes. It's a beautiful climb, but hopefully you will not make the mistakes I did.

Comments or Questions

Otis	Same mistake on the way down 9/2/2015 1:34pm Several years ago, I made the same mistake, climbing down from the saddle of Conundrum and Castle. It was a lot steeper than it looked and boulders were coming down just from the snow melting. I hope the other climber is okay, and this post helps other climbers to NOT TAKE the shortcut down. It really does suck. I’ve since learned that going off trail is seldom a good choice, and have summited all the 14ers. This hike and Columbia were my two least favorite peaks to summit.
sheilahbo	Climber was Ok 9/2/2015 1:43pm Great emphasis; thank you. The young girl walked out on her own, and looked better from a distance, but I know she endured pain, and it was a horrible feeling on my part. I couldn’t even approach her to help for fear of making the situation worse.
goingup	~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9/2/2015 2:45pm I made the same exact mistake and completely ran out Castles northeast ridge...I never went into the basin, I never found the standard trail. I stayed ridge proper and it was def. class 4. I pulled some huge moves and dislodged some massive rocks. I was scared and I don’t say that often. After that exhausting journey, and once I rejoined the standard trail I dropped down on the wrong side of the ridge and found myself in a nightmarish gully. I finally summited Castle went over to Conun and then while descending the gully was almost nailed in the face by a dislodged rock from above. As well, there were nasty rock slides firing off down into the basin all day. These two mountains were supposed to be an easy outing for me and turned into a nightmarish hell. These should come with an extra warning attached.
twhalm	That saddle! 9/2/2015 3:38pm Descending that saddle in the summer was probably the sketchiest thing I have ever done on a 14er! It is okay and fun with snow, but I agree with goingup! Trip reports like these are good in that they raise awareness about potentially dangerous and popular routes. Thanks for posting
AdDoBe	Resummiting Castle 9/2/2015 7:03pm Your TR brings back some memories... When my wife and I did Castle/Conundrum last year she was adamant that we resummit Castle instead of descending the saddle while I wanted to take the "shortcut." Of course, she won and, to be honest, the hike back up Castle wasn’t bad at all. If we repeat those two, I’d definitely resummit Castle again.
thelonious	She’s okay! 9/3/2015 1:45pm The climber that was hit by the rock was in our group of four. She’s still keeping ice on her ankle but in general she’s okay and continues to get better. She’ll be running again in the next few weeks. Thank you for sharing your words of caution; the gully (without snow) is certainly not a place for much traffic.
greenonion	Great Post 9/4/2015 3:28pm Thanks for being a compassionate human being and explaining what happened. Nicely done!
Wish I lived in CO	Harder than it is billed to be 9/17/2015 9:26am Was there 3 days ago. Beautiful climb. Though there are cairns, it is still not easy going through the boulderfield, but that is just part of climbing. Not to be critical, but I go by a saying that if it is too hard you are probably off course. That’s when it is time to re–evaluate and either turn back to find the correct route or accept the alternate that you are on. I got off route too, having dropped too low up high on the right side of Castles ridge and had to work my way back up a crappy scree gulley to get back on ridgetop / route. Having said all that, I thought the standard route (that I returned on) would more appropriately be class 3. One move in particular you have to definately use your hands to keep yourself upright as you swing around over exposure and then climb up. 2 or 3 other moves are class 2+ / 3–. Was tempted to take the saddle shortcut on return from cunundrum as I was exhausted, but was not familiar with it, and it looked steep. Glad I didn’t.
sheilahbo	Thanks 9/17/2015 10:53am I appreciate all the comments. I totally agree with you "Wish I lived in Colo." I’m still scratching my head about how we allowed ourselves to get in over our heads, and giving thanks it worked out well. I guess we keep learning about ourselves, life and climbing as we continue. I can’t wait to start the next one!

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