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 hike beyond Maroon Lake to the Snowmass-Maroon trail junction (right before Crater Lake) was uneventful in the early morning pre-dawn darkness. Approaching the trail junction (easy to find due to the large informational sign built there), we came across a group of six climbers, just gearing up and getting ready to head up North Maroon themselves. It looked to be a group with a local guide, and many of them looked pretty nervous. After a few words of encouragement, we angled right and up the Maroon-Snowmass trail, keeping an eye out for the climber's trail that would lead down to Minnehaha Creek. Following the directions in Roach's guide, it's about a half-mile up the trail from the turnoff, and is marked with a small cairn. The climbers trail takes you a few hundred yards across a small, flat plateau with a few campsites, then descends down to Minnehaha Creek. There's no real good defined crossing point, but a number of fallen logs make for a good bridge. Being August the creek wasn't too high, but I would expect this would be a bit of a problematic crossing during the high runoff season in May-June.

From the creek, the trail angles upwards and left, working up though small talus fields and muddy willows. A six-foot rock wall near treeline represents a quick warm-up to the Class III climbing to come. Presently, we emerged onto a grassy plateau at around 11,700'. Taking a break, the views of the valley below were absolutely breathtaking, with the sun streaming into the valley and reflecting off Maroon and Crater Lakes. From here the route flattens out as you traverse south into a huge rock glacier beneath North Maroon's north long north face. The rock glacier is comprised of large and solid small boulders, making for reasonably stable rock-hopping., While a path through the field is faintly cairned, the immediate goal is obvious. You're aiming for a point slightly lower than where the entry to the rocks is, at the base of all the cliffs. Anything higher will put you into a dead end at much more difficult Class V climbing (as a trio of hikers in front of us was quickly finding out). At the exit point from the rock glacier at the cliff base you'll find the cairned climbers trail again, which leads around the corner and does an ascending traverse around the cliffs on a series of grassy benches.

After the traverse on the benches we came across a short, steep climb up a small grassy gully, still trending left. Eventually we came upon another corner, and found ourselves facing a huge, wide gully. The route traverses into the gully and climbs nearly 900 feet. The route in the gully is fairly obvious, with the best lines being right in the center or slightly to the climber's right of the center. This where you also need to start being careful of loose rock as you climb, and being aware of climbers both above and below you. If you're helmet isn't on by now, get it on!!

The gully narrows and tops out at about 12,800', and the route angles south (left) right below a notch in the ridge (you can peer through the notch to get a good view the range called the Sleeping Sexton just north of North Maroon). From this spot, the route ascends a number of steep, Class III ledges and gullies until 13,200', when you'll reach the ridge crest. The climbing is steady Class III, and the rock generally solid. Just be aware of loose rock on the ledges when you're looking for hand and footholds. From the crest of the ridge, the route stay on or near the crest all the way to the summit. Some of the route's moves become Class IV on the steeper sections, but the rock remains pretty solid, and the exposure is only moderate. A few hundred feet below the summit, we came across what appeared to be a Class V section -- a 30 foot notch that went pretty much straight up. Someone had left a long section of nylon webbing in the notch, and "I love 'biners" had been scratched into the rock. We smirked at the graffiti, but weren't about to try to climb the webbing, not knowing how secure it might be. Looking around, there was a small cairn to our right, which led us around a corner and to a series of steep, stair-like boulders that were much easier to scramble up. A few more minutes of scrambling at there was the summit, small and flat, with room for 6~8 people.

At 9:30 in the morning, the summit was already pretty crowded -- a half-dozen other people were up here, most of them hastily gathering their gear together. It was not hard to see why. Although the climb had been sunny all morning, being at the summit allowed us to finally see directly west...and to the angry-looking storm cell rapidly approaching from across the Fravert Valley, just west of us. Chris and I were both in need of a couple minutes to rest and eat, but we made it quick, chowing down on our traditional summit fare of Gatorade and animal crackers. After the quick snack I hastily scribbled an entry in the summit register, just as a sharp peal of thunder boomed overhead. That was enough to make us move, and move fast. Looking west, the skies had cleared...but looking directly up the storm cell was parked over the top of the Bells and was growing and darkening fast. We threw our packs on and literally ran off the summit, picking our way down the ridge like a film in fast reverse. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickling, and a couple times I got a sharp spark putting my hands on the surrounding rocks. The air was charged with electricity, a prelude to imminent lightning. And as if this wasn't enough, the skies opened up -- with snow. Within seconds we were in the middle of a heavy shower of pellet-like graupel. Not so bad itself, but upon hitting the rocks it was melting immediately and making for slippery hand and footholds. Other climbers below us had reversed course and were now beating a hasty retreat along with Chris and I and the other half-dozen summiters. A flash of light appeared in the valley below us, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. We kept moving as fast as the route and conditions would allow as the storm passed overhead and continued slowly eastwards.

Finally, as we re-entered the wide gully at 12,800' the storm abated, leaving us wet, chilled and descending slightly a slightly muddy gully. As the storm continued east the sun broke out of the clouds, providing a welcome burst of warmth. The rest of the dsecent was somewhat calmer, as we exited the gully (having taken careful note of the right exit point when we entered) and descended back into the rock glacier in bright sunlight. A few of the folks who had turned around short of the summit when the storm hit had resumed their ascent, while many others decided that they'd had enough for one day. By the time we had reached the Snowmass-Maroon trail, it was once again a sunny late-summer day, not a sign of foul weather in sight. As we pulled into the Maroon Lake parking lot (right about 1:00pm), yet another storm system was gathering around the summits of the Bells. Making good-natured curses at the fickle and ever-changing Colorado weather, we pulled out of the parking lot, headed for a celebratory post-climb lunch. Having conquered the Maroon Bells, I can say they are definitely challenging, and certainly no place for beginners.