8/13/2023 Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 8/14/2023, By: donovanrice Info: Summer conditions. Went S to N. The first difficulty was easiest. Second difficulty was the hardest, for me. Third difficulty (option 2) was straightforward. Don't think N to S would be fun without ropes, though rappelling could be nice. Descent down Northeast ridge was mostly straightforward. Downclimbing chimney was straightforward. Further down I missed a turn and went down a wrong gully, but some class 3 and class 4 moves on loose rock reconnected me. Not recommended. |
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8/8/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 8/9/2023, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: Dry all the way |
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8/6/2023 Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 8/6/2023, By: dogsandguitars12 Info: Tiny patches of snow on S Maroon ascent, nothing that needs spikes or axe. No snow on traverse or N Maroon descent. Make sure to find the trail down the second gully if you didnt ascend N Maroon. Traverse is good to go and tons of cairns. Creek crossing is easy and doesnt require taking off shoes. Mosquitos out in full force near the lakes. Saw a pair of cat eyes in the woods in the dark, we made lots of noise after that. Also saw a moose cooling off in Maroon Lake. |
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7/28/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/28/2023, By: alpinenut Info: Conditions improving. We did not carry traction or an ice axe. We had to step into two FLAT footprints in one snowfield with no exposure. I attached a picture looking down at precipice. You basically walk between the snow and cliff then cross it at the narrowest part. There is a little snow at the bottom of the chimney but you can get your feet on the rock without stepping in the snow. Water crossing was easy. That stream is the last place you can filter on the route. |
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7/24/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/27/2023, By: kissmyiceaxe Info: Similar to last report. A few small snow patches to cross, but nothing significant to necessitate axes, etc. There's a patch below the summit that I felt more comfortable with microspikes on, but the rest of my team didn't use them. The snow is avoidable, but we opted for the snow as it seemed more stable than that loose crap rock up there. |
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7/24/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/25/2023, By: EthanBeltramo Info: Essentially summer conditions. Brought an ice ace and spikes but never used either. All of the snow on the route was avoidable. There is a little bit of ice at the base of the chimney but you can avoid it. I found the crux of the route to be the final Cliffs below the summit rather than the chimney as they are quite exposed. Chimney move is a little tough on the Down climb but it is protected and not exposed. There was a rap anchor someone had set up that looked to be in good condition. |
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7/22/2023 Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/25/2023, By: skeater912 Info: Traverse is dry - no snow/water that we encountered. There's quite a bit I would tell people if theyre gonna give the traverse a go. The 14ers route for the traverse is spotty at best - Watch some videos, study the images, take the route description with you. Having a visual from videos on where folks had found the best climbing/safest routes was critical because theyre not laid out in the 14ers beta. 'Difficulty 2', which you'll probably be looking forward too as your most exposed point on the route, is difficult to piece together as you descend from spire 1 if you are looking at the route description. When you reach the end of your spire 1 downclimb, traverse left and look to climb the left-hand side of the ridge (easy class 3 scramble) up to the exposed moves on the right side of the ridge, where you gain the top of this cliff band. Truthfully, felt that the exposure was not that bad, but the climbing was real - much more intensive rock climbing than the headwall on the Crestones Traverse, but definitely felt less exposed. North Maroon descent was, as we expected, the worst part of the day by a huge margin. Snow is still unavoidable. We took axes and spikes and used them - probably could get away with just an axe, but might be spicy. In the afternoon the snow was soft and slippery, so was good to have the security. The snowfields obscured the route thru the steep, loose rock above the class 4 chimney and made for slow going. When you get below the snowfield, hang to the right, nearer the ridge, and you can avoid the snowfields that hang above the NE face. The crux chimney downclimb is simple and there is barely any snow remaining below it. Getting into the second gully is straightforward, but the gully is a sufferfest, as you likely expected. Hanging to the lookers left of the gully was better. Other major mistake of the day, which is a byproduct of descending a route you didn't ascend... when we cut between the "upper/2nd" and "lower/1st" gullies, we dropped too early. We were in a small, steep, loose, ugly gully between the true route. Luckily for us, we were able to descend and then cut underneath some large cliffs to regain the route, but there was a world we feared that we would be re-climbing the way we came to get back on track. If you see a small, treacherous looking gully, remember that "gully 1" should look like a beautiful haven of trails and grass compared to the peaks you have been on... Overall - super fun day. The traverse is super entertaining, the views rock, and the climb to S. Maroon is terrific. |
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7/22/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: ashleyelizabeth0312 Info: Snow avoidable and melting fast. Quite the hike with lots of loose rock in gully 2, someone behind us dislodged a large boulder, so be careful! |
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7/19/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: Alpine Addict Info: Still snow to deal with starting at the crux chimney. Right after the chimney there are cairns leading climbers right or west to steep snowfields. I would highly recommend staying on the ridge proper straight after the chimney to avoid these steep exposed snowfields. We went up the steep snowfields but followed the ridge down and found it in far better condition. Would recommend at least bringing poles for traction in the snow. |
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7/17/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: nweitzer7 Info: Traction not needed for South Maroon or the traverse but North Maroon has persistent snowfields above the lil crux chimney. Postholes the bigger danger, light traction could be needed in the morning |
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7/16/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: winter_wisher Info: All the points listed in the 09-Jul-2023 condition report by jmf3 still apply. The bottom half of the chimney is piled with snow and ice, so be prepared for a less than straightforward ascent/descent through this feature. There is unavoidable snow above the chimney which requires traction plus ice axe to establish and maintain secure positioning. Around 13.5k, as this snowfield turns up and left toward the summit, you may be tempted to move left (SE) to traverse a rock-free path of snow that is close to the edge. DO NOT take this path! It is a cornice. I instead followed more certain ground where the rocks stuck out of the snow. |
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7/9/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: jfm3 Info: I climbed North Maroon with a partner on July 9. The trail from the parking lot to the creek crossing is dry. We used water shoes to wade the creek- it's about shin high and cold in the morning. On the descent, the cold water was quite refreshing and we walked right through, not caring about getting wet. There are a few very short snow crossings on the rock glacier. These were firm and non-slippery in the morning. In the afternoon on the descent, we shoe-skied down a few of them. Both of the gullies on the east side of the mountain are dry. There is some snow that can easily be avoided near the gully crossover, and in the broad area near the top of the second gully. On the descent, there were several cascades of running water in the first gully that weren't flowing on the way up. The very bottom of the first gully has a small rock ledge with a big snowdrift next to it. We crossed on the rock on the ascent, but on the descent there was a waterfall coming over the rock that made it quite wet. We dropped down into the snowdrift and, while it was still wet, didn't have to cross on slick rock. The route above the second gully is the most exposed snow climbing I've ever done on a 14er. There are 3 snowfields: lower (top of second gully to above the chimney/crux move), middle (top of chimney across the precipice to a notch in the final rock band) and upper (top of final rock band to the summit). All 3 have fairly good steps kicked in and most ice axe plants were very solid. Crampons are necessary. It is very steep and secure footing is essential. The chimney/crux move is completely filled in with snow. Going up was easy but coming down had a long, semi-insecure step to get from rock back to snow. The notch in the final rock band is also a steep class 4 step. Do not go to the east side of the mountain above the precipice to find a route on dry ground- stick to the snow. We kept our crampons on the whole time, but clipped the ice axes to our belts to free up both hands for the rock moves. Be careful and deliberate with foot placement on the rock in crampons. The snow is still several feet deep. It's melting steadily, but it will be several weeks before the mountain is dry above the second gully. We wore running shoes and used strap-on crampons. I think full mountaineering boots would be too aggressive. It helps to have more flexible footwear for the rock sections between the snowfields. |
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7/8/2023 Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: jas0nleslie Info: There is a fair amount of consolidated snow you can climb heading up Maroon Peak to gain the ridge, which you can get by with spikes and an ice axe (glacier style is ideal vs. the smaller ski mountaineering version). The descent off North Maroon has quite a bit of snow for the first couple hundred feet...very slippery, and while I was glad I had spikes here, I would have opted for my crampons at this point as the snow was very runny. Glacier ice axe also good on the descent off the summit. There were many seasonal snow fields on the lower section of the descent, once out of the gully, where having your ice axe would be handy. General feeling was "I can't believe how much snow is still up here!" Good luck, fellow climbers! |
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7/6/2023 Route: Bells Traverse Posted On: 7/9/2023, By: Jorts Info: South side had some wet rock and light snow to circumvent. North end was dry. |
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7/3/2023 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: droyse4710 Info: We started around 4:30 from the overflow parking lot. The creek is very full and we had to take our boots off to cross. The first snow patch we ran into was right before the first gully but was fairly easy to cross without crampons or spikes. The first gully has some snow in it that's pretty easy to avoid. Its pretty clear that not many hikers had been up there because lose stuff that would have been knocked off, covered the trail. The crossover between first and second gullies was covered in snow, we tried to go above it and got cliffed out forcing us to backtrack. The second gully is the same as the first, plenty of snow but its pretty easy to avoid. Once we gained the ridge it was covered in snow the rest of the way. A class 4 section that I think is the crux of the summer route was still mostly covered in snow but will probably be dry soon considering how soft it was on the decent. This was a problem we ran into several times near the summit, much of the snow was soft and collapsed under us making climbing difficult. There was another climber we ran into who got lost several times and could see his tracks, don't rely on tracks to find your way. Bring crampons, an ice axe, and experience using both. It's far from summer up there and extremely sketchy with plenty of route finding required. |