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At about this time we were caught by several groups of climbers. The first was the fellow we had passed on the trail earlier in the morning. He had left his much slower partner at the spot where they had achieved the ridge - apparently she had had enough (which seems like a real shame because the fun only began at the ridge crest). The second was a solo hiker who also passed us at about the same time. The third was a group of three climbers who had ascended the Southeast Couloir. All of these climbers took different paths and it didn't seem to matter much one way or the other. Finally we reached the gully that separates Maroon Peak from UR 13,753. All the other climbers had taken much higher paths so we ascended straight up the gully and then veered a little to the left to continue upward. Soon we attained the ridge crest and could see that the summit was only a couple hundred feet away. A few minutes later Chris, Alan, and I were on the summit. I looked at my watch to see that it was 10:00 - we were exactly on schedule and my concern about our slowness evaporated. Furthermore the skies where completely cloudless - perfect conditions for the traverse!
We took a well deserved break to eat and enjoy the views. Snowmass and Capitol were especially beautiful and North Maroon Peak looked so close you could almost reach out and touch it. We could easily discern climbers on its summit enjoying their views. We chatted a bit with the other groups of climbers. The group who had come up the Southeast Couloir was going for the traverse and said they had done it before. The solo hiker hadn't planned on making the traverse, but with the six of us doing it he changed his mind.
The group of three who had done the traverse before set off down the north side of Maroon Peak and we fallowed close behind, leaving the summit at 10:20. The descent of Maroon Peak was relatively easy - there were only two tricky spots. The first was a short class 5 downclimb with minimal hand and footholds. When the holds ran out I was still a few feet off the ground and had to just drop the rest of the way to ledge below it. Under normal circumstance this would have been no big deal. However, with thousands of feet of exposure it was a bit exciting. I spotted Chris and Alan down this and then we continued down. The next tricky section was 30-foot chimney downclimb. Its difficulty probably never exceeded class 4 but it was pretty sustained. The chimney was probably avoidable with better route finding on the west side of the ridge, but the short drop probably wasn't.
When we got to the bottom of the chimney we were at the low point between the Bells, and at the top of the Bell Cord Couloir. It appeared that the first crux of the traverse occurred immediately after the bottom of the saddle. I hustled to catch up with the group of climbers ahead of us so I could see what path they took. However, once I got close to the apparent crux I found it much easier than I expected. It was mostly class 4 with a short section of easy class 5 moves. The challenging part was less than 15 feet high and not really that bad. There was pair of slings at the top with a rappel ring in them but it seemed kind of silly and definitely not worth the trouble to rappel.
After the first crux we climbed onward and soon achieved the ridge crest. From this point we could see the next crux and it looked significantly more challenging than the first. There was lots of class 3 scrambling between us and the next crux and we stayed mostly on the ridge crest, dropping onto the west side occasionally.
As we neared the crux I made another conscious effort to close the gap between us and the group of climbers we'd been following. Again, I wanted to take careful note of their path up the difficulties. It was clear to me that this section was going to be much more challenging. It was a little more sustained than the previous crux, it was more exposed, and the moves were more difficult. I watched the climbers ahead of me complete it and then it was my turn. The true difficulties were about a 15-foot section of sustained class 5 climbing - I'd say in the 5.3-5.4 range. The section was vertical (if not slightly overhanging) and the moves a bit awkward, especially with a backpack and hiking boots. A fall here would have probably meant game over - SAR would be scraping your body up off the rocks on the valley floor three thousand feet below.
After I completed the difficult section I turned around to snap some photos of Alan completing the moves. When Alan was done I continued upward a few feet onto the ridge crest to get out of his way. On the ridge crest we encountered a trio of climbers working on the north-to-south traverse. One of them recognized Alan and asked if we were from summitpost.org. It must have been all the photo taking that gave us away! We told him we were and asked who he was. He said he was a lurker and didn't provide any additional information. (Later I ascertained that he was James Just. It's too bad I didn't know it at the time because I would have liked to introduce myself and chat with James a bit.)
I felt really good after all three of us had successfully completed the crux. We had survived all the major difficulties with flying colors and we were nearing the summit of North Maroon Peak. Although I felt that a rappel was unnecessary on the first crux we encountered, I definitely would have rappelled the second one had we chosen to go north-to-south. We continued along the ridge crest until we caught up with the climbers ahead of us. They became stymied by a narrow ledge on the east side of the ridge. After searching for a way past they concluded they'd made a mistake and we should have been on the ridge crest. This was the only route finding mistake they made the whole traverse - quite impressive. It was really nice to have been able to follow them the whole way and this was definitely the cause of our rapid progress on the traverse.
Back on the ridge crest we closed in on the summit of North Maroon Peak. The ridge ended a couple hundred feet below the summit and after a bit of class 4 scrambling Chris, Alan, and I were on the top of North Maroon Peak at 12:20 - only 2 hours after leaving the summit of South Maroon Peak. Had we not been following the experienced climbers ahead of us I think it might haven taken us as much as another hour to make the traverse. The skies were still nearly cloudless and we took our time resting, snacking, chatting, and enjoying the summit views.
Thoroughly rested, we departed the summit at 12:50. The first section of the descent was pretty straightforward and we stayed on or near the ridge proper as we rapidly lost a few hundred feet in elevation. After a couple of trickier downclimbs and several hundred feet more we found ourselves entering a gully. The nice big rocks we had been descending down turned to scree and dirt. This was steep, very loose, and required even more concentration than descending the rock. The group of climbers that we had been following across the traverse caught and passed us. We followed them and continued the rapid loss of elevation.
The descent really brought home how massive these mountains are and how straight up and down they were. It felt like we were descending straight down, yet it seemed like we were making very little visual progress toward the valley floor. After an hour of descending straight down it looked like we were no closer to the valley than when we had started. It was really quite eye-opening.
Although Roach's description describes two gullies, it felt like one long gully going down and I was never conscious of switching gullies. After a while we reached the 50-foot cliff band and the class 4 downclimb. This was a bit challenging, but not any worse than the other downclimbs we'd already performed. Soon after Alan, Chris and I successfully negotiated the crux of the descent the group of hikers we'd been following dislodged a huge rock. It was probably the size of a big television and it started moving slowly. We watched it roll in slow motion, totally expecting it to slide to a stop at any moment. Instead, it seemed to gain momentum all of a sudden. It rapidly gained speed and began to take 20-foot leaps into the air. It was quite amazing to watch something that had to weigh more than a thousand pounds fly through the air like that. It was really scary to watch, yet thrilling at the same time. The rock dislodged a few other large rocks and we watched them tumble down the gully, bouncing through the air, and finally out of sight. During the process the guy who had dislodged the rock repeatedly yelled "rock" as loud as he could and we all fervently hoped that there was nobody below. Being on the receiving end of that would have been unpleasant.
Upon catching our breath after that experience we continued downward. By this time the arduous descent was taking its toll on our legs. Mine were really tiring and I'm sure Alan's and Chris's were in a similar state. Our pace began to slow and the group of climbers below pulled away. A short while later I became aware that we were being watched - a mountain goat perched on the rib to our south observed our descent. I pointed him out to Chris and we were able to snap a few photos before the goat lost interest and retreated back around the rib.
Eventually we reached the point where the trail exited the gully and traversed below a cliff band to the rock glacier below North Maroon Peak's North Face. We took the opportunity to rest our weary legs and have a snack. The push across the rock glacier went quickly and soon we were on the other side. We stopped beside a small stream and I rinsed my head and arms in the water. It was ice-cold and felt great. After this final break and the rejuvenating affects of the cold water we were ready to press on toward Crater Lake to pick up our bivy supplies.
I assumed that since we were back on a fairly well-worn trail that the rest of the going would be easy, but this wasn't the case. The trail continued to descend steeply. On top of this it was really muddy and we were slipping and sliding all over the place. I was getting really frustrated continually falling on my ass and getting myself all muddy. Finally we arrived down at Minnehaha Creek where we crossed a snow bridge. It was nice to be able to cross the creek on a snow bridge because I imagine that fording the creek without it would be a real nuisance. Back on a well-maintained trail we made quick work back to Crater Lake where we'd stashed our stuff, arriving at 16:40.
We took another short break to enjoy our accomplishment and pack up our stuff for the hike back to the car. It took us another 45 minutes or so to get back to Maroon Lake where we all had to stop and take the standard photo of the Bells. During the last 15 minutes of the hike out it rained on us a bit, but I welcomed the refreshing affect of the raindrops on my smelly, sweaty body.
Back at the parking lot we washed up a bit, changed cloths, and then headed into Aspen for some dinner. Chris had spotted a little tavern while he'd been waiting for us on Friday so we headed there. My steak sandwich and beer tasted great and after a nice dinner Alan and I said our farewells to Chris and headed for Fort Collins. The drive home was uneventful with minimal traffic and I was proud of myself for staying awake to keep Alan company. Alan dropped me off at home at 23:30. I was totally beat but thrilled with my first excursion into the Elks. I saw a new part of the state, notched a couple more 14ers off my list, succeeded on a challenging route, and met two more summitpost.org members. Not a bad way to spend the weekend!
The Slide Show features 29 photos.
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Additional info: SummitPost.org
Photos copyright © Andy Leach
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