Pyramid Peak - 14,018 ft

Date:  9-10-2005

Climbers: George Barnes, Doug Shaw, MarkDB, Kevin Baker

Route:  Northeast Ridge II, Class 4

RT distance: ~8.4 miles

Elevation gain:  4,500 feet

Coordinates of summit:  39° 4.28'N, 106° 57.02'W

USGS Quadrangles:  Maroon Bells

Trip Report:

All week the weather forecasts for the Elks looked dire, with snow and rain in the forecast everyday - certainly not ideal for a class 4 ridge traverse.  I headed up I-70 with little optimism about our chances for success.  Our intent was to do the Bells traverse, though Pyramid was our backup plan, which would leave us slightly less exposed if weather rolled in while we were up high.

After dinner in Aspen (where apparently no establishments take credit cards), we headed up Maroon Creek Road.  The skies looked nasty and more than once we saw lightning directly over the bells.  By the time we reached our campsite there was a steady rain that showed no signs of stopping.  I took my Ford Focus on this trip, with plans of setting up a tent at the trailhead.  I couldn't get excited about pitching a tent on wet ground in the rain, so I opted to try to sleep in the backseat of the Focus.  The rear seats fold down, so after some decidedly unnatural contortions, I ended up with my head and torso in the trunk with my legs ramped up 30º on the back seats.  Definitely not ideal, but it was the closest I could get to comfortable.

We planned to wake up at 4AM and get going as soon as possible.  We awoke to a steady rain at 4, so we decided we'd try again at 5.  Apparently no one made it up at 5, but by 6 the rain had stopped and we decided to head up to the trailhead and check out the western skies. 

The view from the trailhead wasn't exactly encouraging but the lighting on the Bells made for some nice photographs.  We decided to head up the Crater Lake trail and determine our destination at the Pyramid trail junction.  The wide class 1 trail around Maroon Lake is a nice change from the overgrown rainforest lining the trail on the backside of Snowmass.  The trail soon becomes less wheelchair-accessible and the occasional class 2 move was required.

The skies began to clear and I became cautiously optimistic that we might actually get up a peak.  Pyramid became our destination, mainly because it has somewhat of a trail to 13,000 feet and we were less worried about getting off the peak if storms rolled in.

At the base of the Pyramid we got our first full view of the peak and our route.  The black, watermarked north face of this peak is foreboding to say the least.

At the base of the steep slope leading to Pyramid's NE ridge, Doug and I decided to cache some gear.  We'd been carrying tech gear with plans of rapping the cruxes of the Bells traverse.  I wasn't keen on having my 30m rope chewed up by marmots, so decided to just leave a water bottle.  Doug was more daring and left his climbing harness and a fleece jacket.

At the 13,000 foot saddle the summit looks very close, but climbing is more serious from this point.  Mark and Kevin were a ways in front at this point, and Doug a ways behind, so I was on my own for the first part of the route.  Per Roach's description I climbed on the ridge crest towards the peak.  I found the occasional cairn, so I assumed I was on the right route.  I would later learn that there was a much easier and faster route a little below the crest on the south side.  I soon reached an overhung pale colored wall blocking progress on the ridge and was more than a little concerned that this was the "class 4 pale wall" that you're supposed to climb.  Class 4 my ass, this thing looked like 5.12d.  I radioed up to Mark asking how he got up/around this wall.  The fact that Mark had no recollection of such an obstacle was my first clue that I was off route.  I radioed back to Doug that I would scout around, but mostly wait for him to catch up so that we could climb together for the rest of the route.  Doug popped out 50 feet below the wall on the south side of the ridge, claiming to have followed a cairned climbers trail below the ridge crest the entire way.  I joined Doug and we made our way to the first interesting bit of climbing - a step/leap across a notch followed by a shuffle across a narrow ledge that made the Narrows on Longs look like a sidewalk.  The climbing was very easy (you could probably walk across with no hands), but the ledge definitely had an airy feel to it.

After the ledge the route finding seemed pretty straightforward and we were soon facing the pale class 4 wall.  I suppose the steepness of this wall makes it class 4, but there were ample hand and foot holds on semi-solid rock, so the climbing was pretty reasonable.  The route leaves the pale wall about 2/3 up though where exactly this happens is still a mystery to me.  It kept things interesting by exiting on a fifth class dihedral.

Above the pale wall the route finding is a little more challenging.  There are cairns all over, some more useful than others.  Basically you traverse back and forth up some ledges, a mix of walking and the occasional 4th class move.  A fall from this part of the route would probably be game over, so I made sure to test all handholds before weighting them.

The difficulty relaxes for the final summit push and I'm soon standing on what Roach calls one of Colorado's most rewarding summits.

Summit Panoramas:

Maroon Bells I (600K)

Maroon Bells II (500 K)

Cathedral, Conundrum, Castle, "Castleabra" (400K)

Hagerman, Snowmass, Capitol (400K)

The descent turns out to be less of an ordeal than I feared.  Route finding was easier because all the cairns were easily visible from above.  Further, all the little class 4 bits of climbing were easily down climbed with the aid of a fifth contact point (and some dirty pants).  We bypassed the pale wall by down climbing/scree-glissading a dirty gully.

It was a great relief to finally reach the saddle at 13,000 feet.  I was pleased to find that the trekking pole I had cached/buried there remained untouched by marmots.  The slope down to the Pyramid amphitheatre was steep, but manageable with the aid of a trekking pole.

The snow gully in the amphitheatre had softened up during the day, so we could do a nice standing glissade for most of the way out.  This was definitely faster and easier on the knees than rock hopping.

Numerous pikas lined the trail on the way back to Maroon Lake.  I thought they all looked a little heavyset, perhaps they're getting ready for winter.  Down lower I even saw a porcupine lumbering down the trail.

After a change of clothes at the trailhead we headed to New York Pizza in Aspen to refuel before the long drive home.  Good food, but yet another place in Aspen that doesn't take credit cards!

Pyramid was definitely one of my favorite fourteener summits to date, though I can't say I look forward to repeating the route anytime soon.