I wanted to climb Pyramid this week, but the Aspen weather forecast didn't look too good: rain, more rain, and then some more rain. I really wanted to knock another 14er off the list since my last two climbs didn't do anything to shorten it. Telluride's weather forecast looked about as bad as Aspen's. Oh well, it's Colorado, the weather forecasters are never right half the time, so I planned to at least scope out the route to Pyramid and take some pictures of the Bells. I had never been to the Maroon Bells area and even if I couldn't climb Pyramid it would be nice to see something new.

I left home at about 15:15. Heading down the driveway a young coyote ran across in front of me, and another one was down in the field below the road. I think there's a coyote den somewhere on our property since I've been seeing these pups quite a bit. It's funny because they're not nearly as cautious as the adults; at the same time, we have to be very careful our cats don't sneak outside with these bold canines running around.

When I reached Conifer and got on 285 a storm system was moving through, and I ran into some heavy rain off and on. I was questioning my sanity in going off to camp/hike in weather like this, but these things usually don't last too long. Hail in Fairplay, then stable weather up and down Independence Pass. I picked a campsite at the Weller campground between the pass and Aspen, for the low low price of $12. It was actually kind of nice to have a flat spot to pitch a tent, though I did have a little bit of a list to port while trying to sleep. It rained off and on during the night, sometimes it came down pretty hard.

The alarm went off at 04:00. and I reset it for 04:30 and went back to sleep. For once I slept reasonably well in my tent, probably because I knew there was no chance I was going to get up that mountain that day. At 04:30 I crawled out of the bag and packed up camp under a starry sky. It was warm for that early in the morning: shorts, sandals, a t-shirt with an extra shirt on top were plenty. I loosely rolled up my soggy tent (no water inside!), threw it in the Jeep and cooked some oatmeal. At 05:00 I headed toward Aspen and the Maroon Creek Road.

After blowing by the unoccupied ranger station on the road, I parked in the closest space to the trailhead as I was the first vehicle to arrive. Shortly after a 4-Runner from Texas pulled in, it looked like the three occupants were going hiking as well. I got my gear together and hit the trail at 06:00, ahead of the Texans. I didn't bother asking them where they were headed; I didn't know myself what I was going to do. The clear skies gave way to heavy cloud cover and the early dawn sky didn't look conducive to climbing. Clouds swirled around the Maroon Bells down the valley. Well, I figured I'd go ahead and throw my pack on anyway and see what was going to happen down the trail.

A little down the trail the clouds started to disperse and the sun hit the Bells for a magnificent scene from Maroon Lake. Soon I saw Pyramid peeking out from some other mountains closer to the trail. I decided to start climbing toward Pyramid until the weather chased me off or I summited, whichever came first. The first step was to find the elusive climber's trail that leads to the amphitheatre beneath Pyramid's north face. This trail seems to be missed by at least half of those who try to find it, so when the trail leveled out I carefully scanned the left side of the trail for cairns. After a couple false alarms I found the cairns, two of them close to the main trail that marked a well-traveled dirt trail leading up the slope. I shortened my trekking poles for the climb and started up.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

This trail soon became very steep and climbed a dirt track past lush vegetation. Everything was still wet from the night's rain, making the trail a little slippery and getting me wet from the plants. The trail was marked with cairns in some places and it wasn't difficult to follow its relentless climb. Eventually the trail led to the rocky amphitheatre, and Pyramid's north face roared up in defiance. The trail died off and I made my way south toward Pyramid, keeping to the right of the basin. Just under the steep face I swung left and headed to the scree slopes that lead to a saddle on Pyramid's northeast ridge. The permanent snowfield below the face was streaked with dirt and rocks, and the sound of the rockfall was almost constant here. Most of the rocks being shed from Pyramid were small and didn't fall far, but on occasion something larger fell down and I heard it for a long time before it stopped. I also heard many underground streams beneath the talus of the basin, one in particular was so loud I looked up in the sky expecting to see a jet.

The scree slope to the ridge looked like a real grunt from a distance but up close it wasn't that bad. By 09:00 I reached the sunshine on the ridge and got ready for the real climbing. Far below in the basin I saw a group of 3 people behind me. The trail leading up the ridge skirts below the crest on the north, then it crosses over to the south side of the ridge and spends the rest of the time there. This trail was well-cairned most of the way, and without the misleading cairns I was expecting to see. Shortly after the trail crosses to the south side of the ridge it traverses some narrow ledges, the most notable ledge being about 20' above a sheer drop and maybe 6" wide at its narrowest. Most of the rock on the well-beaten path was solid, but I made a point not to depend on any single hold. Soon after this series of ledge traverses, the crux climb appeared: a steep class 4 gully of a greenish-white rock. The rock of this gully is solid but the steps are sometimes covered with gravel. Without trying to find the easiest route I just started up the gully, and soon made it up to the exit point. There is a decent amount of exposure on this part of the climb, but nothing too horrifying. Above the gully the same pattern of follow the cairns, cross the ledges, climb up to another ledge continued. A couple times I had to backtrack as I wasn't sure which direction the cairns were leading me, but in general the route was very easy to follow. Without the cairns one could spend a lot more time routefinding.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

Clouds were moving in and growing darker, and though I knew I was close to the summit a sense of urgency made me climb a little faster. My altimeter read 13,850' when I reached a high point, then there was no more peak! I summited at 10:00, took two pictures, found the benchmark but no register, and turned right back around and headed down. I didn't want to get caught above the crux gully in a rainstorm. Just before the gully I found what I thought was another way down that bypassed the gully, and I thought I'd check it out. This was a very steep but narrow dirt gully mixed with loose rock, and it was a mistake to descend. I was able to make my way down without much fear of falling, but I knocked down several rocks in the process. Of course right when I was loosing rocks the party of three was approaching my gully which led to the crux gully of green rock. I found a stable spot to stand and waved to them, and told them to go ahead and cross and I'd wait there. They crossed my gully and I scuttled down, thankful to be back on the main trail again. It looked like one could avoid part of the green gully by ascending the gully I just came down, but exiting just above some rocks that looked like they were covered with powdered sugar. I don't know if that would make the climb any easier or not, but if the rocks were slick it might be safer.

Now that I was past the crux I could relax and enjoy the ledges and cairns again. As soon as I crossed the ledge I mentioned earlier, another pair of climbers was approaching. The guy was coaching the girl on the climb, but they weren't even to the tough parts yet. They still had to climb the green gully and navigate the sometimes loose ledges above to the summit, then come back down. I couldn't help but worry about the girl if she was already having trouble - I think she was in a little over her head. I passed another guy, the first one to wear a helmet besides me, and then I reached the saddle again. One thing I noticed was the conspicuous absence of marmots on this climb. I saw plenty of pikas, scurrying around with grass in their mouths off on some errand. The pikas are my favorite alpine critter, they remind me of big hamsters.

At 11:00 I started down the scree gully to the amphitheatre floor, passing one last couple (with helmets) on the way. The clouds were moving in even more but it looked like these later groups might have a go at it. I crossed the tedious loose talus of the amphitheatre and reached the start of the steep trail back down to the Maroon Creek Trail. By the time I reached the main trail again my legs were ready for a break, but my knees were still holding out. Maybe they won't start hurting this year (knock on wood). As soon as I reached the main trail I met the hordes of day hikers shuttling back and forth between Maroon and Crater Lakes. I was in a good mood and my legs were still feeling strong despite all the steep trails and talus sidehilling, so I kicked into high gear trying to reach the trailhead by 13:00 to make it an even 3 hour descent. I felt a little out of place with all the tourists, but I said "hi" to most of them and gave them the right of way when they approached. A woman in a group of two couples asked how far it was to the top, and I had to reply, "to the top of what?". This led to me pointing out Pyramid Peak, and yes, I climbed up there and was on my way back down, and yes, I went by myself. One of the women berated me for climbing alone and I shrugged my shoulders, grinned and wished them a good day. I just reached the trailhead at 13:00, right when a light rain was starting to fall.

On the way back up Independence Pass I was struck by the beauty of the aspen forests alongside the road...

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki