Bells Traverse Questions

[uwe]

It took me 80 minutes. I had heard that 90 was average.
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Hey, tks for the time info and TR link . Great detail.

Chau!

[cheeseburglar]

Did it on Sunday.
The Bells Traverse is a nasty chossy fear fest. It's basically an excercise in spending an hour or two living in fear of objective hazards that would kill you. Several times I found myself clinging to sketchy looking pieces of rock hoping at least 2 of my 4 holds wouldn't jump off the mountain. Made it pretty hard to move as I was reluctant to only have three holds. The rock also has a nasty tendency to be covered in gravel and dip at about 20 degrees towards the several thousand foot drop into Fravert Basin or down the Bell Chord.
The only reason to do this traverse is because you have to in order to consider yourself a macho mountain man or woman because someone declared it a "Great Traverse". There isn't much that is good or great about it unless you need to flush out your adrenile glands.
I recommend against it if you have children. And if you don't have children, you should probably freeze some sperm before you go.
On Sunday, we ruined CoNative's average time by taking 2 1/2 hours south to north. And we didn't even really get off the route at all.
I'd rate the third crux 5.5 the way we did it. Although I've climbed 5.6 routes that were easier.
Real nice scenery.

[Jim Davies]

CB: were you the group of 4 we met at the North Maroon crux yesterday, about 10 am? If so, I wish I were as "slow" as you guys.

We met a pair of guys below treeline who had spent the night out when they got caught by darkness at the rock glacier after doing the S-N traverse Saturday. They were OK but not very happy looking.

[Daniel Trugman]

The only reason to do this traverse is because you have to in order to consider yourself a macho mountain man or woman because someone declared it a "Great Traverse". There isn't much that is good or great about it unless you need to flush out your adrenile glands.

I thought the position and scenery were spectacular, and the route is one I'd gladly do again. It's the Bells, and yes there is some loose rock to watch out for, but not where the climbing is difficult.

[cheeseburglar]

CB: were you the group of 4 we met at the North Maroon crux yesterday, about 10 am? If so, I wish I were as "slow" as you guys.

We met a pair of guys below treeline who had spent the night out when they got caught by darkness at the rock glacier after doing the S-N traverse Saturday. They were OK but not very happy looking.

JD - No, but we might have been the group of three you crossed paths with about the time the mountain goats were fighting us for the right of way on the trail.
DT - maybe the nastiness of the route will fade in my mind with time.

[uwe]

Did it on Sunday.

Hey, John, aka jf32 and I were up there, too. You must have been the first group out and over.
Sorry we missed you. We saw you from Maroon Peak. Wasn't it an absolutely gorgeous day or what?

[uwe]

CB: were you the group of 4 we met at the North Maroon crux yesterday, about 10 am?

jf32 and I were descending N. Maroon summit @ 11:15 Sunday, did we pass each other?
We ran into Jason aka p??? at the Maroon Peak ridge. He had the 14'ers decal on, so easy to spot.
Think I'll do that. Man, lots of 14'ers folks out. Whoa, that makes sense.

[Jim Davies]

uwe, I think you were leaving the summit just as we arrived. I guess we should wear name-tags or something.

After looking down on that ridge from the summit, my thoughts are that I'll probably never be brave enough to attempt it. Wow, that looked tough, even compared to what we'd just climbed.

[KeithK]

uwe, I think you were leaving the summit just as we arrived. I guess we should wear name-tags or something.

Haha, yeah! It was a big 14ers.com weekend up there from the sounds of it... but you were all over on N. Maroon. We were on the summit of Maroon Peak at 10:30-ish...

[ossie322]

I thought the position and scenery were spectacular, and the route is one I'd gladly do again. It's the Bells, and yes there is some loose rock to watch out for, but not where the climbing is difficult.

+1 to that. The fact that Daniel and I did the traverse together means that our route finding was identical, but I also thought the traverse to be surprisingly solid and very enjoyable. Plus you can't beat the views, but I know there are many ways to go, and that some of them have to be as horrible as CB describes.

[FCSquid]

CB: were you the group of 4 we met at the North Maroon crux yesterday, about 10 am?

jf32 and I were descending N. Maroon summit @ 11:15 Sunday, did we pass each other?
We ran into Jason aka p??? at the Maroon Peak ridge. He had the 14'ers decal on, so easy to spot.
Think I'll do that. Man, lots of 14'ers folks out. Whoa, that makes sense.

Jim and I climbed together yesterday. I think we met uwe and jf32 just below the summit after the final Class 4 pitch above the 'precipice'. Jason's nerves seemed awfully calm for having just finished the traverse.

I think we ran into cheeseburglar just below the 'notch' at the top of the 2nd gully. You guys I believe were the group chastizing the climbers below to put on their helmets, right?

[FCSquid]

Did it on Sunday.
The Bells Traverse is a nasty chossy fear fest. It's basically an excercise in spending an hour or two living in fear of objective hazards that would kill you. Several times I found myself clinging to sketchy looking pieces of rock hoping at least 2 of my 4 holds wouldn't jump off the mountain. Made it pretty hard to move as I was reluctant to only have three holds. The rock also has a nasty tendency to be covered in gravel and dip at about 20 degrees towards the several thousand foot drop into Fravert Basin or down the Bell Chord.
The only reason to do this traverse is because you have to in order to consider yourself a macho mountain man or woman because someone declared it a "Great Traverse". There isn't much that is good or great about it unless you need to flush out your adrenile glands.
I recommend against it if you have children. And if you don't have children, you should probably freeze some sperm before you go.
On Sunday, we ruined CoNative's average time by taking 2 1/2 hours south to north. And we didn't even really get off the route at all.
I'd rate the third crux 5.5 the way we did it. Although I've climbed 5.6 routes that were easier.
Real nice scenery.

As soon as I heard the words "hairy and sketchy" from the 2 guys who'd done an unplanned bivvy on Saturday describing the traverse, I knew I had no interest whatsoever in it.

Truthfully, having kids is the biggest reason why I don't need that level of danger in my life. Mom doesn't need to explain to my 3-year-old daughter why 'daddy isn't coming home tonight'. The downward-sloping ledges on the standard N. Maroon route was plenty for me. My palms are still sweaty just thinking about some of the more exposed moves.

[cheeseburglar]

I think we ran into cheeseburglar just below the 'notch' at the top of the 2nd gully. You guys I believe were the group chastizing the climbers below to put on their helmets, right?

If by chastizing you mean trying to bowl them off them mountain with boulders, yes.
We were also giving sermons about the dangers of hiking in cotton, which is weird because one member of our group had on a cotton t shirt...

[FCSquid]

I think we ran into cheeseburglar just below the 'notch' at the top of the 2nd gully. You guys I believe were the group chastizing the climbers below to put on their helmets, right?

If by chastizing you mean trying to bowl them off them mountain with boulders, yes.
We were also giving sermons about the dangers of hiking in cotton, which is weird because one member of our group had on a cotton t shirt...

Those climbers passed us on the way up, and we ended up spending some time on the summit with them. I'm still amazed that they hadn't brought brain buckets for that mountain.

They were below us on the way down the 2nd gully when I kicked a flat piece of shale down that got up to about Mach 3 in no time. Fortunately, they were on the traverse toward the 1st gully when that happened. Otherwise it may have been a guillotine.

[mountainmicah83]

by mountainmicah83 » Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:47 pm

If someone were to bring a rope, would a 30m suffice or is a 60m necessary.

That worked for us ... 30m (both times ... N to S). Happy trails!

Thanks for the advice.