Route: East Face

Team: Ted, Dirk Bockelmann, Amos Whiting

With just a few days before a trip to Chamonix and the Haute Route, I was looking to get some more time out on the skis. I had just returned from skiing Uncompahgre Peak with Christy when Dirk’s name appeared on my caller ID.

Dirk and Amos Whiting were skinning into the Tagert Hut to spend the night for an assault on Castle Peak’s committing East Face. Amos was just days away from heading up to Valdez to take his AMGA ski guide exam, where a passing grade would earn him the coveted certification from the IFMGA/UIAGM International Guides Association. At the time, only a few were in the country with such a distinction. You could say Amos was in the taper phase a runner goes through before a big event. He was so fired up for the 7-day exam, and he took charge and called the shots here.

The morning forecast called for unsettled weather. When we woke, several inches of new snow had fallen on the hut’s deck. It wasn’t too much to have to call the day off, but it was something to bear in mind as we headed out. The decision was made to head towards Castle as planned. The continued cloud cover could keep things cool and the threat of wet avalanches down.

Skinning from the hut, we made good time to the base of the East Face. We stopped at the side of the exit of the ski line, which was marked by the enormous cone of snow that had been piling up all season. We were barely there for a minute when spindrift from the overnight snow poured down near us. The snow was still falling lightly; we had thought it to be OK, but maybe there was too much on the face to climb safely. Before we could even decide, another round of spindrift came down. So we quickly moved away from the face.

It was still before dawn, we headed further northeast to seek a way up onto the Northeast Ridge. If we could get on that ridge, we could safely reach the summit, and we could maybe still ski the East Face from the top. As a backup plan, if upon reaching the summit we deemed it too risky we could always ski the more moderate Montezuma Basin (N) side.

A short distance to the north, there exists up on a prominent couloir that gains the ridge at a lower angle than the central East Face. We started up, and thirty minutes later, we were on the Northeast Ridge, where it meets the summer trail, walking to the summit. There were big breaks in the clouds from time-to-time, the weather was definitely improving.

After summiting and discussing the options, we decided to go for the East Face route, and it was good. The small amount of sun from breaks in the clouds made the spring powder a bit heavy and the new snow sloughed out the main central gully after a couple of ski cuts. For the most part, it was really fun. Once down and off the face we were all psyched we didn’t throw in the towel earlier. The perseverance paid off— that line is a classic.

And Amos would pass his test.