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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: July 16, 2005
- Miles Hiked: 9.4
- Elevation Gain: 4,850'
- Hiking Partner(s): Mark
and Sarah Richardson
- Description:
- I was fortunate to have Mark and Sarah allow me to tag along on their
attempt at the Maroon Bells. I had been out of the hiking loop on
vacation for a while, and hadn't been to elevation for about three
weeks. In addition, I was just coming off of a sore throat so I
didn't know how I would perform. We were successful in climbing
the Maroon Bells by ascending the northeast ridge of North Maroon,
traversing to the south, and then descending the south ridge of Maroon
Peak.
- The actual route we chose was a game of pros and cons. We had
considered the Bell Chord for a final snow climb of the year, but with
no recent trip reports and warm temperatures over the past couple of
weeks, we quickly eliminated it. We wanted to climb both peaks, so
then the discussion turned to the traverse. Most of our research
revealed that the general consensus is that the climb is easier from
south to north. However, the long slog up the south ridge of
Maroon Peak didn't appeal to us either. At last, we decided to
ascend the northeast ridge, get at least one of the peaks, assess the
weather, and if we felt good, go for the traverse. Our descent
route was to be chosen depending upon our success of the
traverse.
- We left the "Deadly Bells" trailhead later than we wanted to
at 5:00 am. It didn't take long to reach the trail junction at
Crater Lake and start gaining elevation up Minnehaha Gulch. The
turnoff to cross Minnehaha Creek was relatively easy to locate and
rather than having to ford the creek, we crossed it on a snow
bridge. The "climber's trail" is well defined and we
were pleasantly surprised at its condition as we continued south below
North Maroon. In all reality, there is a great trail to
approximately halfway up the second gully. Route finding is
definitely not a significant issue on the northeast ridge.
- While climbing the first gully, we noticed a party descending above
us. We were impressed at either their speed or start time for
their hike. After talking with them, we learned that they actually
bivied at 13,000' after running out of daylight the previous
evening. They were all in acceptable condition, but looked pretty
spent. Shortly after talking with them, we located the point where
you need to traverse over to the second gully. There was a large
cairn out on a point with a dirty fleece jacket hanging from it.
We are fairly certain that the point where we crossed to the second gully
is about 200' below where Roach describes it in his guidebook. Our
GPS indicated that we were below 12,900', the elevation Roach says you
start to cross over, and after climbing a couple of hundred feet in the
second gully, we identified another cairn and possible crossing point
into the second gully. Anyway, the lower route we took had a solid
trail, and at no point did we feel off track.
- As previously mentioned, we didn't run out of trail until about half
way up the second gully where we started to look for cairns.
Keeping the climbing to class 3 was relatively easy, and we soon found
ourselves on the actual northeast ridge. From here to the summit,
the climbing was straightforward with only one small chimney to climb
that approached class 4. It was well protected and there were only
a couple of small snowfields to cross on the ascent. There was a
climber with a guide on the summit when we arrived 4 hours and 45
minutes after we started our hike.
- The climber was attempting to convince his guide to take him across to
Maroon Peak, but he could not be swayed. We egged him on a
bit (I distinctly remember hearing the phrase "mountain
whore"), but he refused to take his client on the traverse.
Our discussion quickly turned to the weather and how everyone was
feeling. The weather was holding, so Mark, Sarah, and I decided
there was no better time than the present to attempt one of the four
"great fourteener traverses".
- We dropped off of North Maroon and began our adventure. The
climbing was straight forward as we followed climber's trails, cairns,
and primarily just the ridge down to the first crux of the
traverse. We discussed and considered our options as six climbers
were descending Maroon Peak heading in our direction. The north
pitch definitely gave us more headaches than the southern one.
After locating the old slings, I explored the area and found a 30'
vertical chimney that I felt relatively comfortable with to the
northwest of the rappel station. I slowly down climbed the chimney
with only an 8'-10' foot ledge on the bottom to protect a fall. I
felt somewhat protected and thought there were plenty of reasonable
holds. Class 4? Definitely. Low class 5? Likely.
- Once back on solid ground, we assessed a shorter pitch to the right of
the one I had down climbed. Sarah and Mark came down this
one. Although the holds appeared slightly less sporadic, it was
shorter with more protection on the bottom in case of a fall. I
spotted them down and helped with foot placement after they lowered
their packs to me. The second crux was only a short distance down
the ridge, and we were fortunate to watch some of the other six climbers
ascend it. This pitch proved to be much less problematic, and
compared to the first one, we were down in no time.
- Getting down to the top of the Bell Cord Couloir took a bit more
time, and I'm convinced we likely could have kept the climbing easier,
but we generally took the most direct route regardless of
difficulty. Rather than dropping off the ridge to the west, we
down climbed a couple more short, steep arêtes and chimneys. The
climb to Maroon Peak seemed easy after what we had already been
through. I can only recall one move that required some careful
consideration.
- We stood on top of South Maroon after 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Certainly not lightning speed, but not bad for three rookies who had
never been on the route before. We took photos, ate, drank, and
contemplated our descent. For the most part, we wanted to reverse
the route and return the way we came. We were now familiar with
the terrain, and thought it would be the easiest option. However,
it would require an additional 200' of elevation gain and the clouds
were starting to build up. We decided to play it safe and finish
the 360 loop (counter clockwise) down Maroon Peak's south ridge.
- Big mistake. The route finding on the south ridge was more
difficult than what we previously encountered, and the descent from
13,300' on the ridge back down to Maroon Creek was brutal. The
loose rock was challenging almost the entire way down, and fatigue was
taking its toll. We spread out so as to not kick rocks on each
other, but it still wasn't completely avoidable. All of us took a
number of spills, and on one of mine, I planted my hand firmly in one of
those lovely little prickly weeds. We worked our way over to a
snowfield where I pretty much said screw it, threw on my shell pants,
and started to glissade down the rock infested snow. Mark and
Sarah weren't quite as fortunate because they didn't have an ice axe.
- I dropped down to the trail that ties into the standard trail at the
"Bent Tree" campsite. The glissade sliced two huge tears
in the seat of my shell pants, but it was worth it to me. After
Mark and Sarah arrived, we finished the beautiful hike back to Maroon
Lake taking in the views of the surrounding area. We got rained
and hailed on briefly, but nothing too serious. The descent of
South Maroon took us 5 hours and 30 minutes. Counting 25 minutes
on each summit, it was a 13 hour and 35 minute day.
- This was certainly the most technically challenging hike I have been
on. There's lots of class 3, enough class 4, and even some class 5
(in my opinion) if you want it. However, we all agreed, that it
wasn't as difficult as expected. Going with someone who has been
there would be a big plus. If you've read this report, I'm sure
you got the feeling that we thought North Maroon's northeast ridge
(although rated 4) is easier than South Maroon's south ridge which is
rated class 3. If we were to do it again, we'd definitely climb
the Bell Cord or ascend and descend the northeast ridge and avoid the
south ridge altogether. I think the traverse N-S or S-N is six of
one and a half dozen of the other. Down climbing the cruxes wasn't
easy, but manageable if you take your time.
- Maps:
- Click
here to view a 2D
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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