Castle Peak Ski Descent

Add Heading Here

Arrived at the Castle Creek trailhead and set up camp around 7 pm on Saturday May 27th. Seeing as it would be easier to do so in light, then in the dark the next morning, organized my pack and gear in preparation for an early start.
Woke up around 4:30 am on Sunday morning and parked at the first stream crossing as mentioned in most descriptions and started up the four-wheel drive road at 5 am. The hike up the road through some abaondoned mines was quite a long, uneventful trek especially with skis and ski boots along for the ride. Followed the road as best as I could, till reaching the first small basin at around 12,800. Took a break and switched the hiking boots for ski boots here before hiking up a short snow slope to reach Montezuma Basin with great views of both Castle and Conundrum peaks. From here I decided to backtrack to the northeast ridge (I had ascended more towards the northwest ridge) since the trail leading to the ridge was well-defined. There was no snow present on this ridge so I gave it a go. I checked out avalanche conditions for a few minutes and noticed very little in the way of slide activity in the area and the snow seemed in stable condition.
The hike up to and across the ridge was more difficult than I had expected, but mainly because I kept my ski boots on and was carrying the skis which would catch in the wind gusts every so often. Had to move slowly and be sure of my foot placements along the ridge, but eventually summited around 9:30 am as a group of five skiers headed down the east face. After a quick break and some photos (14er #12 for me), strapped on the skis and skied from the summit to the north couloir that is obvious when viewed from the lower basin. The snow was still a bit hard and crusty on the top half of the coulior with a few rocks poking through. Took my time here before opening it up and letting the skis run in the bottom 2/3‘s and runout. Most of the reports I have read estimate the steepness at 40 degrees or so and I would agree with those.
Because I hadn‘t had enough yet and the snow was still holding up well, I decided to hike up to the saddle between Castle and Conundrum. Got to the ridge around 10:30 am and got some great turns in down the huge open bowl in some softening snow. Headed down the remaining route while getting some short stretches of decent pitches to ski. Tried to keep the skis on for as long as possible, but ended up hiking the last 1 to 1.5 miles to the car in my ski boots since I was too lazy to switch back to my hiking boots.
Overall, I estimate I travelled about 10 miles with around 5,000 vertical including the extra trip to the Castle/Conundrum saddle. Total trip took 7 hours.
To anyone considering this route, be warned that it is a long way especially with siginificant snow present. Several people took a route up the east face that I was unfamiliar with but seemed to be much more direct and shorter than my route.