Castle Peak East Face Ski

Fun, steep skiing on the east face of Castle Peak on May 14th.

Last Friday a group of us climbed Castle Peak (14,265 ft) and skied its east face route, a classic Elk Range line and one that I’d been looking at for several years. The day went off without a hitch as a recent storm had deposited a good amount of snow high on the face, which settled nicely and made for a great corn run down into Castle Creek.

This snow year has been a bit of an odd duck with tons of snow falling east of the divide but much of the rest of the state remaining below average. A consistent series of refreshes in April and early-May propped up the thin snowpack and allowed for some lines to go. One of those lines that seemed like it could be in was the east face of Castle Peak. We kept our eyes peeled for any info that might confirm as much but ultimately a little faith was required on this one. Sometimes you just have to go and see.

The line as photographed in “Ski the 14ers.” It isn’t hard to see the appeal of this one. Click to enlarge.

Partners for this early morning ski wound up being Dylan, Rick and Carl, with a surprise appearance by Mike Bean who met us at the base of Castle’s north face after skiing the Conundrum Couloir. Apart from Mike, the rest of us starting skinning up the road from just below the first creek crossing at 4:30am. The overnight freeze was more than adequate with clear skies and a low of 20 degrees at 12,000 ft.

Good morning Elk Mountains.

Sunrise over Malemute Peak.

The day was more or less windless and early on it was easy to tell it was going to be a warm one. It really is amazing just how much the timing matters on these big east faces in the Elks in May and June.

After rounding the corner Mike radioed and let us know he was finished on Conundrum. Twenty minutes later we picked him up and made the short boot up the north face of Castle. I was hit with a bit of nostalgia as I hadn’t been in this basin since skiing Castle and Conundrum in 2009. Suffice it to say the north face route was looking pretty thin compared to the coverage we had on that June day.

Finishing off the last little bit to the summit with the east face falling away to the left.

Despite the north face looking haggard, we were a little surprised to see just how good the coverage was high on the east face. It seemed likely the face was good enough to go all the way to the bottom. We hit Castle’s summit at 8:30am.

Views from the top looking into the heart of the Elks. Click to enlarge.

After some lively summit conversation it was time to get down to business. The upper-face had ripened to near perfection and we took turns dropping down the initial steep pitch before traversing to the south.

Rick on the upper-pitch off the summit.

Good corn on the part of the line that mattered most.

After regrouping we could see a continuous finger down below that looked to be the ticket. Several hundred more feet of steep turns led to a narrow chute that I imagine gets a lot wider in bigger snow years, with more options available as well. We took turns working our way through the chute one by one as the face was heating up quickly.

POV shot looking down the line. The rest of the guys can be seen down to the right.

Lower on the face above the exit chute.

Dylan heading for the top of the chute. Mashed potatoes through here.

After clearing the face we all regrouped again and tore off every layer of clothing we could. From the summit to the bottom of the line the temps must’ve shot up 20 degrees. Just like most things in life, timing is everything.

Done and done.

Then it was on down to the fun ski out of Castle Creek, which was another highlight of the morning in and of itself. Past the Green-Wilson Huts we hit the road again and kept skis on to within a hundred yards of the car. Shorts, sandals and beers were broken out, and that just about does it for this report 🙂

What a line.