Frosty (BC) & Castle
Dates
3 Days
9/26-28
These dates will hopefully hit peak larch color on Frosty.
Party Size: 4-6
Itinerary
Several reports indicate that Frosty has especially beautiful tarns and thousand-year-old larches.
Castle is one of the Washington Hundred Highest peaks on the Stephenson/Bongiovanni list, though not on the original Bulger list.
The general plan is:
Day 1: Drive through BC to Frosty TH. Hike trail and camp high on Frosty, or continue across border and camp at 6500 col between Frosty & Castle.
Day 2: Traverse over Frosty and summit Castle; return to camp.
Day 3: Exit.
Routes
Traverse over Frosty, nontechnical. Follow the ridge southward to the Frosty-Castle col. Ascend partway up the north ridge of Castle. Traverse east to the east ridge of Castle and ascend steep snow to notch on the ridge just west of Point 7477.. Follow the crest to the summit.
Route Description from Martin Shetter:
Silas Wild and I climbed Castle from the north on 9/29/91. Drive over Allison Pass to Manning Park and head to Lightning Lakes; then look for the Frosty Mtn trailhead. We left the Frosty Mtn trail just below the 2407m east summit of Frosty and contoured south to the border, then walked over the top of the 7520+ blob. Some class 3 scrambling getting down to the saddle between it and Castle; spectacular camp at the saddle. Next day we climbed the remnant glacier east of the summit to the notch just west of pt 7477 (bring crampons). The upper part of that gully was somewhat sketchy with very steep frozen mud. Scrambled the rest of the way up the south side to the summit. We brought a rope but never used it.
I highly recommend the route. We did it in one (full) weekend - drove up on Friday night and had to keep moving all day Sunday to make it out by sunset. Most of the TRs I've read about other routes on Castle make them sound rather unpleasant but I thoroughly enjoyed our climb. No brush to speak of, a high traverse on glacier-polished slabs, great camp in the golden larches below Castle's spectacular north face, popping out of the deep, dark gully in the north face for the sunny scramble to the summit... it was a fun trip.
Description of Frosty Mountain from BC Parks
Description of Frosty from Mike McQuaide
Statistics
Frosty Mountain Trail from Lightning TH to end of trail, 7 miles, 3770 gain, high point 7900
End of trail to border, approx 1 miles, 500 gain?
Border 7100 to 6500 col for camp, 1.2 miles, 700 gain, 1100 loss
6500 Camp to Castle 8306, 1.2 miles, 1915 gain, 180 loss
Map
Frosty Mountain Trail (BC) (note: map is north-end down)
Route from border to Castle (USA)
