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ONCE IN A LIFETIME: A Winter Ascent of Maroon Peak
Bell Chord from Winter road Closure February 27th, 2016
Summit!! This one is for you Amy. Love you forever.
The dudes! Beyond grateful for their efforts and company
The Bells in their winter coat, as seen from Maroon Lake.
The final few steps to the summit were tough, steep powder over a precipice. I knew that I did not want to die, but I also had already been up the Bell Cord and I would not be doing that again. Ever. It is hard to convey just how 'out there' I felt. At 10:15am I stepped onto the summit of my dreams, the so called "Holy Grail" of winter 14ers. Ryan was ahead of me, having unlocked the upper ridge in an impressive performance. He stopped a few feet short of the summit. "You go ahead," he said, "this one's for Amy." I could not contain my emotions, and I collapsed to the ground and the tears started to flow. I cried for my sister, I cried for my family, I cried for all that had gone wrong in my life since July 18th. But most of all, I cried tears of pure joy for before this moment; South Maroon in winter had simply seemed unattainable. I had always intended to finish the winter list, but never expected to. Now it might actually be possible.
The team was one of the strongest I've had the privilege of climbing with. Jeff (Mickeys Grenade) and I had started our winter partnership 5 seasons ago, on Mt of the Holy Cross. Over the last few years, Jeff and I have done many winter 14ers together and talked endlessly about our love of big mountain climbing. Unfortunately we are nearing the end of our winter 14er partnership, as the only peak remaining we both need is North Maroon. Jeff invited along Jim (Yikes), who has become his new main winter partner. Ryan Kushner and I had been meaning to get out together, both sharing a love of expedition climbing and the high degree of challenge that the alpine brings. Kush invited along Lee Jennings, a potential partner for Jeff and Ryan's trip to Pakistan this summer. While it is difficult for me to watch close friends prepare to go off on that trip, I am beyond excited for them, and I have my own expedition coming up in just 2 short months.
The initial emails went out on Wednesday. "Conditions are as good as they are going to get, who wants to roll the dice and go up the Bell Cord?" Up until that day, I had maintained that I would never go up the Bell Cord in winter. "It is just too dangerous," I'd say, "If I die climbing, I don't want it to be in CO." Seems silly but that is a common mindset among my friends. Winter 14ers are insanely dangerous and unjustifiable. I wish I had never started, but I did, and I am 48 (now 49) peaks in. I can't stop. That's when you do something stupid - that's when you go up the Bell Cord. We had green avy conditions, no reported activity for 5 days prior, and a good forecast. How could we not go? It seemed that Maroon Peak might be open for business.
Kush, Jeff, Lee, and I decided to try to day trip with an 11pm start, while Jim opted for packing in and camping at Crater Lake. I arrived in Aspen just after dark, but didn't sleep, at least I don't think I did. There was an odd mixture of excitement and nerves, I could be on top of Maroon by the morning, or I could be dead, under a slide, or fallen off the steep terrain. The possibilities were endless, and my mind made sure I remembered that. We were all quick to get up when the alarms went off, myself excited to at least be testing out a lot of new gear for my upcoming Alaska trip. I'm fortunate to work with the Colorado ArcTeryx crew and be outfitted with new lightweight modern gear - Show us your bird! We were all on various forms of skiis, boots, and Jeff even pulling a sled, but made surprisingly good time and were ahead of schedule.
We arrived at the summer TH ahead of schedule before 2am.Things were looking promising as Jeff and I switched into snowshoes and stashed some gear. We were moving again shortly and we followed Jim's trench, who had packed in the night before. We were at Crater Lake before 3am and again wondered if we had started way too early. I was feeling good, optimistic and just happy to be out and to be moving. I haven't been out at all this season, but I've been training like crazy preparing for the hardest climb of my life this spring.
We reached Jim's tent around 3:15am. The original plan was to meet at the base of the Bell Cord at 7am, but that would have been too late and Jim also extrapolated that our 11pm start time would put us to him much earlier than 7. We stopped to brew up some water and make sure we were all hydrated. Part of our plan was to not carry much water and to bring stoves along to melt water before and after the climb. Apparently all the expedition experience in this group was paying off. It felt like true a true alpine ascent. We are certainly not the pioneers, though, and others on this site have been doing amazing shit like this the past few years that we are only so lucky to be able to follow in their footsteps. We all started to get pretty cold and were moving again by 4am. It was time to face our destiny.
We kept our snowshoes on at first and the going was pretty mellow. I think it was good that it was dark, so we couldn't really see what we were in for. In the dark, despite the light of the moon, it was difficult to grasp just how much avy terrain lay above. It was over 3,000ft to the Notch, and we would be in avy terrain the entire time. Not only was the slope that we were on a dangerous avalanche area, but there were secondary and tertiary avy slopes on either side. So far so good, though. No signs of instability and good snow. It wasn't firm spring snow, but it wasn't scary winter snow either. I tried to put the thought of a slide out of my head, as I am sure the others did. There had been some discussion if we would go through or around the garbage chute, but Jeff made that decision for us and led us into it. About halfway up the snow started getting really shitty, and was the scariest snow of the entire day. Once we started slipping backwards with snowshoes on, we decided it was probably time to put the 'pons on.
I was ready first so I took the lead. Jeff warned me that the top of the chute seemed to get steeper, and boy was he right. There was a legitimate, no BS step of AI2. It was only 10ft or so but it was 65 degree ice. AMAZING!! I love ice climbing! I only had one tool, and made quick work of the step. Some others chose to use a second tool here. Above the step things got super mellow for a while, and we were in good spirits. We moved upwards, still in complete darkness. Up above we could see the walls narrow dramatically as the upper Bell Cord rose to the notch. We needed to break trail, and it was physically demanding. We continued to encounter favorable snow conditions though and all felt pretty lucky. The altitude started to creep in; we were above 12k now.
First photo as we get a bit of early morning light.
So. Much. Avy. Terrain. Ugh....
Jeff and Kush shortly after the sun came up.
Jim takes the lead for a bit. getting through the upper coolie was a full team trail breaking effort
Me lagging behind for a bit, taking my time.
Taking the lead for a little bit on the endless snow slope
The sun started to come up behind us, the sky was red above Pyramid. Seriously, this was big. Having done a monster approach through the night, it felt pretty amazing to be high on the peak as the sun was coming up, and we were all looking forward to the sun. We wanted to see, we wanted to be warm. We all stopped to put on sunscreen and shades just before the narrows. Most delayered. Being in the sun was a different world. The intensity seemed to go up too, as we could really see and appreciate the terrain we were in. "W.t.F. am I doing here?" was certainly what I was thinking. I can imagine similar thoughts were in the minds of my friends. It doesn't matter if you know conditions are good, it's just spooky.
The upper Cord was awesome, but tiring. We stayed close together, right on the heels of whoever was in the lead breaking trail. Everyone pulled their weight. I was impressed by everyone's performance, and grateful that I had enough in me to do my part. The snow got really deep for a short bit, and I was crawling upwards on my knees. Eventually we saw blue sky through the notch and the hooting and hollering started. I don't know if we were more excited to be getting the peak, or just to be off of the Death Cord. Around 9am the team arrived in the notch with tremendous smiles.
Jeff showing his true nature...a TOTAL BEAST!
Almost there!!!
A tired me in some of the deepest snow we found
The sun comes up over Pyramid
Kush makes his way up, Jeff and I are behind.
Jim climbs off of the Cord and into the Notch
So, big mistake here. We had all pretty much checked out and figured the last bit wouldn't be so bad, and we had decided not to bring a rope. Well, yea, we were wrong. The remaining route to the summit was fucking intense. It is up there with anything else I've done on winter 14ers, and it really pushed things over the edge for me. At that point you are so damn committed, and summit fever really sets in. Plus, if not now, then when? It's going to be scary whenever you do it. However, I really went into another state of mind, forgetting all life outside of the current moment. That is why I climb though, isn't it? There is so much noise and clutter in my brain in everyday life, and I have never found a way to quiet it. When I climb at my highest levels I experience the present moment. It is like a drug. But it isn't all good, the risk of falling to your death is very, very real. Ahh, the Bells. Down-sloping, loose rocks everywhere, covered in powder and no positive holds over fatal exposure. It certainly gets your attention.
Some of the terrain on the upper ridge
Jeff and Kush descend from the summit
Jeff waits for me to slowly and carefully downclimb a tricky section
On the final crux downclimb back into the notch
Example of terrain on upper ridge
The climb out of the notch and onto the ridge was the crux of the day by far. We moved behind onto the West side and gained the ridge after a long stretch of class 4. Kush led the way and did an excellent job unlocking the route to the summit. The team moved slowly towards the top and everyone performed splendidly. Everyone was in the zone and there was no talking. Who knows what they were thinking, I only know what I was thinking. "Don't die, that's bad style." With each step of climbing we pulled onto another section of ridge. It was less than 300ft from the notch to the summit, but it felt like it went on forever. A final false summit. The last stretch was wild, a huge cornice to our left and barely anywhere to walk, but it went, and there we were on the summit.
The upper ridge
Kushner unlocks the upper ridge like a boss. He was a true hero through this section.
Kush captures this epic shot of me approaching the summit
Everyone's nerves were going as we knew we needed to get off this thing. Originally we were talking about how good we would feel after getting back down the Cord, but now after being blown away by the difficulty of the ridge, we just wanted to be back at the notch. After all, 42 degree snow is pretty damn easy and we wound up glissading most of it. We took a different route on the way down that went a little smoother, but overall it was still very challenging. Nothing like lowering yourself with no holds onto snow that might spit you off into the abyss. In the end, we made it back down without a problem, though the final downclimb into the notch was out there. It's rare that I don't know if I'll make it out alive on winter 14ers, but this was one of those times.
XterraRob captures this photo of the team on the crux downclimb
"Hi, my name is Jeff and I approve of this photo"
More avy terrain
This climb was without a doubt one of the best and most rewarding mountains that I have ever done in Colorado, and on par with some of the expeditions I have done. This single summit provided a bigger sense of accomplishment than finishing the entire 14er list in summer. I know many people who would call this peak, on its own, the winter list. I have the utmost respect for the small group of mountaineers that have experienced this summit in winter; I think I probably know half of them as the list is not too long. For the past 5 years, ever since I started dreaming of completing the winter list, I knew I would come up against this mountain. There is simply no safe way to get it, and it takes a special kind of crazy to even attempt it. Even with favorable avy conditions and forecast, we still knew we only had a small chance and that the decisions we made on the climb could literally mean life or death. I was lucky to have some of my best partners on this trip: all fellow big mountain climbers and all far stronger than me. It was not until the final few feet that I realized we were actually going to summit. The ridge from the notch to the summit was far more difficult and dangerous than any of us had anticipated. To me, this felt like landing on the moon and I can confidently say that this peak in winter is a once in a lifetime event for me. Still cannot believe it. I needed a day like this, and I got it. Starting at 11pm from the car, hiking through the night in a single continuous push...just the way I like it!
Awesome features high on the peak
The sun peaks over the Bells.
Thanks to Meg383 for editing my writing and turning it into something readable!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
is a real testament to elite-level mountaineering. Glad no novices were along for the ride. They would have been in way over their head and surely would have deserved a public lashing :roll:
But seriously...congrats to all for making it to the summit and back to the cars safely...a rare feat in February.
Really sounds similar to our springtime climb of the Cord a few years ago. The ridge from the top of BelCord definitely was the crux. We weren't shy to use a rope on the descent. I hear ya on non-positive sloping holds covered with snow. Congrats to nabbing it in such prime conditions and in a day, no less.
I think if I thought about death as often as you did, I wouldn't be able to summit the staircase to my bedroom. Also, I don't think it's a once in a lifetime thing, cause we both know a guy that did it twice - and he's a noob!
I spent plenty of time looking across the valley at the cord the day after you guys were up there. My most consistent thought was - I wouldn't have wanted to be the guinea pigs that tested that line out. That took plenty of guts, I'm very impressed by that - awesome job guys.
Congrats to you, Matt, and your team! Awesome accomplishment that you made it up & down safely. Primo snow conditions in the Chord. I've only ever climbed it in early June, but that looks about as primo as you can get in late February! Well done, fellas.
Great trip report, and congrats to all of you. That thing via the Bell Chord in summer is a total beast. Can't imagine it in winter. Very nice work.
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