Description

If you are driving up the Paradise River road in hopes of finding some good powder snow in the trees look no further than Castle Peak.

Being that this are is in the Tatoosh Range with North facing slopes it holds good powder much longer than the tours based out of Paradise Visitor Center.

Being that there is a trail halfway up the mountain it is quite easy to climb and with most of the slope being in the trees you don’t need a sunny day to get some great turns. Driving up the Paradise Road park at the Narada Falls Parking lot.

Start the tour by heading east up the open slopes to the road above before following it to the south.

Keep following the road as it weaves to the East and once at Reflection lakes take the Pinnacle Peak Trail.

Stay on the trail for a ways but if you lost it immediately make your way looker right until you get onto a shoulder than from here just keep following the drainage heading south east.

by now you should be in an upper alpine bowl where you can climb the mellow slopes all the way to the ridge just East of Castle Point.

Now start heading west towards its southern slopes and with a few well placed switchbacks you will be on the summit. Standing on top of Castle Peak you have a stunning view of Mount Rainier if the sky is clear.

Start your descent by taking a few turns down the southern face before doing a hard traverse skiers left to get back into the North basin.

From here you can just ride down the main drainage and at about 5,200 feet start heading skiers right to link up with the road.

Once back on the main road switch to skinning and follow it back to the slopes above Narada Parking lot and enjoy the last few fall line turns back down to the parking lot. To see my trip in the area and more photos check out this link https://www.whereiskylemiller.com/mt-rainier/castle-peak/