Pyramid Peak Trip Report 08/22/2007

Peak(s):	Pyramid Peak - 14,029 feet
Date Posted:	08/22/2007
Date Climbed:	07/11/2007
Author:	Alpine

Pyramid Peak - A Step Up
Pyramid Peak - A Step Up. A few pics can be found here: http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m148/Alpine_03/ Stephen and I decided to climb Pyramid Peak a few weeks ago. Stephen has been up Long's several times, and the Maroon Bells, including the traverse. I am up in the 40's somewhere on my 14er list, with all the really hard ones left. Stephen is a very fit runner, and does things like race other hard-core's up the side of Vail Mountain for fun, does � marathons, and the Bolder Boulder in 39 minutes. I sit on my duff all day at work, and if I am lucky ride my bike twice a week, 8-9 miles per. Stephen wears old running shoes - I wear leather hiking boots at the least, and sometimes mountaineering boots like my La Sportiva Makalus. Stephen is single and goes to Vail and Aspen a lot just for the heck of it. I spend all my money on my wife and kids - every so often I buy a new piece of gear. Stephen is a dyed in the wool liberal, and likes to make fun of 'Dubya'. I am considered pretty conservative by most standards, but have thick skin, and I do like intelligent debate. We work together where Stephen is a programmer for some of the geospatial software we use to fulfill orders, and I use that software to place and fulfill satellite imagery orders. We left Longmont after work on Tuesday about 4:45 and headed to Aspen. I dropped my car at Stephen's apartment complex in Gunbarrel and hopped in his Honda CRV. It had been a long day and week (all of two days so far ) for both of us already, so we stopped for some of Conoco's best java for him and a Snickers bar for me, and hit the road. We were in Glenwood in no time, where we stopped at Japanese place he knew for dinner. We had planned on hitting up a local campground near Basalt, but found none close to town. We debated on whether to chance getting one of the limited overnight spots in the Maroon Bells parking lot but decided we should just head up toward Reudi Reservoir and find the campground - 15 or so miles didn't seem too far, but we did not take into account the slow winding nature of the road. Anyway it was almost 10:30 by the time we found a campsite and got the tents up. We had planned on getting up at 4 AM to get an early start, but because we had camped so far from the trailhead it was right at 6 when we set off. The sky was clear and there was no one around. We made good time up the trail toward Crater Lake. We found the cut-off to Pyramid Peak without any problem, and the work began. The trail steepens considerably here as you must gain maybe 1000 feet to get into the amphitheatre above. The entrance to the amphitheatre is guarded by three very large (over my head) cairns, pretty neat in their own right, but useless for trail finding - the fact that you are entering the amphitheatre being more than obvious. They are probably more for the descent than for the ascent, as on the descent they help you find the start of the trail. There really is no trail in the amphitheatre itself - it is just rock hopping. Moving up into the amphitheatre, there was not much snow, but my stiffer boots allowed me to move up quickly, while Stephen had to accept poor footing on the hard snow with his running shoes, or move to the fist to basketball size rock fields; neither place is ideal terrain for running shoes. As we neared the upper edge of the amphitheatre and Pyramid's north face, with a few episodes of rock fall coming off the face, the next challenge became obvious: the 1000 foot or so climb up to the Northeast Ridge. This section is not really hiking or climbing, but just a slog and could be brutal for the unprepared. A good place to put the brain buckets on. It is steep, the trail tread is highly sloped - scree everywhere and where there was no scree it was mud and dirt. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the saddle where the NE ridge comes around. The view from here is wonderful - the entire valley to the east comes into view, the Bells are immediately across the valley to the west, and Snowmass and Capitol are visible in the distance. And the rest of the NE ridge of Pyramid rises up very steeply before you. Here the nature of the route very quickly changes from hiking to mostly climbing. The first obstacle is small buttress along the ridge, which is traversed on climber's right via some small ledges and the first hint of exposure. A fun intro to the rest of the route. If narrow ledges and loose rock are your idea of fun, the next section is the place to be, as the route squirrels around following whatever good ledges can be found, moving up from one to the next, and traversing in between, finding the route of least resistance. Shortly one comes to The Ledge. One foot wide at most, 6 inches or so at it's narrowest, and with an entrance move that requires the climber to step down and across a 2 foot wide gash, this feature actually ends up being more of a photo op than an exposed terror-producing 30 feet. In all actuality you do have to be careful and look for handholds, and watch your foot placement, but the exposure is only moderate, or even slight, and I would rather be on this ledge than some of the others, if the weather came in; you just see this ledge in Pyramid Pk TR's, if they include pictures that is. Anyway, this is followed up by more twists, turns, ledges, and loose rock. Finally the Green Gulley is before you. This is a 3rd and 4th class band of green rock that follows a major gulley most of the way to the summit (as well as down the gulley quite a ways), and represents the start of the hardest sections of climbing. Petrologically and visually, this rock is a departure from the slabby, ledgy maroon-colored formation of the rest of the route. I had previously warned Stephen that I did not know how I would respond mentally (or physically) once we found the harder climbing because I had bailed on my brother on the exposed Southwest Ridge of Ellingwood even though it is 'only' 3rd class; sure enough this is where I had to take a few minutes to evaluate, once I had made a few initial moves. It was definitely a step up in steepness, and therefore commitment. The rock itself was slightly more solid though than the maroon ledges. After a few minutes, I realized (or at least convinced myself) that this was really nothing I had not done before on other peaks, although on different rock or for different lengths (Crestone Needle comes to mind for steepness and exposure). Since I am always thinking about the descent on the ascent - am I willing to reverse this move or that one - I evaluated from a move by move perspective back down through the initial section I had climbed - maybe 20 feet. Once I realized that with care it was easily reversible, I was able to make the commitment and move up, and after 20 more feet, felt very comfortable, and knew I had made the right choice. After that, the summit seemed attainable, if not still distant. More ledges, loose rock and route finding difficulties slowed us to a crawl, but by 11:30 we were on the summit. The descent proved tedious with all the loose rock, and after a few initial moves we felt quite confident, facing in on only one or two short downclimbs going from ledge to ledge. We took our time, more wanting to get back safely than to break any speed records, and move by move we snaked our way back down to the saddle. The descent back down to the amphitheatre was uneventful but steep in its own right, as was the remainder of the hike down the trail. Once we hit the Crater Lake Trail, Stephen's 'inner runner' kicked in and we blasted down to the car at a clip that I could and did keep, but would not have ordinarily. It was just past 4 PM when we reached the car - 10 hours RT and nothing to brag about, but a satisfying trip none the less. My first 4th class route (was it really 4th class, or just trumped up 3rd class? - I am still not sure) and 44th fourteener! It actually gave me a huge boost in confidence to tackle the remaining peaks on my list - almost all 4th class climbs. All in all, both Stephen and I were really glad we had teamed up for this climb - for all our differences, we made a good team for this peak. Next up: Backpacking in the Bear's Ear's area west of Steamboat, and a weekend in the Crestones. If you have actually read this far, and this being my first TR, I welcome your comments. Feel free to forward this TR to anyone you think might be interested. Jim

Pyramid Peak - A Step Up

Pyramid Peak - A Step Up.

A few pics can be found here: http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m148/Alpine_03/

Stephen and I decided to climb Pyramid Peak a few weeks ago. Stephen has been up Long's several times, and the Maroon Bells, including the traverse. I am up in the 40's somewhere on my 14er list, with all the really hard ones left.

Stephen is a very fit runner, and does things like race other hard-core's up the side of Vail Mountain for fun, does � marathons, and the Bolder Boulder in 39 minutes. I sit on my duff all day at work, and if I am lucky ride my bike twice a week, 8-9 miles per.

Stephen wears old running shoes - I wear leather hiking boots at the least, and sometimes mountaineering boots like my La Sportiva Makalus.

Stephen is single and goes to Vail and Aspen a lot just for the heck of it. I spend all my money on my wife and kids - every so often I buy a new piece of gear.

Stephen is a dyed in the wool liberal, and likes to make fun of 'Dubya'. I am considered pretty conservative by most standards, but have thick skin, and I do like intelligent debate.

We work together where Stephen is a programmer for some of the geospatial software we use to fulfill orders, and I use that software to place and fulfill satellite imagery orders.

We left Longmont after work on Tuesday about 4:45 and headed to Aspen. I dropped my car at Stephen's apartment complex in Gunbarrel and hopped in his Honda CRV. It had been a long day and week (all of two days so far ) for both of us already, so we stopped for some of Conoco's best java for him and a Snickers bar for me, and hit the road. We were in Glenwood in no time, where we stopped at Japanese place he knew for dinner. We had planned on hitting up a local campground near Basalt, but found none close to town. We debated on whether to chance getting one of the limited overnight spots in the Maroon Bells parking lot but decided we should just head up toward Reudi Reservoir and find the campground - 15 or so miles didn't seem too far, but we did not take into account the slow winding nature of the road. Anyway it was almost 10:30 by the time we found a campsite and got the tents up.

We had planned on getting up at 4 AM to get an early start, but because we had camped so far from the trailhead it was right at 6 when we set off. The sky was clear and there was no one around. We made good time up the trail toward Crater Lake. We found the cut-off to Pyramid Peak without any problem, and the work began. The trail steepens considerably here as you must gain maybe 1000 feet to get into the amphitheatre above. The entrance to the amphitheatre is guarded by three very large (over my head) cairns, pretty neat in their own right, but useless for trail finding - the fact that you are entering the amphitheatre being more than obvious. They are probably more for the descent than for the ascent, as on the descent they help you find the start of the trail. There really is no trail in the amphitheatre itself - it is just rock hopping.

Moving up into the amphitheatre, there was not much snow, but my stiffer boots allowed me to move up quickly, while Stephen had to accept poor footing on the hard snow with his running shoes, or move to the fist to basketball size rock fields; neither place is ideal terrain for running shoes.

As we neared the upper edge of the amphitheatre and Pyramid's north face, with a few episodes of rock fall coming off the face, the next challenge became obvious: the 1000 foot or so climb up to the Northeast Ridge. This section is not really hiking or climbing, but just a slog and could be brutal for the unprepared. A good place to put the brain buckets on. It is steep, the trail tread is highly sloped - scree everywhere and where there was no scree it was mud and dirt. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the saddle where the NE ridge comes around. The view from here is wonderful - the entire valley to the east comes into view, the Bells are immediately across the valley to the west, and Snowmass and Capitol are visible in the distance. And the rest of the NE ridge of Pyramid rises up very steeply before you.

Here the nature of the route very quickly changes from hiking to mostly climbing. The first obstacle is small buttress along the ridge, which is traversed on climber's right via some small ledges and the first hint of exposure. A fun intro to the rest of the route. If narrow ledges and loose rock are your idea of fun, the next section is the place to be, as the route squirrels around following whatever good ledges can be found, moving up from one to the next, and traversing in between, finding the route of least resistance. Shortly one comes to The Ledge. One foot wide at most, 6 inches or so at it's narrowest, and with an entrance move that requires the climber to step down and across a 2 foot wide gash, this feature actually ends up being more of a photo op than an exposed terror-producing 30 feet. In all actuality you do have to be careful and look for handholds, and watch your foot placement, but the exposure is only moderate, or even slight, and I would rather be on this ledge than some of the others, if the weather came in; you just see this ledge in Pyramid Pk TR's, if they include pictures that is.

Anyway, this is followed up by more twists, turns, ledges, and loose rock. Finally the Green Gulley is before you. This is a 3rd and 4th class band of green rock that follows a major gulley most of the way to the summit (as well as down the gulley quite a ways), and represents the start of the hardest sections of climbing. Petrologically and visually, this rock is a departure from the slabby, ledgy maroon-colored formation of the rest of the route. I had previously warned Stephen that I did not know how I would respond mentally (or physically) once we found the harder climbing because I had bailed on my brother on the exposed Southwest Ridge of Ellingwood even though it is 'only' 3rd class; sure enough this is where I had to take a few minutes to evaluate, once I had made a few initial moves. It was definitely a step up in steepness, and therefore commitment. The rock itself was slightly more solid though than the maroon ledges. After a few minutes, I realized (or at least convinced myself) that this was really nothing I had not done before on other peaks, although on different rock or for different lengths (Crestone Needle comes to mind for steepness and exposure). Since I am always thinking about the descent on the ascent - am I willing to reverse this move or that one - I evaluated from a move by move perspective back down through the initial section I had climbed - maybe 20 feet. Once I realized that with care it was easily reversible, I was able to make the commitment and move up, and after 20 more feet, felt very comfortable, and knew I had made the right choice. After that, the summit seemed attainable, if not still distant. More ledges, loose rock and route finding difficulties slowed us to a crawl, but by 11:30 we were on the summit.

The descent proved tedious with all the loose rock, and after a few initial moves we felt quite confident, facing in on only one or two short downclimbs going from ledge to ledge. We took our time, more wanting to get back safely than to break any speed records, and move by move we snaked our way back down to the saddle. The descent back down to the amphitheatre was uneventful but steep in its own right, as was the remainder of the hike down the trail. Once we hit the Crater Lake Trail, Stephen's 'inner runner' kicked in and we blasted down to the car at a clip that I could and did keep, but would not have ordinarily. It was just past 4 PM when we reached the car - 10 hours RT and nothing to brag about, but a satisfying trip none the less. My first 4th class route (was it really 4th class, or just trumped up 3rd class? - I am still not sure) and 44th fourteener! It actually gave me a huge boost in confidence to tackle the remaining peaks on my list - almost all 4th class climbs. All in all, both Stephen and I were really glad we had teamed up for this climb - for all our differences, we made a good team for this peak.

Next up: Backpacking in the Bear's Ear's area west of Steamboat, and a weekend in the Crestones.

If you have actually read this far, and this being my first TR, I welcome your comments. Feel free to forward this TR to anyone you think might be interested.

Jim

Comments or Questions

SarahT	Congratulations... 8/22/2007 8:37pm on your first 4th class climb, Jim. Pyramid was the first one for me too. Good luck on the others!
shanahan96	first trip report 11/30/2010 5:28pm thanks for posting, it was a great read. welcome to fourth class climbing; just be warned, it's very addictive! jamie
steal	Well Done! 11/30/2010 5:28pm Congrats Jim! Great trip report - it definitely puts mine to shame...keep climbin'!
KeithK	Excellent detail 2/5/2011 12:22am Very good job of describing the climb, Jim!

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