wyatt_meyers - Jul 26, 2021 9:39 am Date Climbed: Sep 12, 2020
Successful summit with sister
Second accent, brought my little sis along this time. Always an awesome climb. Saw a marten on the summit! Left my water bottle, sorry guys!
sjaxon16 - Aug 5, 2019 5:17 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2019
Castle Peak!
Been trying to get this one done for a while! Glad to finally have it finished!
droot - Aug 2, 2018 4:30 pm Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2018
Fun peak, great views
First peak we'd done in quite some time. Camped at the lake at the base on the Chamberlin Basin side, and took about 2 hours to reach the top. Easy going (although steep and loose sometimes) up the gully that takes off from the tree patch on Castle's flank. No real difficult moves until right near the ridgeline, and then there were some fun ones. Beautiful views from the top, lots of lakes! Going down was easier as we found a better route that stayed ~50ft away from the gully for the last few hundred yards. Lake to lake was 4hrs.
mfox79 - Jul 29, 2018 7:14 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2018
Castle Baby!!!
Day one we hiked into Chamberlain Basin and set up camp. day 2 we started up at 6:20am and scrambled up some of the most consistent and fun class 3 scrambling I've ever done. we reached the top just after 10:00am. this mountain is steep with lots of route finding both up and down. we made it back to camp around 2:00pm and broke down camp and hiked out. we made it back to the trailhead about 6:30pm. This is an amazing peak and a very long day.
wyatt_meyers - Oct 24, 2017 1:42 pm Date Climbed: Jul 20, 2016
Successful solo
Solo summit, only person up there is ten days according to the log. Still a bit snowy, but you could get around it.
sroot - Aug 4, 2016 10:25 pm Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2016
Absolutely awesome!
Started from Fourth of July Creek Trailhead, crossed over the shortcut by Washington Lake and into Chamberlain Basin. Summited the next morning in about two hours from the lower lake in the basin. Such a beautiful summit view! Hiked out the long way instead of taking the Washington Lake shortcut, definitely a longer trip out.
boisedoc - Oct 11, 2015 9:57 am Date Climbed: Oct 10, 2015
spectacular October day
I had been wanting to climb this for 10 years so I was very happy to get the summit. Splattski and Tim joined me for a day hike via Chamberlain basin. We drove up toward Washington basin- road is in good shape. Lots of hunters out. Super warm for October and no snow on the south side. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to where the actual highpoint is on Castle. I think Dennis Poulin's trip report on peak bagger and Victor Zhou's (castlereigh) on summitpost are the most useful if you want to get to the actual highpoint. As everyone has stated, lots of loose rock. The last 200 feet to the summit involve some pretty fun scrambling with a bit of exposure. Saw a few mountain goats.
DrGranola - Aug 19, 2015 6:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2015
Climbed Solo
Moderately risky solo climb. Tedious talus to fun class III/VI scramble to the summit. Watch out for loose blocks!
Hiked in from Three Cabins Creek TH. It's a long day of hiking if you're coming from that way so start early. Made it up to the benchmark following the right of the snow patch on the way up. Almost got stuck a couple times coming down but found routes on the far right of the descent near the top. I was alone and surprisingly encountered very little loose rock. I think I was lucky. As was posted a couple days ago, this is a no-nonsense mountain.
About 150 vert below the summit in the main gulley my brother traversed a little outside to the right where the rock "looked" more solid and was free of the pesky scree and small talus that threatened those below. He pulled off a chest size boulder that smashed his leg, breaking his fibula in what we found later to be 3 places. This in turn set off a few more refrigerator sized blocks. DO NOT follow each other or another party on this route. He was pretty shaken and bled continuously for the next day at first fairly rapidly and then a slow ooze after wrapping, but constantly soaking through bandages. No cell service here. We slowely got him to scramble, three man assisted walk, piggyback, fireman carry, and hop with trekking poles back around Castle lake to some guys (Jeff) that helped get us up the pass and then back to camp in Chamberlain where 16.5 hours later we crashed for 5 hours of much needed sleep. Then with another couples help (Cassidy and Mike) we made rapid though tiring progress up to the Germainia divide, where we met an orthopeadic surgion and her awesome mountain bike that my brother was able to slowly ride down on to the intersection with the Washington Creek route where we thankfully immediately ran into some dirt bikers that got him rapidly up the last mile of uphill to our car at Washington Creek TH. Thank god for so much mixed use in this jumbled pseudo wilderness. Eventually got him to a hospital where they cut him open to relieve pressure and place some screws before resetting his bones in 2 weeks once the swelling goes down. Long story short. This peak really is dangerous. The scrambling is not difficult or very exposed but the main gully does have alot of easily displaced smaller rocks that will inevitably dislodge. Obviously dont travel on top of each other and take turns through narrow sections. While the page says the right side up near the last snow patch (this time of year) to be more solid and free of scree (which it is) it has several other areas of tottering boulders that have not been gutted by the more frequent falls through the main gulley.I would stay in the main gully or on the left despite the small talus/scree that is a pain to tediously navigate there. The underlying rock is much more solid. IT is a beautiful area with fantastic views of the rest of the White Clouds above the fierce looking serrated ridge. No newbs here. You need solid scramble technique and eyes to not knock anything down. Even some very large stuff is ready to blow on this peak. Learn from us. You dont want to have to carry your brother 10 miles out of here. He is pretty heavy.
That is one hell of a story. I agree that the peak is sketchy and the right of the snow patch is nothing short of some dangerous class IV moves. As it happened I summitted the peak the day after you guys and I'm kinda surprised I didn't see you guys on the way in. I did see evidence of the rock falling down as it smashed into other solid rock. I can also vouch for the kindness of the other outdoors folks. I needed the Ketchum FD and a couple from Boise to help me off Kent Peak about a month ago after injuring my knee.
Glad everyone made it out alive and best wishes to your brother.
Robron234 - Jul 7, 2015 6:09 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2008
Castle Peak summit
Excellent view of White Cloud range lakes. Also can see many of the tallest ranges in Idaho surrounding it
derekperc - Jan 22, 2015 9:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2014
king of the castle at last
I was checking out the maps and wondering about climbing over the ridge from Washington Lake. I discovered this was informally know as the 'splattski cutoff.' After biking to Washington Lake I gladly took the shortcut over the low point in the saddle. If you're coming to climb Castle, the shortcut over the ridge should be no big deal. It may not be your style, but I just want to mention my experience going that route for those considering it.
On the way up the gully I preferred the stable sides to the loose middle.
MaverickMerk - Jul 13, 2013 12:42 am Date Climbed: Jul 6, 2013
Castle Peak - via Chamberlain Basin
Nasty mountain, built out of talus...have to be careful and slow in a group. Tons of fun and incredible 360˚ view from the top. Hiked in from 4th of July Trailhead the day before, about 8 miles and 1,500ft total elevation gain to Lake 9147. From the lake 4 hrs up and 2 down going quite slow. The true summit is neither of the two to the east as it appears on the topo map (nor as indicated on Google Earth for that matter), but rather the less distinct summit furthest to the west... that being said I haven't the foggiest if we followed the "correct" gully up the mountain. We took the one furthest to the east that runs all the way to the top, and ended up doing a rather exposed ridge traverse to the true summit. Chamberlain Basin is truly as beautiful as everyone says, spend as much time exploring as possible, it is worth seeing.
jamesmc2 - Aug 26, 2010 12:23 am Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2010
Sprint to the Top!
Did the Chamberlain Basin approach. I have been training for a ridge traverse so I thought I would time myself to the summit. Made it to the summit in 1hr 12min (carrying only a small water bottle & windbreaker). Lots of loose and unstable rock. Mostly third class until near the top where it gets a little more adventurous. Incredible views!
Super Dave - Jul 5, 2010 11:52 am Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2010
Finally!
Awesome climb of this White Cloud giant! Hiked in to Washington Lake the night before. Got a half-inch of snow during the night that made for some slick conditions crossing the ridge to Chamberlain Basin. Able to snow climb almost 2000’ up the south gully in just enough shade to keep the snow firm. Summit views were exceptional, then a fun 1500’ glissade followed by some great scenery during the hike out. Classic! Here's a trip report with photos.
sassyplatt - Jan 24, 2009 7:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2007
Chamberlain Basin
Fun boulder-hopping at the top. Watch out when someone suggests a shortcut from 4th of July lake...when their name is splattski.
Idaho Guy - Sep 12, 2007 2:24 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2005
From Chamberlain
Loop trip through Boulder Chain Lakes from 4th of July and back over into Ant's Basin over three days. Did Castle Peak on morning of second day. Ran out of the White Clouds by a raging blizzard on the third day - very difficult climbing out of Four Lakes Basin in 6" of snow on the last day.
wyatt_meyers - Jul 26, 2021 9:39 am Date Climbed: Sep 12, 2020
Successful summit with sisterSecond accent, brought my little sis along this time. Always an awesome climb. Saw a marten on the summit! Left my water bottle, sorry guys!
sjaxon16 - Aug 5, 2019 5:17 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2019
Castle Peak!Been trying to get this one done for a while! Glad to finally have it finished!
droot - Aug 2, 2018 4:30 pm Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2018
Fun peak, great viewsFirst peak we'd done in quite some time. Camped at the lake at the base on the Chamberlin Basin side, and took about 2 hours to reach the top. Easy going (although steep and loose sometimes) up the gully that takes off from the tree patch on Castle's flank. No real difficult moves until right near the ridgeline, and then there were some fun ones. Beautiful views from the top, lots of lakes! Going down was easier as we found a better route that stayed ~50ft away from the gully for the last few hundred yards. Lake to lake was 4hrs.
mfox79 - Jul 29, 2018 7:14 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2018
Castle Baby!!!Day one we hiked into Chamberlain Basin and set up camp. day 2 we started up at 6:20am and scrambled up some of the most consistent and fun class 3 scrambling I've ever done. we reached the top just after 10:00am. this mountain is steep with lots of route finding both up and down. we made it back to camp around 2:00pm and broke down camp and hiked out. we made it back to the trailhead about 6:30pm. This is an amazing peak and a very long day.
wyatt_meyers - Oct 24, 2017 1:42 pm Date Climbed: Jul 20, 2016
Successful soloSolo summit, only person up there is ten days according to the log. Still a bit snowy, but you could get around it.
sroot - Aug 4, 2016 10:25 pm Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2016
Absolutely awesome!Started from Fourth of July Creek Trailhead, crossed over the shortcut by Washington Lake and into Chamberlain Basin. Summited the next morning in about two hours from the lower lake in the basin. Such a beautiful summit view! Hiked out the long way instead of taking the Washington Lake shortcut, definitely a longer trip out.
boisedoc - Oct 11, 2015 9:57 am Date Climbed: Oct 10, 2015
spectacular October dayI had been wanting to climb this for 10 years so I was very happy to get the summit. Splattski and Tim joined me for a day hike via Chamberlain basin. We drove up toward Washington basin- road is in good shape. Lots of hunters out. Super warm for October and no snow on the south side. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to where the actual highpoint is on Castle. I think Dennis Poulin's trip report on peak bagger and Victor Zhou's (castlereigh) on summitpost are the most useful if you want to get to the actual highpoint. As everyone has stated, lots of loose rock. The last 200 feet to the summit involve some pretty fun scrambling with a bit of exposure. Saw a few mountain goats.
DrGranola - Aug 19, 2015 6:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2015
Climbed SoloModerately risky solo climb. Tedious talus to fun class III/VI scramble to the summit. Watch out for loose blocks!
Trip report
LazyJSkwires - Jul 29, 2015 9:20 pm Date Climbed: Jul 26, 2015
To the benchmarkHiked in from Three Cabins Creek TH. It's a long day of hiking if you're coming from that way so start early. Made it up to the benchmark following the right of the snow patch on the way up. Almost got stuck a couple times coming down but found routes on the far right of the descent near the top. I was alone and surprisingly encountered very little loose rock. I think I was lucky. As was posted a couple days ago, this is a no-nonsense mountain.
apachedino - Jul 27, 2015 4:49 pm Date Climbed: Jul 25, 2015
Tick another Epic to CastleAbout 150 vert below the summit in the main gulley my brother traversed a little outside to the right where the rock "looked" more solid and was free of the pesky scree and small talus that threatened those below. He pulled off a chest size boulder that smashed his leg, breaking his fibula in what we found later to be 3 places. This in turn set off a few more refrigerator sized blocks. DO NOT follow each other or another party on this route. He was pretty shaken and bled continuously for the next day at first fairly rapidly and then a slow ooze after wrapping, but constantly soaking through bandages. No cell service here. We slowely got him to scramble, three man assisted walk, piggyback, fireman carry, and hop with trekking poles back around Castle lake to some guys (Jeff) that helped get us up the pass and then back to camp in Chamberlain where 16.5 hours later we crashed for 5 hours of much needed sleep. Then with another couples help (Cassidy and Mike) we made rapid though tiring progress up to the Germainia divide, where we met an orthopeadic surgion and her awesome mountain bike that my brother was able to slowly ride down on to the intersection with the Washington Creek route where we thankfully immediately ran into some dirt bikers that got him rapidly up the last mile of uphill to our car at Washington Creek TH. Thank god for so much mixed use in this jumbled pseudo wilderness. Eventually got him to a hospital where they cut him open to relieve pressure and place some screws before resetting his bones in 2 weeks once the swelling goes down. Long story short. This peak really is dangerous. The scrambling is not difficult or very exposed but the main gully does have alot of easily displaced smaller rocks that will inevitably dislodge. Obviously dont travel on top of each other and take turns through narrow sections. While the page says the right side up near the last snow patch (this time of year) to be more solid and free of scree (which it is) it has several other areas of tottering boulders that have not been gutted by the more frequent falls through the main gulley.I would stay in the main gully or on the left despite the small talus/scree that is a pain to tediously navigate there. The underlying rock is much more solid. IT is a beautiful area with fantastic views of the rest of the White Clouds above the fierce looking serrated ridge. No newbs here. You need solid scramble technique and eyes to not knock anything down. Even some very large stuff is ready to blow on this peak. Learn from us. You dont want to have to carry your brother 10 miles out of here. He is pretty heavy.
LazyJSkwires - Jul 29, 2015 9:16 pm
Re: Tick another Epic to CastleThat is one hell of a story. I agree that the peak is sketchy and the right of the snow patch is nothing short of some dangerous class IV moves. As it happened I summitted the peak the day after you guys and I'm kinda surprised I didn't see you guys on the way in. I did see evidence of the rock falling down as it smashed into other solid rock. I can also vouch for the kindness of the other outdoors folks. I needed the Ketchum FD and a couple from Boise to help me off Kent Peak about a month ago after injuring my knee.
Glad everyone made it out alive and best wishes to your brother.
Robron234 - Jul 7, 2015 6:09 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2008
Castle Peak summitExcellent view of White Cloud range lakes. Also can see many of the tallest ranges in Idaho surrounding it
derekperc - Jan 22, 2015 9:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2014
king of the castle at lastI was checking out the maps and wondering about climbing over the ridge from Washington Lake. I discovered this was informally know as the 'splattski cutoff.' After biking to Washington Lake I gladly took the shortcut over the low point in the saddle. If you're coming to climb Castle, the shortcut over the ridge should be no big deal. It may not be your style, but I just want to mention my experience going that route for those considering it.
On the way up the gully I preferred the stable sides to the loose middle.
MaverickMerk - Jul 13, 2013 12:42 am Date Climbed: Jul 6, 2013
Castle Peak - via Chamberlain BasinNasty mountain, built out of talus...have to be careful and slow in a group. Tons of fun and incredible 360˚ view from the top. Hiked in from 4th of July Trailhead the day before, about 8 miles and 1,500ft total elevation gain to Lake 9147. From the lake 4 hrs up and 2 down going quite slow. The true summit is neither of the two to the east as it appears on the topo map (nor as indicated on Google Earth for that matter), but rather the less distinct summit furthest to the west... that being said I haven't the foggiest if we followed the "correct" gully up the mountain. We took the one furthest to the east that runs all the way to the top, and ended up doing a rather exposed ridge traverse to the true summit. Chamberlain Basin is truly as beautiful as everyone says, spend as much time exploring as possible, it is worth seeing.
mansfieo - Dec 19, 2010 4:54 am
Real Fungood stuff
jamesmc2 - Aug 26, 2010 12:23 am Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2010
Sprint to the Top!Did the Chamberlain Basin approach. I have been training for a ridge traverse so I thought I would time myself to the summit. Made it to the summit in 1hr 12min (carrying only a small water bottle & windbreaker). Lots of loose and unstable rock. Mostly third class until near the top where it gets a little more adventurous. Incredible views!
Super Dave - Jul 5, 2010 11:52 am Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2010
Finally!Awesome climb of this White Cloud giant! Hiked in to Washington Lake the night before. Got a half-inch of snow during the night that made for some slick conditions crossing the ridge to Chamberlain Basin. Able to snow climb almost 2000’ up the south gully in just enough shade to keep the snow firm. Summit views were exceptional, then a fun 1500’ glissade followed by some great scenery during the hike out. Classic! Here's a trip report with photos.
Schlekeway - Jan 1, 2010 7:19 pm
Chamberlain BasinOne day in and out. Great trip/views.
sassyplatt - Jan 24, 2009 7:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2007
Chamberlain BasinFun boulder-hopping at the top. Watch out when someone suggests a shortcut from 4th of July lake...when their name is splattski.
Idaho Guy - Sep 12, 2007 2:24 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2005
From ChamberlainLoop trip through Boulder Chain Lakes from 4th of July and back over into Ant's Basin over three days. Did Castle Peak on morning of second day. Ran out of the White Clouds by a raging blizzard on the third day - very difficult climbing out of Four Lakes Basin in 6" of snow on the last day.