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.:Getting to the trailhead:. .The trailhead for the Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak lies just outside Aspen, about a 4-hour drive from Denver. The best way to get there from the Denver area is I-70 west to Glenwood Springs, and then CO 82 south out of Glenwood towards Aspen. Right before getting into Aspen about 40 miles from Glenwood), there is a European-style traffic circle that you'll enter briefly as you turn right on Maroon Creek Road. An important consideration is that the Maroon Creek road is closed to auto traffic from 8:30am~5:00pm in the spring & summer due to the immense popularity of the area. Obviously, your best bet is to get there before the road closure. If you're later than that, shuttle buses are available, just follow the signage. The parking lot / trailhead for the Bells (and Pyramid) is about 9.5 miles up the road, and you'll get excellent views of Pyramid Peak and then the Bells themselves as you draw closer. Once you get to the parking area, the one thing that you'll notice above all else is the Bells - not because of what they look like (everyone has seen these mountains, they're the most photographed in the country), but because they are HUGE. You're basically staring at a ~2,500' wall close by up the valley, and the first time you see it in person, it's just jaw-dropping. .:The trail:. .From Maroon Lake, there are a number of social hiking trails, but the trail leading you to Crater Lake and beyond lies on the right side of the lake, and after passing the "Deady Bells" plaque (in case you needed some sobering) the trail gradually climbs the right side of the valley to a small pass between Maroon Lake and Crater Lake. A substantial cairn marks the turnoff for Pyramid Peak, but for Maroon, stay on the main West Maroon trail past the trail junction with the Maroon-Snowmass Trail (for North Maroon and), and past Crater Lake. The trail passes under the Bells and across a couple minor talus fields. Somewhere around mile 3.3~3.6 (depending on the accuracy of your GPS) is the break-off point to start the climb of Maroon Peak, which is unsigned. There is, however, a good cairn here, and it occurs before the trail crosses over to the east side of Maroon Creek. As an additional marker, it's only a few yards beyond a very distinctive tree with two 90-degree bends in the trunk (it'll be on your left). The trail immediately climbs a small earthen wall and then begin to traverse and climb steeply. Follow the trail to the ridgeline, gaining 3000' in less than a mile. Route finding will become a factor in the last ~300 feet to the ridgeline, and the trail almost disappears into the treacherously loose talus and scree. From the ridgeline, follow the well-cairned trail as it traverses and climbs the rocky and occasionally scary ledges to the summit of South Maroon Peak .:Trip Report:. After last falls' failed attempt on South Maroon, I was looking forward to another shot at this one. Foolishly, though, I decided to try it as a day-trip from Denver. Leaving the 'burbs at all of 1:30am on this Sunday morning, I headed west on Denver after a half-night of sleep, thankful that in this age of 24-hour convenience I could enjoy a hot, fresh Whopper with fries and a large Coke on my way out of town. By 5:30 I was pulling into the Maroon Bells parking area, where dawn was beginning to break over the always-picturesque Bells and surrounding lower peaks. A few minutes before 6:00 I trudged off down the trail alongside Maroon Lake, headed for the West Maroon trail and the South Maroon cutoff, some 3.5 miles down the trail. After two and a half hours of ambling down the trail I came to the now-familiar cutoff point, and began the second, much harder phase of the climb -- grunting up the to the south ridge of S. Maroon. The trail is extremely steep and becomes progressive rockier as you ascend nearly 3000 feet over one mile. Needless to say, progress was slow..but steady. It was nearly 11:00 when I stopped to take stock of the situation. According to my altimeter, I was just passing through 13,000', about 300' below the ridge crest. From the route descriptions, I also knew that there was over a mile of loose rock and routefinding ahead of me on the other side of the ridge before even making the summit. Considering it had been a 4 hour drive and almost 5 hours of hiking to this point, it was evidient that if I was going to finish the climb today (at least weather wasn't a factor -- it was a bright sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky), I wouldn't end up getting back to Denver until very, very late. And this was a Sunday after all - I had to work the next day. Taking all this into consideration, I very reluctantly came to the conculsion that I wasn't going to have enough time to finish the climb and get home at a decent hour, and would therefore have to call it a day. Swearing mildly to myself, I turned around and began the steep descent to the valley floor and the West Maroon trail. By the time I had retraced my steps back to Maroon Lake I had already formulated a plan to return in a couple weeks and spend the weekend in the area to give myself more time. For me at least, climbing in the Elks aren't realistically a day-trip option. So, until next time.... |
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