Trail Report - Castle and Conundrum Peaks - Colorado
7.7 Miles Round Trip
3639 feet of elevation gain
Date Climbed: August 27, 2019
Climbers: Matt, Erin, Paul
Castle and Conundrum Peaks! The Elks Range in Colorado is generally considered to have the
most difficult 14ers to climb, and Castle and Conundrum Peaks serve as a great intro!! While they may be the easiest
in the range, these babies still pack a punch!! There is a long 4WD drive approach (which you likely end up walking
part of), a tough ascent into a high-elevation basin, followed by a sloppy side-wall ascent leading to lots of
ridge climbing! The whole day includes plenty of difficult class 2 and a sprinkling of class 3 climbing.
The year prior, while climbing Mt. Sneffels, I met two fabulous friends, Matt and
Erin from Denver!! Matt is originally from the UK so he speaks with this oh-so-cool English accent! A year
later we corresponded, met up, and decided to give Castle and Conundrum a go!! One of the best things about
hiking / climbing are all of the great friends you meet and Matt and Erin are no exception! In the short
time we have spent together, we've gotten to know each other well... and the camaraderie of watching out
for each other that happens when you climb difficult peaks only hastens the friendship!! You are trusting
these people with your life, and in Matt and Erin I trust!!
The 4WD Castle Road is about several miles long ... good thing I had come
equiped with my Xterra! I was new to driving 4WD and Matt gave me some great lessons. We made it
up the rocky road crossing a stream and lots of rocks to our parking spot at 11,123'. From there we
walked the rest of the way to start into Montezuma Basin, which was a good 2.5 miles of road
walking... uphill but easy going.
Once arriving at the Montezuma Basin, the first part of the basin is a
steep slope and can have snow even in August, and with Winter 2019 snowing LOTS, there was still a
substantial snowfield to cross. Once again, so happy to have my pal Matt with me who showed me
how to saddle up my new microspikes as well as to use them! Matt, Erin and I slowly crossed the
snowfield, then some more boulders up higher in the basin. At about 13,300', you begin to see the
main basin area between Castle and Conundrum Peaks.
To get to the actual ridge on the Northeast Ridge route of Castle Peak
you first have to tackle a trail up the side / face of Castle. It looks nice in the pictures, but
boy this trail is a pain. It's steep and it's loose!! Once the murderous trip up the slope is
finished, it's time for fun ridge climbing! There is one large obstacle on the ridge where you might
be tempted to go right, but for the most part, stay directly on the ridge all the way to the summit!
Matt and Erin were first and then I made the summit of Castle Peak!! It
never gets old taking those first steps onto the summit of a peak you have worked so hard to climb! The
summit views from Castle are fantastic with views over to the Maroon Bells and across to Conundrum, the
next objective!
The Summit of Castle Peak!:
The official description on 14ers dot com of the Castle-Conundrum Combo shows
an exit gully near the saddle between the two peaks which will dump you back down into Montezuma Basin. We
looked at this gully, which still had snow on the bottom part, in addition to completely loose-looking dirt
on the very steep upper part, and quickly determined "no way!!". The consequence however would be that
were we to make it to Conundrum, the way back would entail going back up and over Castle! Decision
time (tick, tick, tick).. "let's go!!". And off we went.
The downclimb from Castle to the saddle with Conundrum was loose in a few
places and a wee bit exposed, but overall not too bad. Matt, Erin and I picked our way through the
rubble and down to the saddle. The way up Conundrum Peak actually goes very quickly. Once near
the top, there is the sky-bride / cat-walk type of path that was so much fun!
Walking along the top of Conundrum Peak, we saw a family of mountain
goats hanging out. I think we may have disturbed them a bit which was not the best, but they
seemed to handle it in stride and just moved over a bit to let us pass. The summit of Conundrum
Peak was awesome as well with more views out to the Elks and Sawatch as well as back to Castle Peak.
After a rest and a snack on Conundrum Peak, it was back over the sky
bridge and back to Castle!! Uuugghh, not that we don't love climbing these crazy peaks because
that's what we came there for (!!), but going back up and over a summit you already tackled just
so you can go back to your car is well ... tough!! Matt is in super-great shape and Erin is
strong, so yep, they kicked my butt back up Castle... but they were nice and waited for me at
the top!
We did it!! Well, except for the long trip down the ridge and loose gully to Montezuma
Basin and then across the snowfields and boulders and then down the road!! Ha ha! After taking
our time down, we made it to the road and celebrated with some high fives!! Our first foray
into the Elks was successful!!
To anyone considering this hike, bring your spikes, and don't underestimate
the challenge. The mileage and elevation gain isn't so huge but there's a lot of loose terrain and
ridge scrambling .. and if you go back over Castle, it's a tough day. We were happy to relax with
some beer and wine in Snowmass when it was all said and done!!
Hope this has been enjoyable and / or helpful to anyone reading it!!
Comments
Add Comment:
Name:
Comment:
Comments ReCaptcha (to verify you are actually a person)
Please click the ReCaptcha button below. Sorry to do this but we had robots posting spam messages on this blog and this prevents that.