Lost bag on pyramid peak

[slevulis]

Lost pack on pyramid peak green wall area- Any help greatly appreciated!!!

-yesterday my brother and I hiked Pyramid. Made some mistakes, late start, hustling down....ultimately got slightly off course down climbing just above the green wall- probably down climbed a bit too far prior to re-entering the green wall section of the standard route.....wound up down climbing a feature just scary enough that we decided to toss our packs to the landing, about 10 feet below us, prior to downclimbing. The landing was about as safe as you can find up there. Mine landed as planned, my brother's was just a small computer tote/work style backpack, which when packed, produced a much more beachballish shape.....when it bounced I wasn't thinking beachball, I was thinking that could be us...fairly creepy the way this thing bounced and accelerated and in seconds launched off of a cliff into the abyss that was the giant gully beneath the green wall. It kept going, and going, and going, from the looks of it may have made it down a couple thousand feet through the entire steep section of the gully.

The backpack contained his wallet, important work documents, a work phone, as well as a couple grand worth of gear. Why, you ask, would it contain this much? Lesson learned is all I can say.

I'm hoping to make an attempt at extracting this bag. Looks like the best route to get there would be the east maroon trail, towards copper gulch. From that trailhead, I believe it would be 4 to 5 miles in. Then it would be a matter of approaching the gully from its washout, and whether or not we can spot it in an area where the risk of us falling or rocks falling on us is still manageable.

Anyone have any experience that could shed any more light on my thinking here? Any better ideas on approach? Any experience with that gully from below? Is this a popular trail, maybe another place I could post? Certainly would be happy to offer a several hundred reward for its retrieval.

Thanks for any help!

[Skimo95]

There’s no pack on the green wall as of today. Sorry

[daway8]

I might be off on this - perhaps some skiers can correct me if so, but I think the area you describe might possibly put the bag on or near what's known as the Landry Line - the primary way that people ski Pyramid.

I think it's also about the same descent route that was very unintentionally taken in this harrowing trip report - you can check the gpx to see if that matches your location - but do keep in mind that was where he fell off - not a route intended for normal use... https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=17700

More info on the Landry Line at https://skimo.co/landry-line-pyramid-pe ... U_WPaFfiGy. I would NOT think this would be at all safe to try to climb up but I don't think I've heard of anyone doing this route except as a ski descent so don't really know how sketchy it would be in summer as an ascent.

I suppose you could try to slowly approach and hope you get lucky by finding the bag before things got too dangerous but that sounds like a tremendous long shot to me. Given what you describe it might be worth an exploratory trip if you go with the understanding that you may need to give up and retreat once the terrain gets too ugly...

[slevulis]

There’s no pack on the green wall as of today. Sorry

[slevulis]

thanks daway8, this is very helpful, that does look like the line, I appreciate your angle on it!! Thank you!!

I might be off on this - perhaps some skiers can correct me if so, but I think the area you describe might possibly put the bag on or near what's known as the Landry Line - the primary way that people ski Pyramid.

I think it's also about the same descent route that was very unintentionally taken in this harrowing trip report - you can check the gpx to see if that matches your location - but do keep in mind that was where he fell off - not a route intended for normal use... https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=17700

More info on the Landry Line at https://skimo.co/landry-line-pyramid-pe ... U_WPaFfiGy. I would NOT think this would be at all safe to try to climb up but I don't think I've heard of anyone doing this route except as a ski descent so don't really know how sketchy it would be in summer as an ascent.

I suppose you could try to slowly approach and hope you get lucky by finding the bag before things got too dangerous but that sounds like a tremendous long shot to me. Given what you describe it might be worth an exploratory trip if you go with the understanding that you may need to give up and retreat once the terrain gets too ugly...

[slevulis]

Also, excellent read, heck of a story on that line!