Route: Four Pass Loop Posted On: 10/3/2021, By: thurs Info: Last round of storms are done, leaving generally 1-3" above 11,000ft. South and east aspects already melted below 12,500ft. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 9/28/2021, By: docgliv Info: Trail dry, no ice or snow, GPX spot on, loose crumbly dirt/rock on approach to ridge are like walking on marbles, poles would be great for descent. Similarly, gullies full of very loose rock, not so fun on descent. We did Gully #2 and has plenty of solid rock on sides for hands. In my opinion, Bells Traverse is much more enjoyable route of up for challenge - mostly b/c descent so not fun on this route. A little under 9-1/2 hours car-to-car at moderate pace. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 9/19/2021, By: durkan Info: Solo ascent and descent via south ridge and the dreaded slopes form hell. Color change is currently happening! Route-finding was not bad; very well cairned, so just take your time and find the next one and solid routes. Descending the slopes definitely the crux for me, though. No seasonal water run-off after the turnoff from main trail. Have fun! Note: I am sure this report might not be terribly accurate with some snow moving in. |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 9/11/2021, By: mickknu16 Info: Summer conditions and bluebird day. 2800ft of suck is seriously no joke. Traverse was a blast. Big shoutout to CFI for their recent trail work on N Maroon. Was there last month, so it was cool to see the before and after. Crazy quiet day on these peaks and trails for Labor Day Monday... Joined a crew of 2 for the traverse and saw almost no one else on the mountain. |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 8/26/2021, By: jslove1 Info: Couple micro patches of lingering snow from last week, nothing of note. I post more to give reference info on route. Nothing harder (albeit as steep or steeper) than the standard route on the 2nd Flatiron. Could be made harder of course depending on route choice. Less mentally taxing than little bear to blanca trav, less exposure than the head wall on the Crestone trav (for me). The most important factors are weather, climbing/exposure/rock quality competence, and going with partners. The route finding is MUCH EASIER with multiple sets of eyes. It can be safe with those factors accounted for. Without, it could easily become nightmarish I would think. You can choose to scramble more in order to avoid some of the unpleasant loose lower angles. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 8/16/2021, By: Mzapo Info: Trail can be tough to find on the way up between 11,500 to 12,500 due to some loose rock areas that overlap the trail. The trail can also be tough to find on occasion from the gullies to the summit. Keep a careful eye out for cairns throughout the trip to find a safe way up and not descend too far down post summit. Beautiful hike but be ready for a long day. The last mile and a half after getting on the ridgeline took us 2 hours with the down climb in this area taking close to as much time as going up. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 8/11/2021, By: ericd01 Info: Standard south ridge route past Crater lake, steep climb (~4000'/4mi) to summit in 6hrs from parking lot. Light wind with only a few afternoon clouds was good enough to make it a combo, traversing solo 2hrs to North Maroon Peak. Class 5 moves were fair & satisfying while route finding through loose rock west of ridge-line was not. Standard northeast route descent (~4500'/5mi) over cliff bands & talus fields finished the day at 12hrs. Scenic! |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/31/2021, By: kalestew Info: Ascended Maroon and descended North Maroon- route is dry and well cairned. There are some pieces of climbing gear left along the traverse (webbing around a rock at the top of the second spire, a cam above the left side of the third) but you don't need them to gain the c5 sections. Had to move slow down North Maroon's second gully to avoid dislodging all those loose boulders. Was a really fun and scenic day, but as many others have said that descent down North Maroon is soul crushing after the fun traverse. The final wide talus field before you're back to treeline starts stable but becomes increasingly loose the closer you get to grass. |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/21/2021, By: Ericsheffey Info: South to North traverse. Full summer conditions on Maroon and North Maroon, as well as the traverse. No water on the trails or traverse either. Plenty of loose rock as always, check your holds and look for the solid rock. The descent down North Maroon was soul crushing after the fun we had on Maroon and the Traverse lol. Plan for plenty of time to get down North Maroon. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/16/2021, By: ktfoote628 Info: Beautiful wildflowers on the approach to the ridge! Very stunning. Pretty straightforward route finding on the way up... my boyfriend and I joined a group of 3 guys and only saw one other group of 3 all day (with the exception of a few folks coming over on the traverse). We were on trail (almost) the entire approach. Notable exception is I got separated from the group for about 5 minutes and they couldn't hear me and quickly found myself on very exposed class 4 with loose rock trying to get to a place where I could see them.... lesson learned: keep it class 3 to stay on trail. Main condition report I wanted to add is gully 1 had water flowing down after Wednesday's rain... not sure how long it will last but we enjoyed ascending and descending Gully 2 which was only slightly damp. Going up, we hugged the left which was pretty solid and nice. Coming down, we tried the other side (perhaps out of laziness) and that was much looser. We had much more trouble with route finding coming down (until the end of the ridge) and made the classic mistake of dropping too early. Fortunately, we found a pretty decent way to cross over to the Big Gully and get back on trail. Usually, I find it easier to route find on the way down but all the loose rocks made it hard to visually pick out cairns and there's so many lines that look like they could be trails but they aren't. Once we left the ridge, route finding was very straightforward... my boyfriend and I donned old spikes to help with the loose, step descent. Enjoy! |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/7/2021, By: strausnb Info: Did the traverse, due to rain the night before some of the rock was wet and slippery especially on technical parts. On the descent down North Maroon there are 2 belay stations, the second one you encounter was particularly wet where the belay station was for us. We found it easier and safer to instead go to climber's left down a series of steep rock “steps”. Be careful as always for falling rock and to keep space, glad I was wearing my helmet because my partner kicked a rock that landed on my head. |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/3/2021, By: ladnerkm Info: Hiked S Maroon solo. Left trailhead at 4 AM. Summited at 8:15 AM. Met a group of 5 likewise experienced hikers on the way up to summit. I tagged along with them on traverse to N Maroon. Traverse took about 1 hr. S Maroon, N Maroon, and Traverse all in summer conditions. No traction needed. Back to car at 2 PM. An amazing day! Make sure to GPS carefully for descent off of N Maroon. Easy to go the wrong way around the ridges. |
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Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/7/2021, By: ButterDips12 Info: Had a great day on the Bells Traverse July 2nd 2021. No traction is needed; conditions are full summer. The descent from N Maroon was tedious and took a while. It rained on us and we had some thunder roll in as we reached tree line. Timing is important on this route. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2021, By: jdcoleman Info: 95% summer conditions. A handful of patches of snow on the initial slopes, but trail hardly interacts with them. Dry along the ridge, but a few patches of snow along the tops of the gullies. Engaged with one after the second gully, but for the most part they are either avoidable or they make your decision making easier. Basically, it's summer. |
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Route: Bell Cord Couloir Posted On: 6/9/2021, By: fishermrtn Info: Snow reached switchback in West Maroon Creek trail directly below the Garbage Chute at 10,204; +3,574 feet of snow climbing to the top of the Cord! Left TH at 1:30, passed Garbage Chute around 4:30, sunhit at 6:30, topped out of the couloir just before 8:00. No rush on the ascent due to supportive booter snow. It was nice to take some breaks and enjoy the sunrise. Hero steps the nearly the entire way up! We did downclimb the Cord starting around 11:00 - I would not want to be ascending that late. A group behind us turned around sometime around when we topped out on the line, I'm assuming because snow started to deteriorate on them. It looked like they were about to enter to Cord itself around 8:00. Runnel in the couloir is not large yet, but has begun to form. There is a larger runnel on the Garbage Chute bypass that is at least 5' deep as of now. Still good to go with an early enough start! |
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Route: Bell Cord Couloir Posted On: 6/4/2021, By: funsizetiff Info: Started at 245 from the overnight parking area. Sun hit the bell cord at about 545 as we were ascending, snow conditions were good on the way up. No significant runnels yet, minor small rock and snow fall. Reached the top of the cord at 715 and continued to Maroon Pk. Still a lot of snow up there which we tried to stick mainly to. Did a little crampon walk rocking where unavoidable. Summit at 0800, did not spend long there as the snow was softening quickly. Started back down the col at 0900, snow was mashed potatoes. Would not have wanted to wait another hour or two. |
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Route: Bell Cord Couloir Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: slawrence2011 Info: Did not summit. Camped at Crater lake to get an early start. Hit the trail by 230 from E end crater lake. I put my crampons on after the snow angle got steep during the traverse to the right of the waterfalls. Snow quality was ok with the 27 overnight freeze at the summit, but punched through sometimes. I did not get to the top of the Couloir until 9 due to so much postholing, and skipped the summit to try to avoid a wet slide on the ski down. Was able to keep skis on the entire Couloir, but a lot of side stepping to get in and around the narrow parts with so many rocks. No significant runnels in the Couloir itself (one sketchy one to cross on the lower traverse). Quite a bit of natural snow and rockfall after sunrise, mostly small. |
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Route: Bell Cord Couloir Posted On: 5/16/2021, By: jbealer Info: 4 of us were the first ones up the Bell cord, we saw no tracks today, so if someone else has been up there, tracks are gone. There are now nice steps as well as really deep post hole holes. We did cross some avy slides that were fairly new. Started at 2:30am later then hoped, sun hit cord close to 7am today. We reached the top at 9. The guy behind us moved much faster with us making steps. We did not bring snowshoes, snow was frozen in the morning heading to crater lake and to the exit for the cord but we suffered on the way back, crawling and cursing. Crampons and 2 axes in the cord. We did not go to any peak as the snow was melting fast. The route to maroon was holding snow and would have taken us to long. We had some rock fall and roller balls on the way up and down, but over all felt safe with conditions, we headed down the cord at 9:20am . We also saw 1 avalanche near the Y cord in the afternoon and one come off the upper ledges as we were heading down as well as more rock fall. Get early starts for this on. Will load pic later, on my camera. |
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Route: Bell Cord Couloir Posted On: 5/16/2021, By: nmek19 Info: Chord was in good shape. Saw first rockfall around 8:10. left th at 4:15 and summited at 10:15. Back to the th by 1:30ish. the bit from the top of the coulior to the summit took over an hour just to ascend and had waist deep powder in some areas making travel and route finding very difficult. I ended up climbing and downclimbing some easy but slippery 5th class rock to avoid some of it. |
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