sparverius Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Trip: Castle Crags - Cosmic Wall Date: 3/11/2007 Trip Report: Anna and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather this past weekend and headed down to Castle Crags. Despite the beautufil weather, we only encountered two hiking parties on the trail into the wilderness. The only snow on the approach was on the ridge leading up to Mt. Hubris. Postholing through the rotten snow into tangles of manzanita slowed our progress. Once on the route, the climbing was nearly snow free. There was a snow drift at one of the belay ledges and small streams of meltwater ran down some of the cracks. These didn't detract from the climb, as we had the crags to ourselves and great views of Shasta and surrounding crags. The rappel into the gulley presented more lingering snowdrifts and a frustrating descent to the trail. But the thrashing and postholing didn't last long. We were rewarded by the setting sun, which lit up the granite and pines and turned Mt. Shasta pink. Approaching Mt. Hubris and Cosmic Wall Castle Dome the fun descent Gear Notes: 60m rope is useful to reduce the number of pitches and rappels Approach Notes: trail is snowfree. Ridge leading up to base of Cosmic wall has patches of deep snow. Descent Gulley also has deep snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyleaf Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Nice pics. Glad to see people who aren't afraid to get their feet wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweatinoutliquor Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Sweetness pics guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matopis Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Must be nice climbing in the sun. I prefer going up in the rain and then nearly bivying in the trees! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparverius Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 that photo brings back some good memories of climbing in the clouds and nearly getting benighted in the manzanitas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CascadeClimber Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Wow, those pics bring back some memories. I climbed it with an old buddy, Michael Moore, in May 1997 after crunching my knee just a few weeks earlier. The ortho twice drained 12oz of fluid out of it so it worked enough for me to go (we also climbed Casaval Ridge on that trip). I'll remember thrashing through that manzanita in shorts for the rest of my life! Thanks for the pics and the trip down memory lane. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalmsky Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Great shots. I have not been able to get down to these crags but am planning on hitting them next week. Any guidebooks and/or links to find some helpful beta? ** Been climbing in the NW for so long, thought some California granite would be a nice change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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