After following an extremely slow car down the west side of Independence Pass, I finally decided to stop at the next pull-off to take a break and let some distance build up. I was delighted to find this wonderland of aspen trees once I stopped the car...
It was mesmorizing to stare through the grove, at the endless white thin trunks of the aspen...
I knew I was in Aspen when I parked next to a car looking like this...
With no word from my companions, I drove to the Maroon Bells ~7:15pm. On the drive in, a view of Pyramid opened up from the road, it's tip catching the evening sun. Once I parked at the trailhead, I walked to the lookout and admired the Bells...
When I turned around to walk back, I was surprised to see some vivid deep orange glows on the mountain tops and in the clouds...
The light show was impressive and surreal...
Several other people were hanging around the parking lot, readying their cars for the overnight. I talked to two people, who had just climbed Pyramid today, and were going to attempt the Bells traverse via the Bell Chord tomorrow. They said Pyramid was fun, and that the loose rock didn't seem that prevalent, given all the hype. They said there was another group hiking Pyramid early tomorrow too, so I figured I could join them if I didn't get in touch with my companions.
With my back seats down, I could just fit diagonally laying down in the trunk of my VW Golf GTI. There was a bathroom with running water at this trailhead, so it was a deluxe camping environment. I went to bed ~9pm, but stayed awake, looking at the pics from my early hike today, when I heard a knock on the trunk. Dave was there, so I got out, and learned that Dave and company had a long day on the Bells, and didn't leave the area til 7:30pm. He saw me driving in as they were driving out, but there was no cell phone covereage there. After dinner, Dave, John, and Josh decided to camp in the parking lot tonight, while Ellen and Aaron would not be hiking Pyramid tomorrow. John and Josh had done the Bells traverse today! Had I known they would be doing that, I would have come down earlier to join them.
With plans set to meet up at 5am to hike Pyramid, I went back to bed in my cozy trunk.
A look up at Pyramid catching some of the pre-dawn light (pinkish peak in the center), from the Crater Lake trail. Good thing I hiked with these guys, cause I might have missed the turn-off to the Crater Lake trail (as they did yesterday morning, and learned the hard way). After 30 minutes into the hike, the Maroon Bells came back into view...
After a brisk 35 minute hike from the trailhead, with a couple stops to remove some layers, we reached the turn-off for the Pyramid climber's trail, marked by a cairn next to John. We followed the dirt trail across the valley, and then up an extremely well made trail through the rocks. Check out the handy steps...
I pushed on ahead, to try to reach a good vantage point for sunrise. I had hoped to make it up to the ampitheater, for what I assumed would be a great view of the Bells, but with our late start that wouldn't be possible. However, the view from midway up the rocky trail offered an excellent look at the Bells as the sun turned the tops red...
I took tons of pics on the way up, as the sun dipped lower down the Bells...
John took a pic of me and the Bells, at 6:40am. The trail switchbacked up the hill, and reached a grassy portion where there were some flowers...
John heads into a wooded area, as flowers line the trail, and the Maroon Bells glow in the distance...
Another look at the illuminated mountains during the climb up to the ampitheater. The pics may seem a bit redundant, but I had SO many, and even after trimming out several, I had to post all these good ones...
As we neared the entrance to the ampitheater, Pyramid appeared above, with morning sunlight on it's peak. Another look at the Maroon Bells...
The awesome views sure made this 1000' climb to the ampitheater pleasant. The splendidly built trail was probably an even bigger factor...
At ~7am we had reached the entrance to the ampitheater. Turns out, there would be no views of the Bells from within the ampitheater, so the 40 minute delay actually proved to be a blessing, for sunrise pics at least. Pyramid is lit up on the left...
John looks up the rocky steps towards the towering Pyramid. After crossing some boulders, we reaching a long snow patch, which was soft and gentle enough to walk up, without an ice axe...
John's pic of me heading towards Pyramid. A look back at John, and the entrance of the ampitheater behind. The snow should make the descent easy coming back...
After 30 minutes of climbing up the snow (or along side on the rocks), we could see the steep 1000' gully climb leading out of the ampitheater (located just to the left of the far snow patch. We took a break here, before crossing the snow to reach the steep looking trail...
A look back at the snow patch we had climbed, and out the elevated portion of the ampitheater...
Here's a look at the trail leading out of the ampitheater, up to the ridge. It looked steep, and not fun. First we had to scramble across a bunch of broken red boulders before reaching the base of the trail. Up close it didn't look as steep, but still just as "not fun". Josh, who finished his break early, and got a jump on this portion of the hike, is the black speck in the right pic, near the end of the first rock portion...
John takes a pic of me, during one of the more manageable sections of the trail. The trail was steep, with some loose scree in parts, but we did well to avoid sending rocks down. It was a grueling 1000' slog on a slippery dirt trail. We didn't relish the thought of coming back down this...
As we climbed up towards the ridge, we gained views of Snowmass and Capitol. The Maroon Bells also started coming back into view...
A look back down at John, with Dave further below. Up ahead, Josh had stopped and told us that there were goats at the top of the ridge. Soon we could see them lit up against the morning sun...
Seeing a mountain goat up close would be a first for me, and I was excited to reach the top before they went away. At the ridge, we saw two goats, each with short pointy antlers...
It took 40 minutes from the base of the ridge to reach the ridge saddle. Not bad for a tough 1000' of gain. Pyramid was still ~1500' further up. We took a nice break here...
I decided to head a short ways off, looking for the goat while the others rested a bit more. I got some up-close pics of one of the mountain goats...
I continued a bit further, and found the 2nd goat resting on a rock along the ridge (look just below the snow). It got up as I neared, and started climbing towards Pyramid...
It was very scenic, watching this goat climb up the rock, with such a majestic view in the background (the goat is just to the right of the snowfiled)...
The goat climbed very quickly, and was soon perched at a scenic lookout point. This seemed like a Nat Geographic moment, if only one had an SLR with a good zoom...
One more look at this scene, with more of the mountain in view. I must have taken 50 pics here. You can see how far the goat climbed, with respect to the snow field, in just a few minutes...
I went back towards the saddle to check on the others, and met them half way on the trail. They had also hung out taking pics of the other goat. The trail was heavily cairned, and began smoothly from the saddle, traversing across some fairly flat terrain initially before beginning a serious of climbs along ledges...
The trail first wound along the right side of the ridge, offering some glimpses of the Bells (with Snowmass and Capitol further to the right)...
Here's a sample of some of the climbing early on the ridge. We crossed over to the other side of the ridge here, and spent the vast majority of the remaing climb on the left side. John is at the top of the trail in the pic on the right...
So far the trail was pretty straight forward, and the rock was fairly solid. Soon we reached a long flat ledge (John crosses here). Castle Peak is off in the distance...
John took a pic of me crossing the ledge. The exposure wasn't deathly, but it was enough to keep you focused. :-) Dave follows...
A view just past the ledge. The climb was straight forward until just below the notch in the ridge. Every route description mentions a "green wall", which we were looking for as well. Turns out it's more of a white/grey wall, with a little bit of green lichen. We figured it would be part of the lighter/biege rock ahead...
There were endless occasions to stop and marvel at the work that went into building this well defined trail. The cairns alone were works of art. Soon we reached the base of the "green wall", which is considered the crux of the route. John inspects our options. A cairn appears high above, without an obvious path up. Climbing the grey rock to John's left, and exiting out to the right, seemed like the best way to go. John takes a pic of me, looking back at the ledges leading to the "green wall"...
A look up as John climbs the "crux" of Pyramid. The rock was solid along the right, and the climb was easy class 4. I tried climbing more to the left, but there was more loose scree there, which would be easy to send down, so stay to the right along the "green wall", and look for a cairn to the right, further up...
Above the "green wall" we quickly reached another saddle in Pyramid's ridge, where we found the mountain goat again (a small white dot in the smooth red rock). From here, the rest of the climb was a series of ledges and short climbs leading up to the summit. Josh heads up to the next ledge. We ran into a guy and girl coming down, who said we were close to the summit...
The climb was fun, and didn't feel that dangerous, cause the ledges were ~6-8' tall, and never did I feel deathly exposed. The loose rock on the trail wasn't much more than typical...
A look out at a cairn, as the trail wound back and forth up the ridge. Some of these cairns were stacked high and thin. I hoped that a strong wind wouldn't knock them over...
Here's an example of several cairns making the path very obvious. We were almost to the top now. John climbs one of the final pitches leading to the summit...
Then, all of a sudden, there was no more mountain to climb, and we had reached the broad peak of Pyramid...
Josh and John on Pyramid. The summit was surprisingly long, narrow, and flat. It was time to soak in the views of Castle peak, to the left, and the Maroon Bells on the right...
John takes a pic of me arriving at the summit. Here's the official marker, along with the Bells in the background...
What a view of the Maroon Bells, along with grey Snowmass and Capitol in the background. We had hiked in on the valley below...
A couple of pics of me and the Bells. We summitted Pyramid at 10am, 4hrs 20min since our start...
A look at Dave arriving a few minutes later, and a close-up pic of the Bells traverse. John and Josh had climbed from peak to peak yesterday. I hope to do so eventually too. Some consider it the hardest 14er traverse, rivaling the Little Bear - Blanca traverse...
Given the excellent weather, and our tired legs, we rested for a long time at the peak. John and Josh layed down on some flat spots here. I did as well, though it was amazingly hot on the summit. I've never felt such warm temps on a 14er. The lingering coolness of the rock from last night was the only relief from the heat...
A look at the sheer vertical gain when hiking up to the Bells. Dave hiked South Maroon yesterday (on the left), and said the nearly 3000' scramble up to the ridge was brutal, and even worse going down. As I lay on the summit, I heard some footsteps, animal footsteps, and soon Mr. Mountain Goat appeared at the summit...
This goat had climbed the entire ridge from above the ampitheater with us. I couldn't figure out why a goat would want to be on top of a 14er (not much vegetation or water), but it was a pleasant site...
I took tons of pics of this goat. After nearly an hour on the summit, we began our descent back at 10:55am. The weather was still gorgeous. As we neared the trail leading down, the goat turned around and started the descent ahead of us.
What a cairn! Almost looks like it's time to play Jenga. Here's a look all the way down the mountain to the saddle where the trail leads down to the ampitheater, where we first met the goats...
A look down at the terraced trail. A few cairns can be seen. The first part of the descent was surprisingly easy, as it involved walking on the ledges, and using your upper body to lower yourself down to the next tier (always check for solid rock of course). My legs were having a very easy time...
A couple of looks back up at the rest of the guys, as I had a bit of a head start. It was steep but very manageable and swift. We didn't have much trouble keeping rocks from being sent down...
Looking down a steep scramble. Soon we reached the upper saddle in the ridge, above the "green wall", where the goat had found some scarce grass to graze on...
After downclimbinga steep class 5 section to a cairn below, which had good holds, and not much exposure, I realized that I had bypassed the "green wall". I waited here for the others, and noticed the goat above, taking an alternative path down. This stitched pic captured the same goat in two locations...
The goat kept a watchful on eye us. So far he had been a noble and hospitable host on his mountain, until he knocked down a ton of big rocks, which crashed down a separate gully. I knew goats were dangerous for this reason, and made sure to stay away from potential rockfall...
Here's a look at the down climb next to the "green wall". John and Josh opted for the down climb too. Here's a couple of pics of John coming down...
Dave preferred the "green wall", and said it was pretty simple to descend (left pic). Soon we encountered the long exposed ledge again...
At the end of the ledge was a 3.5' gap, with a ~12' drop in the middle. It wasn't actually necessary to jump across, as I walked around the rim, but John, Josh, and Dave all made the leap...
We crossed back to the north side of the ridge, and had a look down to the saddle, and the trail leading down to the ampitheater. We were all dreading the descent down that slippery dirt trail...
Puffy white clouds were popping up quickly, but they weren't threatening, and the shade was nice. Dave makes is way back to the saddle, with Pyramid behind...
John and Josh went ahead, and took this pic of me with Pyramid. I could see them waiting at the saddle. The overall ease of the descent from the summit to the saddle surprised us. Our legs were fresh, thanks for a lot of upper body work on the down climb. We reached the saddle 65 minutes after starting our descent. A look down the trail to the ampitheater didn't give us a warm feeling...
Descending to the ampitheater turned out to be alright. The traction on the trail was good enough, and I only slipped a couple of times. We made good time. Here's a look at the steep cliffs rising up to Pyramid...
Plenty of snow at the base of this north facing cliff. We looked forward to reaching the snow patch in the ampitheater to boot ski back...
A look back up the trail from the ampitheater. Given all the challenges of hiking Pyramid, this particular section (the trail out of the ampitheater) was the most unpleasant. We crossed the big boulders to reach the west side of the ampitheater, to reach the snow patch...
After another break, we began our descent down the snow patch. The snow wasn't soft enough to dig your heels in and lean back, but it was soft enough for boot skiing. The gentle slope was just enough to get us sliding on our feet. John's pic on the right...
The snow descent was surprisingly lengthy to me. It didn't seem like the climb up took long this morning. The snow sure beat hiking down the rocks. John's pic on the right, of me waving my arms trying to balance...
The snow ended with just a short flat rock scramble left in the ampitheater. A look back at Dave near the end of the snow slope, with Pyramid behind...
After a scramble across the rocks, we reached the ampitheater exit. The opening is marked with many impressively large cairns...
A look at some of these towering cairns, with Pyramid...
All that remained was the descent down the excellent climber's trail...
The views and weather were still top notch...
After we regained the main trail, the foot traffic picked up. We follwed some hikers down to the lake, which was looking super green today...
A parting shot of the Maroon Bells from the end of the trailhead. We returned to the busy parking lot at 2:25pm, for a 3.5hr descent of Pyramid...
We triumphantly walked across the parking lot to our cars, and dropped our packs. Dave said Pyramid was a lot easier than South Maroon, and I admit, though it was a serious climb, it wasn't "scary", or even that tricky. I never once felt like there was potential for a fatal mistake during any of the class 3/4 sections. The extremely well cairned trail the entire way up made it easy to focus on the climb, and not have to spend extra energy trail-finding. The sights were gorgeous, and the company of a mountain goat reminded me of my trip to Scotland a few years ago, where sheep occupied the mountains wherever you climbed.
It was awesome to meet John and Josh on this hike, and I hope to join them again on another adventure. We each left the Bells ~3pm to begin the drive back home. I didn't stop the entire way back, and made it to Fort Collins ~7pm. Of note, I made a game of driving in nuetral during the downhill portions of the trip home (as well as yesterday), and thanks to my "hyper-miling", I got 43.5mpg from Frisco to Aspen to Fort Collins. 333 miles on 7.6 gallons!
I stopped for a pic of Pyramid during the drive back, as the clouds starting looking more threatening. I ended up driving through a couple of storms on the way back home, mostly around Leadville...
Pyramid is my 12th 14er this year, and 17th overall. Certainly a very memorable one.