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weh and Neil:

Best I can do for you is this photo taken Sunday, from North Maroon.

North Maroon WAS one of my three favorites for ten minutes until you and MountainMedic arrived, killed my hat, and ruined my life.

I seem to have that effect on people.


AWilbur77 - I didn't mean to talk you out of it.

nkan02 - Out of curiosity, what are your top 3?

A little more snow on the North Face of South and the Western Gullies as well. Wished we had micro spikes. Snow on North beginning at the upper deck of the second gully (approach to the chimney)

Just did this peak yesterday. It was totally snow free on the trail, just snow on the north side. Everything was great, no ice, just a great long hard hike.

Neil wrote:

MonGoose wrote:My three favorite peaks to date are Wetterhorn, North Maroon and Capitol. Without a doubt, South Maroon is my least favorite peak. You can have it all to yourself nkan02, because you won't see me back on South Maroon anytime soon.

North Maroon WAS one of my three favorites for ten minutes until you and MountainMedic arrived, killed my hat, and ruined my life. Anyway, agreed...it's a great peak. I'll let you know after this weekend how I feel about S. Maroon, but I have a feeling we'll be on the same page...

Just be glad you weren't exposed to my pale naked ass on the descent. I've heard it can blind people when viewed at the right angle from the sun.

Yeah MountainMedic, I think you permanently damaged the sensor on my camera.

MountainMedic wrote:

Neil wrote:

MonGoose wrote:My three favorite peaks to date are Wetterhorn, North Maroon and Capitol. Without a doubt, South Maroon is my least favorite peak. You can have it all to yourself nkan02, because you won't see me back on South Maroon anytime soon.

North Maroon WAS one of my three favorites for ten minutes until you and MountainMedic arrived, killed my hat, and ruined my life. Anyway, agreed...it's a great peak. I'll let you know after this weekend how I feel about S. Maroon, but I have a feeling we'll be on the same page...

Just be glad you weren't exposed to my pale naked ass on the descent. I've heard it can blind people when viewed at the right angle from the sun.

For this, I am eternally thankful! Must have had good karma after losing my favorite hat ever. However, I am worried about something. MonGoose was taking pictures of it? I'm a liberal guy and all, but keep it at home fellas!

The Legend wrote:Just did this peak yesterday. It was totally snow free on the trail, just snow on the north side. Everything was great, no ice, just a great long hard hike.

Legend, you lived up to your name providing such timely beta. Thank you!

MountainMedic wrote:

Neil wrote:

MonGoose wrote:My three favorite peaks to date are Wetterhorn, North Maroon and Capitol. Without a doubt, South Maroon is my least favorite peak. You can have it all to yourself nkan02, because you won't see me back on South Maroon anytime soon.

North Maroon WAS one of my three favorites for ten minutes until you and MountainMedic arrived, killed my hat, and ruined my life. Anyway, agreed...it's a great peak. I'll let you know after this weekend how I feel about S. Maroon, but I have a feeling we'll be on the same page...

Just be glad you weren't exposed to my pale naked ass on the descent. I've heard it can blind people when viewed at the right angle from the sun.

Those aren't pillows...

Just a quick note on the 2800’ up the east slope. A group of five of us did South Maroon a few weeks back, starting around 3 am from Maroon Lake. It was still dark when we started ascending the east slope and our group split up into two smaller groups going at different speeds. The person I was with had a GPS track which took us straight up the slope (just like the route description shows), where you hit a series of gullies that have lots of loose rock that could potentially come down on those below you. We knocked down a few that kept going for at least 1000’. The others in our group took a trail which traversed further left (well marked) on the slopes which brought you to the lower ridge. We met at the top of the ridge and discussed our different routes and agreed to take their option when coming back down. After doing both ways, I can tell you they had a much better (and safer) way. It was still steep, but much less loose rock that could potentially come down.

I really enjoyed South Maroon and didn’t think it was as bad as what I’d heard, just my opinion.

jblyth17 wrote:Just a quick note on the 2800’ up the east slope. A group of five of us did South Maroon a few weeks back, starting around 3 am from Maroon Lake. It was still dark when we started ascending the east slope and our group split up into two smaller groups going at different speeds. The person I was with had a GPS track which took us straight up the slope (just like the route description shows), where you hit a series of gullies that have lots of loose rock that could potentially come down on those below you. We knocked down a few that kept going for at least 1000’. The others in our group took a trail which traversed further left (well marked) on the slopes which brought you to the lower ridge. We met at the top of the ridge and discussed our different routes and agreed to take their option when coming back down. After doing both ways, I can tell you they had a much better (and safer) way. It was still steep, but much less loose rock that could potentially come down.

I really enjoyed South Maroon and didn’t think it was as bad as what I’d heard, just my opinion.

I'll second the alternate route. We climbed yesterday and ended up on this left route without realizing it because the trail was so good we never realized we were 'off-route'. Looking at my GPS route, we diverged from Bill's .gpx at about 12,200' and hit the South Ridge about 12,900'. From there, there was a solid cairned trail that led to the notch where you meet back up with the standard route.

CCU_Jim wrote:

jblyth17 wrote:Just a quick note on the 2800’ up the east slope. A group of five of us did South Maroon a few weeks back, starting around 3 am from Maroon Lake. It was still dark when we started ascending the east slope and our group split up into two smaller groups going at different speeds. The person I was with had a GPS track which took us straight up the slope (just like the route description shows), where you hit a series of gullies that have lots of loose rock that could potentially come down on those below you. We knocked down a few that kept going for at least 1000’. The others in our group took a trail which traversed further left (well marked) on the slopes which brought you to the lower ridge. We met at the top of the ridge and discussed our different routes and agreed to take their option when coming back down. After doing both ways, I can tell you they had a much better (and safer) way. It was still steep, but much less loose rock that could potentially come down.

I really enjoyed South Maroon and didn’t think it was as bad as what I’d heard, just my opinion.

I'll second the alternate route. We climbed yesterday and ended up on this left route without realizing it because the trail was so good we never realized we were 'off-route'. Looking at my GPS route, we diverged from Bill's .gpx at about 12,200' and hit the South Ridge about 12,900'. From there, there was a solid cairned trail that led to the notch where you meet back up with the standard route.

This makes sense now. It seems like we took this route as well. It was just a well defined dirt path. Almost no rocks at all until you hit the "lower" point on the ridge. We then took the ridge up and only then it got rocky.