Maroon Peak

Route: Sunny side excursion
Posted On: 4/26/2026, By: WillRobnett
Info: Few feet of snow intermittent on the trail between lakes however there is a sunny side option above the valley. Beyond Crater Lake, both trails become further snow‑covered. 

Route: view from the hills
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: WillRobnett
Info: Bells are starting to show consolidations and wet slides up high already.

Y Couloir left chute: 2025 went up one of the last days it was still connected, July 12th.
Y Couloir right chute: disconnected on July 12th 2025 and recently consolidated.
Bell Cord: recently consolidated down to the apron snow field below. Climbed it a few times in 2025, last climbed July 19th.
Maroon Bells Standard Routes: after the lake, looks like there's still a good amount of approach snow.
The North Face of North Maroon: climbed the face 4x times last year. Spring conditions held to July 5th. 

Route: near Maroon Lake
Posted On: 3/15/2026, By: WillRobnett
Info: In a quiet brilliance, first light across upper sections of the Maroon Bells. Captured near Maroon Lake. 

Route: Bell Cord Couloir
Posted On: 12/25/2025, By: paulbarish
Info: On 12/22 I rode a borrowed e bike up to the TH and then hiked in on snowshoes and set up camp near the entrance to the Bell Cord. Trail breaking was minimal due to seemingly a handful of people before me and little snow. My camp was right off the boot pack and I was able to be the first one to congratulate Preston on finishing his winter solo day trip project! We had met by coincidence for the first time at the TH the night before. Pleasure meeting you! I was relieved he climbed the standard route so I could have the trail breaking in the bell cord all to myself! A childhood dream. The next morning I left camp at 530am with snowshoes and followed low snow up the apron to the traverse around right which had some deep hard packed snow and a short step of WI2 which I sketched up without taking off my snowshoes haha Trail breaking remained light with mostly hard packed snow with the occasional knee deep crust. At the constriction, I put the snowshoes away and booted up without crampons in perfect stability until a short wind loaded section at the top that was a little spooky but well bonded enough at the bottom of the slab to justify climbing. I made a left and did the scramble up to the summit with again great conditions! I quickly descended back to the top of the bell cord to head over to North Maroon! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 12/23/2025, By: illusion7il
Info: I've always had the thought that maybe the standard route with some modifications could go with a low snow pack. Last year on the first day of winter, after realizing the bell cord wasn't right, I trekked over to the east face and scouted a possible route. This year seemed like the best chance to go for it, but I was going to need some luck with the route finding. I snowshoed up to 11.6K, just north of the standard route, and traversed south aiming for what appeared to be a dry rib crossing 5 big gullies along the way. (Map attached, but never mind the little GPS jump to the ridge) The rib was a lot like the winter route on the west slopes of Snowmass, but it got much steeper for the last 200 feet. When I reached the top of the ridge I transitioned to crampons. I was expecting the west slopes to be windswept and maybe I could just follow the standard trail and this was going to be the easy part. WRONG. The first chimneys were clean, but as soon as I rounded the corner, the slopes and ledges were loaded. The route from here required lots of steep (50+ degree) snow traverse. The exposure was extreme+, but the snow felt great, as if I were locked in every step of the way. It reminded me of the snow traverse on N. Maroon, except, steeper, longer and more consequential. I opted for gully #1, and the broad gully was mostly dry, but travel was slow. From the point where I entered the south ridge route, it took me 3 hours to reach the summit and that was at 3pm. I don't think I was on the summit for more than a minute, as I was worried about getting back through the difficulties before darkness. It then took me 1.5 hours to get back to the rib I had ascended, and I had to cross the entire east face in the dark. 22 hours. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 11/10/2025, By: andytiminsky
Info: Summited Maroon Peak Sat 11/08 - Started at 0730 from Maroon Lake (winter gate is now closed as of 11/10) I saw 0 people the entire day, sunny conditions with winds from the NW around 10-20 mph. Right before the South Ridge I used semi auto crampons and ice axe (mandatory), as for the rest of the route the S. ridge is dry, most of the route about S. Ridge was dry except for a few spots which were very icy but I didn't need crampons and could slowly navigate. The entire route took about 11.5 hours, moving at a nice cruiser pace, and enjoying multiple snacks. Great day out there on Maroon! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 10/27/2025, By: Kowalski
Info: Route is snowy above the tree line. Micros recommended. Snow is very loose and careful navigation is required while traversing the ledges. Cairns are easily spotted up until the final turn when you have to scramble up to the ridge. View from the peak as well as the gully shown below. 

Route: View from North Maroon
Posted On: 10/19/2025, By: WillRobnett
Info: Bells Traverse holding snow. Bell Cord looked thin at lower approach and probably freeze/thaw below 13k. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 10/7/2025, By: trebold
Info: Conditions were not bad given I used micro-spikes for the majority of the ascent and descent. Inches of snow intermittently dispersed (mainly ledges/traverses) above the ridge, but didn’t make anything more challenging than the loose rocks. The snow may have in fact added a bit more traction. The slippery soil coming down was a pain after thaw, but manageable. Great day. Started quarter till 7 and got back just before 4. 

Route: area
Posted On: 10/5/2025, By: WillRobnett
Info: Peak Fall Colors! and little snow yesterday, up high. Accumulating was right at treeline no snow or ice below treeline. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2025, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Still summer conditions pretty much the whole way up the south ridge. When we headed over to the traverse, that's where conditions quickly changed. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 9/15/2025, By: Caedmonn
Info: Got snow on Friday and Saturday, was hoping it would melt by midday, summited south maroon by 1pm but not alot of it had still did the traverse just very slowly, took us about 2 hours from peak to peak. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/25/2025, By: tribolinil
Info: Camped 9/12 at Crater Lake campsite #11 and was going to attempt both Bells with traverse but that was not possible due to weather. We actually had to hike out a day early due to the rain and snow. I am posting this to let everyone know that there is heavy mountain lion presence and activity around sites #10 & #11, as already noted in some of the previous reports for this year. Some of the park folks really familiar with this area believe it is a female lion with a den and cubs somewhere near the vicinity. We had already been notified of this and heard lion calls several times very close, and had an air horn at the ready, but did not see any. Later, while hiking out, we were told by some other hikers that around 5:30 am (still dark out) they had seen us getting up and exiting tents at camp (they saw just our headlamps) and had also witnessed from their angle in the moonlight, while hiking past our site, the lion standing & watching us from at most 10 ft away. This hiker said she had contemplated yelling but didn’t know if we would be able to hear what she was saying or if it would just cause panic and confusion, so she had not done so. When we first woke up I had planned to go get the bear bin, but with the weather delay on our hike, my friend suggested i wait until the sun was up to do so. I am now thinking that this potentially saved my life. Sites #10 & #11 are awesome for an early morning summit, but if this lion still has her den there next season, I would think twice about camping in the immediate area. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 9/9/2025, By: EvanKBlack
Info: Mountain lion seen early morning shortly after beginning the “2800’ of suck,” about 75’ above trail. Seemed just to want to observe us. As of today no snow or wet anywhere on standard routes of Maroon and N Maroon. Pleasantly surprised by how quick and fun traverse was. Did not feel “scary exposed” at all. Descending loose, steep dirt gullies like on Maroon seems worse to me.

Chose the shorter right-side chimney on the third crux, which benefited from reaching around the corner of the left-side wall for footholds. Descending N Maroon chimney s a little reachy for short people but not bad despite the recently fallen rock (I’m 5’5”). 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 8/19/2025, By: Piotr
Info: The trail description is pretty accurate, but there are two things missing:
1. How far you have to traverse left/climb after the 3rd gully before reaching the summit.
2. How sucky/steep/loose is the so-called "trail" to 13,200 saddle - it is slow going up AND down.

Go on the weekday with fewer people, the loose rock in the two gullies is the most dangerous stretch of this climb. Otherwise rock is pretty solid.