North Maroon Peak

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/30/2019, By: JDG7
Info: N. Maroon NE Ridge Route is summer conditions until the top of the 2nd gully. Before the chimney there is about 75 feet of soft snow. The snow stops 2 feet from the base of the chimney. Climbing the chimney was easy. Dry & simple. Then past the chimney the snow got worse. Approaching the prominent point and beyond it were two snow fields at a decent slope. If you go, at a minimum take microspikes and an alpine ax. I put my crampons on and used 1 alpine ax and 1 mountaineering ax. But i am old and cautious. Will add pictures soon. If you are decent at climbing, don't let this deter you. It is not hard, just requires a bit of caution.

PICTURE ADDITION:

1) (not pictured) the creek crossing is swollen. go upstream 100 feet and fine a perfect log crossing then reacquire the trail.
2) picture 1 - north slope. plenty of snow, but off route until the summit block
3) the rock glacier crossing. easy to skirt the remaining small snow fields
4) weather shots, and first look at 1st Gully. Summer conditions
5) 2nd Gully top and the notch w/ledge exit area - was concerning to me because from the ground it looked to have snow, and this area is a low-margin for error exit, but it had summer conditions.
6) 75 feet before the chimney, snow started on the top of the north slope/top of the north face. microspikes advised (i used pons& axes)
7) chimney itself is clean, snow goes up to within 18 inches of the start. Once on the chimney, it was the easiest part of the summit push in these conditions (the good and bad news)
8) shot looking down the chimney. dry rock. good stuff.
9) above the chimney the snow field increased as well as the steeps. you definitely need a light ax and microspikes at a minimum.
10) around the precipice, the cornice chokes the route down at the corner to 18", with exposure. Either skirt it carefully with your summer kit, or through the pons on and use your axes to mount the serac to skirt the corner (the serac is not overhanging). I carefully chose option A. the third to last picture is the closeup of the corner at the precipice upon my descent.
11) North East Face of Maroon Peak
12) West Face of Pyramid

Hope this helps those who plan to get a short summer window summit on N. Maroon.
Again, I am glad I took the crampons and my ice axes. It might be overkill for some, but on N. Maroon/Capital/Little Bear, etc, when you add ice and snow, it makes sense to an old fart like me to overkill it. I kindof like living.
I will do a trip report this week. If you have questions, happy to help in any way. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/24/2019, By: kiwiliam
Info: Bailed on North Maroon last night, as there looked to be too much snow on ridge above 2nd gully and I had a mid-afternoon appointment in Aspen. This morning I went up to entrance Pyramid Amphitheater. Here are some photos. Looked like the falls out of Minnehaha Gulch were still pumping. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/27/2019, By: sheriffa10
Info: Downclimbed northeast ridge after climbing Bell Chord Coulior and Maroon Peak earlier. There are still a few snow fields near the summit that were soft by the early afternoon descent. Photos show the extent of the snow on 7/21. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/8/2019, By: marksilas
Info: Photo taken from Pyramid Peak trail a little below the amphitheater.
Minnehaha Creek is really high; might be difficult to cross. 

Route: NW ridge up, North face ski
Posted On: 5/31/2019, By: SnowAlien
Info: Deep powder :) Sun was warming up the rocks at 6.30-7am, and icicles/small rocks started coming down on us, so we didn't want the exposure of the face and took the NW ridge (stellar route btw). Only 2 tricky sections on rock, the rest was snow. Summited by 9.30, were skiing by 10am (wouldn't want to be any later). Punk rock is completely buried. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/1/2018, By: denverfromdenver
Info: Still clear on NW Ridge route. There was a dusting of snow lingering from about 13,500 on up. No traction was necessary for us, but could get slippery when more accumulates. We stuck to the left side of both gullies and had good success staying on trail. After the gullies, it's especially important to see where you came from, because everything will look different when descending. This route has plenty of well placed cairns to help with route finding issues. Pay attention to these. Absolutely perfect conditions for time of year. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 9/28/2018, By: Dave Mason
Info: The north facing aspects of both South and North Maroon have 1" of snow which has some ice underneath. The down climb off South Maroon was passable and the snowice didn't cause any concerns. The traverse has so much sun exposure that it is still totally clear. The down climb off North Maroon was dicey. There is snowice on the shelves around the class 4 section and even walking further west to avoid the class 4 moves puts you in difficult conditions with snow and ice on the small ledges needed to down climb. Once through this section, no other snow or issues encountered. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2018, By: johntmv
Info: The last 500 feet to the summit has some snow and plenty of rocks are iced over. We did not have any traction devices with us, but everyone in our group wished we did. The snow/ice certainly slowed our descent and made a few moves a little more risky than desired. Below 13,600ft, the route is free of snow/ice and still in summer conditions. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: thebeave7
Info: Ascended from the Gunsight, route is in fine shape, just loose rock.
The traverse is mostly dry until you reach the final climb up to South Maroon, no problem navigating the crux sections, fully dry.
Descended the standard NE ridge, route was mostly dry, some melting snow patches here and there, avoidable. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 8/26/2018, By: dwoodward13
Info: Descent to Bell Cord is well marked. Looks like there is a bypass of the Class 4 section descenders left, but it wasn't bad. The first difficulty none in our party had any issues. Route well marked around to the second difficulty. Second difficulty is the most exposed, but not too difficult for me. One shorter person in our group struggled a bit more here. 3rd difficulity was by far the hardest. 2 in our party went to the right chimney, other two went to the chimney on the left. Right chimney is harder but far shorter. I did the left chimney and would do the right one if I did it again. Left is much much longer, but take your time and it's easier. From here out we didn't have any issues. Summit to summit for our party of 4 took 1:40. Descent down S Maroon sucked and we overshot the turn down into to main grass gully. Luckily we realized quickly and we're able to correct without much issue. We were following cairns so at least several other people have done this! All in all an amazing day! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/9/2018, By: RockyMountainMustang
Info: Dry and clear. The runout in the gullies is breathtaking, particularly the 2nd. If the first gully is too much for you, it only gets looser and harder the further you go on this mountain. Saw some goats in 1st gully. Nice sunny day on the summit. Trail/cairns are easier to follow and more stable than I thought it would be, but is fairly loose in spots. This is not a mountain to be taken lightly. The pics below show my hiking partner on some of the hairier spots on the trail. Pic 1 Looking down the 1st gully, Pic 2-3 Summit shots, Pic 4-8 heading down from summit and down 2nd gully, pic 9 Goats! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/29/2018, By: SpringsDuke
Info: Great day on the mountain with very little wind on the summit and no haze or issues from the Basalt Fire.

Only had to watch for one loose rock falling at us from a group above the first gully going up, and our group also accidently sent a loose rock down the 2nd gully going down both cantaloupe sized and both had high velocity so be careful. Other than that quite an enjoyable climb I would do again!

A climber in my group dropped his poles somewhere in the middle of the 2nd gully and on the way back we could not find them. They were his grandfathers hiking poles so would be nice to get those back to him if possible. They are leki super maku gold and black. Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message if found, thanks! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/16/2018, By: supranihilest
Info: Route finding up to the rock glacier is easy peasy. The rock glacier itself has no trail but is easy enough to navigate in the light (don't arrive too early if you can avoid it, it's a pain in the dark). Once you reach the bottom of the first gully, the entire route beyond it becomes a no fall zone. The results of a fall would be catastrophic. Route finding through both gullies is pretty straight forward, just follow the trail or trail segments. Suddenly faced with something much more difficult? Go back and try another way. The route up the second gully essentially follows a gully-within-a-gully on the lefthand side. Both gullies are steep and loose but quite easy relative to what I was expecting. I was worried they'd be quite difficult and they felt scarier going up than down. Nonetheless, be very careful in the gullies. The ledges near the notch and ridge crest are the crux of the route in my opinion. Everything is cairned to the point of uselessness, it's very easy to get into difficult and/or incredibly loose and sketchy climbing, and the exposure is high. It's all mental and if you really take the time to find the easiest path instead of taking what's right in front of you you can keep it to class 3. The technical crux - the chimney - is fortunately very solid and isn't terribly exposed. The class 3 variation to the right was soaked. The remainder of the route is somewhat straightforward and can be kept at class 2+ or lower, most of it just steep and loose class 2. Of note: in the route description the photo (photo 41) of the final ledges show going directly over the face of the ledges. I was able to keep it to basically hiking by navigating around the left side of the last set of ledges. On the way down keenly follow the same route; if you get lost in the more open spaces above the crux chimney you can backtrack but you'll basically be funneled into the chimney anyway. Go very slowly if you have to; again, a fall on this route is probably not survivable. 

Route: Bells Traverse
Posted On: 7/15/2018, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: Finally rang the Bells yesterday, couple of notes.

1. Route is full blown summer, but route finding is key, especially on traverse after down climb from Maroon and after chimney on down climb of North.
2. Be comfortable with exposure if you plan on tackling the route full on (not avoiding obstacles), this was without a doubt more challenging in every way than Crestone Traverse IMO (more route finding, exposure and more technical moves).
3. Save energy and mental stamina for descending North Maroon, it's a beast in its own right with very little actual trail once you hit the ledges.

Overall, I enjoyed about 33% of the hike but makes for a long slog of a day. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/7/2018, By: jonandmalia
Info: No problems all the way up. Snow at chimney is a non-issue. Excellent views!