My Jeep Crossing Castle Creek (Sep '08)
You can take this jeep trail all the way to 12,800', but the 14'er purest likes to hike at least 3000' of elevation to call it a complete climb. If you look close, you can see somebody drove it all the way to the top and parked their truck there.Castle Jeep Trail - Parking at 12,800' (Far Left)
In that spirit, we parked as close to 11k' as we could estimate (a GPS or altimeter would have been nice here) and hiked the rest of the way. What a beautiful hike! To top it off, somebody had placed a cross on one particular switchback around 12,000'. What a great way to start a day of hiking - a reminder that God was with us and watching over our every step.Praise the Lord!
We made it to the end of the jeep trail (12.8k) and were faced with a decision: continue directly into Montezuma Basin via the standard "Northeast Ridge Trail" or try the variation to the Northeast Ridge route. The variation takes you directly up the ridge all the way from the 12.8k parking. This piqued our interest as the terrain looked more challenging and guaranteed fewer crowds. The variation is seen behind Graham in this picture. Gerry Roach (author of Colorado's Fourteeners Guidebook) suggested staying south of the Buttress (the large rock seen just right of Graham's head).
The route around the buttress was alot of fun! It required several pitches of hand-over-hand scrambling with the snow making footing somewhat tricky in spots. It was an exciting change from the standard, flat-trail hiking.
Once you make it to the intersection of where the variation and the standard route meet, you get a breathtaking view of Castle's summit and the saddle between Castle and Conundrum. The rest of the trail from here to Castle's summit was both mine and Graham's favorite part of the hike.
Castle Peak (left) and the Ridge between Castle and Conundrum (right)
The ridge over to Conundrum was a little tricky because a thin glaze of snow made the rocks very slippery. The views were great to the west (you could see the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, Pyramid, and Capitol Peaks - all 14ers). We hiked the majority of the ridge with the electrical engineer (I think his name was Shawn). The traverse to Conundrum took us about 45 minutes. The summit of Conundrum was fairly tiny compared to most but the view was, again - INCREDIBLE! Being on the mountain top totally restores my soul - a Rocky Mountain "high" I don't get from anything else. And being with my Brother makes it all the more awesome!
There were two options for getting down off the peaks - one was to hike the ridge back to Castle Peak and descend via the route we came up. The much more interesting option, though, was the one we opted for. This involved hiking down to the low point of the saddle between the two peaks and descending a large snow field that drops you into the heart of Montezuma Basin. Unfortunately, I didn't come prepared to glissade (a technique of dawning snow pants, and sliding down a snow slope - oodles of fun!) This is best accomplished with waterproof pants (which I didn't have) and an ice axe for braking action (another tool I didn't have).
From this point we descended another large snow slope which spit us back out at the 12,800' parking area. We hiked the jeep trail the rest of the way to our car at 11k' and called it a day. I must say that the one disappointment of the day was the jeep trail hike back down. Because you can drive up so far, alot of non-hiking types were tearing up and down the trail with their four-wheelers, motorcycles, and 4-wheel drive vehicles. It sort-of ruined the serenity of it all - having to listen to the obnoxious noise and breathe the nasty exhaust. Yeah, I'm sure it's fun if you're the one riding, but have a little consideration for the peace of the high country, huh!?
After we were off the mountain, we found a little pub in downtown Carbondale and chowed down some Nachos and beer - a pretty tasty combo after a long day of hiking, don't ya think? We drove McClure Pass back over to Delta and then on to Montrose where we met our families for a deli dinner. What a day! Thanks God! And thanks Graham for the camaraderie! This year's 14'er window has pretty much closed, but I can't wait for next summer when we can do it all again on another undiscovered peak!
COMING SOON: 27-28 Sept, Zion National Park, Camping Expedition
Graham and the Northeast Ridge Variation Route
The route around the buttress was alot of fun! It required several pitches of hand-over-hand scrambling with the snow making footing somewhat tricky in spots. It was an exciting change from the standard, flat-trail hiking.Matt on Castle Peak's Northeast Ridge
Once you make it to the intersection of where the variation and the standard route meet, you get a breathtaking view of Castle's summit and the saddle between Castle and Conundrum. The rest of the trail from here to Castle's summit was both mine and Graham's favorite part of the hike.
Graham and Castle Peak in the Background
Castle Peak (left) and the Ridge between Castle and Conundrum (right)
We met some neat people on top of Castle, but it was starting to get frigid! There were some snow flurries beginning and it was only 10:00! The weather improved as we hiked from Castle to Conundrum, and we were encouraged that the clouds approaching from the west were relatively moisture-less and NOT building like a typical thunderhead. We ate some lunch on top, swapped some stories with the other 4 or so people that were there, and started over to Conundrum. The picture below was taken by an electrical engineer who lived in Evergreen.
Graham and I on Top of Castle Peak (14,265')
Graham on Conundrum Peak (14,060') with Castle Peak in the Background
There were two options for getting down off the peaks - one was to hike the ridge back to Castle Peak and descend via the route we came up. The much more interesting option, though, was the one we opted for. This involved hiking down to the low point of the saddle between the two peaks and descending a large snow field that drops you into the heart of Montezuma Basin. Unfortunately, I didn't come prepared to glissade (a technique of dawning snow pants, and sliding down a snow slope - oodles of fun!) This is best accomplished with waterproof pants (which I didn't have) and an ice axe for braking action (another tool I didn't have).
The Snow Slope above Montezuma Basin
There's an amazing alpine lake in the middle of the basin that looks like it's collapsing from erosion.
After a fun hike/slide down the snow slope, we started walking around the outer perimeter of the lake. This was when I got the next thrill of an already great day. All of a sudden I collapsed up to my armpits in a snow hole! What a blast! I know...I wouldn't be saying the same thing if it had been 20 feet deep; but I definitely felt like more of a mountaineer after this day was over!
Montezuma Basin Lake
After a fun hike/slide down the snow slope, we started walking around the outer perimeter of the lake. This was when I got the next thrill of an already great day. All of a sudden I collapsed up to my armpits in a snow hole! What a blast! I know...I wouldn't be saying the same thing if it had been 20 feet deep; but I definitely felt like more of a mountaineer after this day was over!Up to my Armpits in Fun!
From this point we descended another large snow slope which spit us back out at the 12,800' parking area. We hiked the jeep trail the rest of the way to our car at 11k' and called it a day. I must say that the one disappointment of the day was the jeep trail hike back down. Because you can drive up so far, alot of non-hiking types were tearing up and down the trail with their four-wheelers, motorcycles, and 4-wheel drive vehicles. It sort-of ruined the serenity of it all - having to listen to the obnoxious noise and breathe the nasty exhaust. Yeah, I'm sure it's fun if you're the one riding, but have a little consideration for the peace of the high country, huh!?
After we were off the mountain, we found a little pub in downtown Carbondale and chowed down some Nachos and beer - a pretty tasty combo after a long day of hiking, don't ya think? We drove McClure Pass back over to Delta and then on to Montrose where we met our families for a deli dinner. What a day! Thanks God! And thanks Graham for the camaraderie! This year's 14'er window has pretty much closed, but I can't wait for next summer when we can do it all again on another undiscovered peak!
COMING SOON: 27-28 Sept, Zion National Park, Camping Expedition
1 comment:
I envy you two mountaineers being able to check off another two-fer. Great photos too. After Shavano I'm not sure how many more fourteeners I got in me, but I'll get in better shape this winter so I can try again. Matt, I agree that being on the mountain with you is the best place in the world to be!!!
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