Devil's Castle part II

A couple weeks ago I tried to ski/climb devil's castle but was unable to make it all the way to the top.  Yesterday Greg and I gave it a try.

Here is Greg looking at were we were headed.

It got pretty steep in some spots on the way up.  

I took this picture after sliding down the hill about 40 feet with my legs spread apart.  I slipped while trying to do a switchback up above Greg.  I slid at about 5mph and just couldn't arrest myself until I ran into a tree below. 

We stashed our skis at the South false peak and switched to crampons and ice axes.

Our destination was the peak on the left in the picture below.  Looks can be deceiving -  it took us almost 3 hours from this point to make it to the top and back.

It was very steep at certain points.

With cliffs on the other side.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

It took a little bit of bouldering to get to the top.

We ended up rappelling down the last little bit and donating a bit of webbing and a carabiner to the mountain gods.  (maybe it wasn't the mountain gods, since it is the devil's castle.)

Then it was on to some steep skiing on the way down.

Here is my favorite picture from the trip.

Swimming with Mace

Hang Gliders

Mace loves watching hang-gliders and para-gliders at the point of the mountain 

Drive?

Almost every time Mace gets out of the car, he asks us if he can drive (it sounds more like "trive?").  He likes to put the keys in the ignition, put on his seat belt, and put on sunglasses, and then shake the steering wheel back an forth and push every button he can find.    

Cool sunset

A hike with Mace to Widowmaker

Playing with Mace's cousins

Swimming with Mace

Here are a few pictures from going swimming yesterday.  Mace was well prepared with his rubber ducky in hand.

Mace tried learning how to dive.  Lyndsay wasn't expecting him to go in headfirst.

Skiing to Devil's Castle... Almost.

Today I tried to ski/climb up to Devil's Castle.

Some people try to ski the little line of snow going down from right to left on the face.  It is called Ciochetti's Ribbon. I think those people are crazy.

I saw what I think was a grey wolf.  Its tracks were all over the mountain.

My plan was to ski up the slope on the left side of Devil's Castle and then put on my crampons and get out my ice axe climb the last few hundred feet to the actual peak.

All that gear made for a big awkwardly loaded backpack.

Here is a spot you wouldn't want to accidentally ski down.  There are cliffs just out of sight.

It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky.

Here is where I left my skis and put on my climbing gear.

The actual peak. 

A view of Timpanogos.

A few spots were a little sketchy.  

My plan was to go up the little ribbon of snow snaking almost all the way to the top in the center of the picture.  I made it just a little past the dead tree before I decided to turn around.

I wonder if anyone ever base jumps here.

I sat at this point for quite some time.  Going up further didn't look too scary, but I didn't want to push my luck.  

It was perfect corn skiing on the way down.  I didn't see anyone the entire day until I got back to the parking lot.  Where is everyone?  The skiing is still good!