Introduction/Background

Many famous individuals and phenoms have graced the realm of rock climbing and mountaineering during history. Adventurers and trailblazers alike have been had their names etched in glory throughout history. I think I have reasonable ground to etch yet another name on the list of greats that have preceded us: His name is Pat Mazza. Pat, who is my dad, has climbed the top 100 (centennial) peaks in Colorado, the Grand Tetons, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Whitney all within his lifetime. His most recent accomplishment in progress is summitting all of the 14ers in Colorado a second time with his kids (Me), and his daughter Meghan. At 62 years of age, he continues to venture deep in the Rockies and summit its highest points. Our group and the Legend Pat himself would face our greatest challenge over Labor Day weekend, the Maroon Bells. We would be joined by one of my college buddies Cash, who is also known on here as (ccherry). Pat had done the bells traverse twice in his hay day, yet now as a senior climber, he would be significantly challenged compared to when he was at his physical peak. As you will see in this report though, the indomitable spirit of Pat Mazza transcends his age.

South Maroon Ascent

Starting at about 4:00 A.M. at the Maroon lake trailhead, our group prepared to venture to the Deadly Bells themselves. Today, we were doing South Maroon, the Traverse over to North Maroon, and back down the trailhead. The approach to the bells is quite uneventful and a very easy hike with little elevation gain. This approach however turns the bells into something I like to call procrastinator peaks. Procrastinator peaks have long, low-elevation approaches compared to their total mileage to the summit. In the case of the Bells, you hike on a very calm trail along the lakes until you hit what some describe as "the 2800 feet of suck". A good thing to note about this stage is that the turnoff to go to south Maroon is not completely obvious and can be hard to see in the dark. Cash, Pat, and I accidentally took the wrong turn onto a trail that runs along the lakes. Meghan was the only one in our group that got it right and we had to spend some time finding her on the south Maroon trail. We started to ascend the steep slopes of south Maroon and we sure felt the strain on our lower bodies. This part of the ascent is no joke and is majorly physically demanding.

Once we reached the ridge crest at around 13k, we visualized the remaining part of South Maroon, and saw the impending danger in front of us. Everyone was feeling good, and Pat the legend Mazza was a little more than 1,000 feet away from his 3rd ascent of South Maroon.

the last 1,000 feet of South Maroon is quite possibly one of the hardest route-finding challenges in all of Colorado. Thankfully, the cairns on this route were quite helpful and led us a good amount of the way. The last 1,000 feet starts out with two decent class 3 sections with good rock. After that, the rotten and loose rock of the elk range made its unwelcome entrance. Gully 1 and Gully 2 are one of the rougher parts of the route. From our experience, taking gully 2 direct is the best approach to dealing with this section. There was another group we ran into who tried to take gully 1 and were not pleased with their experience.

After the gullies, most of what is left of South Maroon is more difficult route finding and loose rock. We pushed hard for the summit and had to keep our eyes peeled for more cairns. Towards the end, we ran into a very nice guy Adelle. He helped us with the remaining route finding and led us to the glory of the South Maroon summit. Adelle if you ever see this, thanks for the help, and good luck with your future 14er endeavors! On the South Maroon summit, we enjoyed ourselves for a good bit and basked in the wonderful weather we were having that day.

With South maroon completed within 6 and a half hours, we now ventured into one of the toughest portions of our journey, the traverse.

The Great Bells Traverse

This climb was going to be me, Meghan's, and Cash's, first great traverse. We decided to bring a rope with us on this trip in case we felt it necessary to belay anyone. The downclimb from South Maroon was surprisingly difficult and requires great attention. It cliffs out at some points so don't let your guard down on the way to the North Maroon saddle.

Once the downclimb was over, we saw the behemoth of a traverse before us. We had to work as a team through this part of the trip, and everyone contributed to the route-finding and climbing challenges along the way. There were three main cruxes to the traverse we encountered, and they became increasingly difficult as we went along. I free climbed up the 5-th class portions of the cruxes and belayed the rest of the team up. As far as the utility of using a rope goes, its got some trade-offs. Belaying on this traverse can be good for morale and safety yet is very time-consuming. If everyone in your group has solid climbing experience, I would advise against bringing a rope.

Unlike every other part of these two mountains, the rock on the traverse is pretty solid. I felt confident on just about every hold I grabbed on to which was a huge help. The cairns clutched up for us too, and we felt comfortable with trusting them to lead us. After ascending one of the cruxes, there was a small platform with a nice cairn sitting right on top of it. It was one of the most welcome trail markers I've ever seen since I was assured the difficult climb I just committed to wasn't the wrong way haha. After the ascent of the third crux section, the rest of the traverse is pretty straightforward. At one point, it looks like the route cliffs out, but rest assured, everything gets easier after you've completed the third crux.

Once you reach North Maroon proper, route-finding becomes less of an issue and you can kind of do a choose your own adventure deal with it. My recommendation would be to head up to the left-side slope of North Maroon as shown in the picture above and pick a class 3 scramble that looks fun to you. We reached the summit of North Maroon and let me tell you something, I have never felt a 14er summit more satisfying than this one. Everyone celebrated and had an emotional moment, for we knew the worst of the climb was behind us. Pat Mazza's third Maroon Bells Traverse had been completed, and he had become one of the greats of the elk range.

The Descent

After enjoying some time with perfect weather on the summit, we all came to a realization that we still had to descend North Maroon, horrible right? We left the North Maroon summit at about 3:00 P.M. and were met with its crux chimney shortly afterward. The route-finding after the summit leading up to the chimney can be pretty hard so keep your eyes peeled. The chimney itself is ok, just take your time and it'll pass. The route after that is pretty easy to follow, and a multitude of cairns leads you the way. We struggled to find the main gully of North Maroon and unfortunately went down the wrong one. Cash saved us though and led us back to the trail using the app Gaia to re-find the route. Another great part of the day was a run-in we had with a pure-white mountain goat. I snapped a low-quality pic on my phone before the majestic animal continued down the mountain ahead of us.

At this point, all of us were quite drained. The Maroon bells are beautiful mountains, but I was for sure done with them at this point. The North Maroon descent overstays its welcome, and the rock glacier was the icing on the cake of our pain. After the rock glacier, we were greeted with a nice, forested section with a great trail going through it.

The day was coming to a close, and we were losing sunlight. This climb would end up taking us about 17 hours for us to complete. We started it with headlamps and would end up closing it out with them. The dark walk back to the trailhead was monotonous and seemed like it would never end. These are the parts that almost break you. Cash and I were out of water, Meghan's feet were on fire, and Pat had to use every bit of his energy to round things out. We reached the car and silently enjoyed the completion of our voyage. We did this silently because we were too tired to talk! haha. After that, we barreled down the road to gain cell reception to call my mom and say we were safe. A 3-hour drive that seemed like a fever dream was still remaining, and the legend Pat drove us the whole way.

Conclusion

The Maroon Bells Traverse was the hardest 14er trip I have ever done, and it might stay that way for a long time. This was a test of strength for us, but we shaped up and delivered. Cash, who had done Pikes Peak two days earlier, pulled through for us and was always optimistic and level-headed. Meghan, who had never done such a technical 14er route, seized the traverse and made a great accomplishment in her career. And finally, the MVP of our expedition, Pat the legend Mazza, the embodiment of the indomitable human spirit, finished his most likely last, and most memorable trip to the Maroon Bells. I am proud of everyone who was with me that day. We sweated, cried, and bled on those mountains. I'll leave you with this:

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them - Marcus Aurelius.