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TR: 4/29/2017 Castle Peak & Peter Grubb Hut

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:02 pm
by Flamingo
Hi All,

Yesterday I enjoyed a quick snowshoe day-hike up Castle Peak at Donner Summit, and I also visited the Peter Grubb Hut. I posted photos down below.

Overall, it was a nearly perfect day for the summit. There was no wind, the weather was warm, and the sky was so clear I could see Mount Lassen. There remains A LOT of snow. The Peter Grubb Hut is buried under a 25+ foot drift (see photos below).

Snow Conditions:
The snow quality was very mixed. In the morning, the snow was consolidated and firm; although I wore snowshoes, I could easily have worn running shoes and microspikes on the hard-packed approach through the trees. Later in the day, I encountered steep icy patches while ascending Castle Peak's western ridge. I'm glad I had aggressive traction on my snowshoes (MSR Lightning Ascents). With the televator bar up, the ascent was a breeze -- it felt like climbing stairs. During my descent, a couple hours later, the top layer of ice had melted and created some safety problems. Although my snowshoes gained traction in the top one-inch of snow, the top layer was prone to sliding over an icy base. I fell a couple times and fortunately self-arrested. I did not feel entirely stable or safe during the descent, and I wish I brought my 12-point crampons for this section.

I arrived at Donner Sno-Park at 9:30 am, reached Castle Peak summit at noon, and I returned to the Donner Sno-Park at 3:30pm.

I posted a few photos below. You can view all my photos on Flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/victorhansonsmith/9T720D
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Re: TR: 4/29/2017 Castle Peak & Peter Grubb Hut

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:51 pm
by rlown
Very cool! It's a great hike, but also a great trip on skis. Did that one year from your starting way down the carpenter valley East all the way to the condos North of Truckee. Nice pics as well.

Re: TR: 4/29/2017 Castle Peak & Peter Grubb Hut

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 3:46 pm
by Rockyroad
Glad you were able to find parking this time. Thanks for the report and nice photos. That's quite a crowd at the western summit. Last year Feb, there was only 1 other person so we went up the eastern summit together. Now I want to go again.