CASTLE PEAK
09/07/07-09/09/07
Brady and Jon joined Ben and I for our 2nd attempt at summiting Castle Peak. Ben, Jacob, Matt and I failed when attempting to climb this 11,815 ft monster from the south last_year. However, we succeeded from the north side on this trip! The north side made for a very fun and technical climb…can you find Ben in this pic?
This was a very unique trip considering we summated Patterson Peak in total darkness (the moon was absent). This also happened to be Brady’s first peak climb...and he didn’t even see it…LOL! We hiked through the dark to be sure we camped “close” to Castle Peak, since time was the main reason we failed at completing the climb in 2006. In all, we visited eight lakes, summated three peaks, and climbed roughly 6,600 vertical ft in ~12 miles. Despite smoke from local forest fires, it was a phenomenal trip.
FRIDAY
4:00PM – left work
8:00PM – arrived at 8,800 ft 4th Of July Lake Trailhead
11:00PM – summated 10,872 Patterson Peak
SATURDAY
1:00AM – setup camp at 9,910 ft Emerald Lake
10:00AM – woke to 20 degree weather, left camp and headed towards Castle Peak
11:00AM – arrived at 9,242 ft Quiet Lake
NOON – reached 8,997 ft Noise Lake
1:30PM – reached 9,419 ft Castle Lake
5:00PM – conquered 11,815 ft Castle Peak!!!
6:30PM – descended Serrate Ridge
8:00PM – arrived back at camp
SUNDAY
11:30AM – packed up camp and departed Emerald Lake
1:00PM – summated the 10,850 ft peak east of 4th Of July Lake
