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Castle and Conundrumon on a Spectacular October Day
Castle Peak
Conundrum Peak
October 18, 2008
Danielle, Mathew, and Nathan
None of us had ever climbed any of the Elk 14ers and since we were rapidly running out of weekends to climb before serious snow hit, we decided to head to Castle Peak with the promise of terrific weather.
We parked just before the stream crossing and camped the night of October 17. Early Saturday morning, we headed up the 4WD road toward the two towering peaks. We started around 7:00 and reached the first summit just after noon.
The snow in much of Montezuma Basin was soft and unconsolidated, but not TOO deep.
We climbed the steeper part of the basin/glacier on better snow. The snowboarders in front of us were nice enough to kick steps on their way up. Thanks, guys!
We decided upon the Northeast Ridge up the Peak. Mat broke trail much of the way up the peak.
Getting up to the ridge was the toughest climbing of the day because the snow was loose and unconsolidated over loose, nasty scree and broken rock.
Once on the ridge, climbing wasn't as steep, but was more exposed.
We didn't feel the crampons would help much on the loose snow. There were enough dry rocks that the climbing didn't feel too dangerous.
Looking back as Danielle climbs the ridge.
Mathew reaches the false summit, just before the final pitch.
We met a snowboarder near the summit, who headed down for an awesome ride into the basin!
The final push to the summit was terrific.
...And a bit more exposed in places.
On top, we had fabulous weather for enjoying Colorado. Barely a hint of wind and relatively warm temperatures. Danielle had carried along all manner of great snacks.
The Northwest Ridge over to the Conundrum saddle was very easy.
The climb up Conundrum was almost entirely dry after the saddle.
Danielle traverses the fun ridge.
Mathew reaches the actual summit of Conundrum.
Conundrum has a great view of Castle.
There was a little bit of snow just above the Conundrum Couloir.
What a day to climb the mountains!
What a great group to enjoy the mountains!
And here‘s a quick video of what it was like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN03WAuPsJE
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Sweet at least me and my buddy weren‘t the only nuts up in the Elks this past weekend. Did you look towards Pyramid at around 3:00 cus we were on the summit.
Beautiful pics, and great TR! I really wanted to get back to the Elks before the heavy snows, but dunno if it‘s going to happen. Thanks for letting me enjoy them vicariously!
The snow actually looked pretty solid compared to the other snow we crossed. Notice the vertical step at the top. We weren't actually on the snow in the couloir, so I'm not sure how hard it was...
and quality writeup guys. Did you by chance get a photo of the Conundrum Couloir?
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