Ski Tour Castle Peak

Gavin and Tom near the summit of Castle Peak Jan 2020

The winter of 2019 2020 started off solid and then it abruptly petered out. When the first snow storm in weeks hit on Saturday my son Gavin, our friend Tom and I decided to hit the road early on Sunday to enjoy the very popular ski tour of Castle Peak near Donner Pass. We figured we were unlikely to be the only ones thinking this way so we wasted little time getting out there. The snow was ideal. Someone had already skied up the evening prior so we did not need to break trail. There was a high layer of thin clouds that sucked the color out of everything (other than for Tom’s jacket!). We arrived at the crest of the route and turned North to ascend the ridge line to the summit of Castle Peak. We probably should have blazed our own trail at this point as the tracks that we were following did some pretty sketchy traverses and wandered way off of the traditional route. At last we arrived at the base of the summit dome. Here the snow had been wind scoured so not only was it steep but it was very hard and icy. Tom and Gavin convinced me to join them in taking off our skis and kicking steps in the ice to the summit. The views were incredible. We enjoyed a quick snack and took a few photos and carefully made it back down to our skis. It was obvious that the best quality and safest snow to ski back down on was in the trees. As we began our descent we saw multiple groups of skiers, snowshoers, and split boarders making their way up the peak.

We opted to traverse a ways toward Basin Peak and then skied the powder held in the trees down to Round Valley. None of us could contain our excitement. I wish it lasted 10x longer than it did but alas we bottomed out and then skinned our way back up the the ridge line (basically following the PCT). On our way back down the main route we saw countless groups out and about enjoying the outdoors. While it is always nice to see people getting exercise, it is even nicer beating them to it and enjoying it with some peace and quiet!

A quick technical note. As the cloud layer really sucked the color and contrast out of our day, I opted to process my photos in black and white to make them more graphic.

Tom scopes out the conditions on the south face of Castle Peak.

Gavin and Tom skin up the north ridge to the summit of Castle Peak.

Tom takes a look down a line on the north side. 

Summit Selfie

Snack break on top of Castle Peak.

Tom avoids crashing into me. I have a fondness of using very wide angle lenses when shooting adventure sports. They can give a perspective that most accurately represents being there. The problem is that it generally looks best to have the subject near you and in this case I didn’t leave a good path for Tom to swoop by me. Sorry Tom!

Gavin reaping the rewards of his efforts.