Pyramid Peak Trip Report 08/09/2014

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Pyramid Peak - 14,029 feet
Date Posted	08/09/2014
Date Climbed	08/07/2014
Author	saxlover

Drive In Drive Out
Time to widdle some of these guys down. I left good ole Highlands Ranch at 11:45pm headed for Maroon Lake. I took I-70 to Copper, south to Leadville and then over Independence Pass. It was nice driving at night without any traffic. I got to Aspen right around 3pm. Started up trail at Maroon Lake at 3:30am. I made it to the Pyramid trail off of the Crater lake trail about half an hour later. Good evening, great temperature for hiking. Made it up the steep trail and slowly entered the amphitheater. Saw a steady flow of headlamps come up the valley. The amphitheater was the worst part of the hike for me. In the dark, I easily lost the trail. The amphitheater is a long stretch of rock/boulder jumping. Hated this section going up and down. I followed what I thought was the trail, as I got higher I noticed that I needed to head to my left to get to the base of the gully leading to the saddle. I crossed a small snow field and started heading towards the gully. I made it to the gully at 6am. A group of three caught up with me here and decided to take a break. I headed up the gully. I was anxious about this section. It turned out not to be as bad as I expected. The top is visible for most of the uphill, so it gave me a "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling as I made my way up. I made the saddle at 6:45am. Took a quick breather and moved on toward the ridge. From here all the way to the summit was a ton of fun. Route finding was decent, a couple times I had to look around a couple different options before finding the best way. Very soon I was upon the green wall. Exposure here was not frightening, easy scramble. Near the top of the green wall section I stayed to the left to keep an eye out for the exit. I found the exit and started going up some ledges again keeping an eye for the easiest way up. At one point I found was I thought was a trail, it ended up being a game trail leading to a steep cliff. I backtracked and found the way up. Easiest way up ended up being to the right and gaining a gentle ridge to the right of the summit. Weather was developing and getting darker on the other side of the bells. I summitted at 8:02am. The bells were in the sun and everything behind them were in darks clouds. The bells seemed to have stage lights on them for a few minutes. I did my best to take summit selfies and started to head down. I left the summit at 8:13am. It started to snow, before I reached the green wall I came across the party of three that I saw at the base of the gully. They were worried about the weather. I showed them pictures of what I saw. I also explained that I saw a band of blue skies behind the dark clouds when I first got up there. They were unsure if they would continue. I continued down, the weather got better and soon there were blue skies again. As I neared the saddle I came across a group of 4 heading up. As I was heading down the amphitheater I came across a group of 6 older ladies. They shouted at me when I was about 100 yards away, asking me where I came from. Not sure how to answer the question I said the Maroon Lake parking lot. They asked again and I said Pyramid Peak. They said they were trying to get to Crested Butte. Poor sweet ladies, they were just above treeline a little ways into the amphitheather. I explained that they were on the wrong trail and had to turn around and get back on the Crater lake trail. They had a large map and I showed them where they were. I was happy to descend and get out of the rocks. Fun hike but lots of rocks. I made it back to the parking lot at 11:25 and headed home. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Drive In Drive Out

Time to widdle some of these guys down. I left good ole Highlands Ranch at 11:45pm headed for Maroon Lake. I took I-70 to Copper, south to Leadville and then over Independence Pass. It was nice driving at night without any traffic. I got to Aspen right around 3pm. Started up trail at Maroon Lake at 3:30am.

I made it to the Pyramid trail off of the Crater lake trail about half an hour later. Good evening, great temperature for hiking. Made it up the steep trail and slowly entered the amphitheater. Saw a steady flow of headlamps come up the valley. The amphitheater was the worst part of the hike for me. In the dark, I easily lost the trail. The amphitheater is a long stretch of rock/boulder jumping. Hated this section going up and down. I followed what I thought was the trail, as I got higher I noticed that I needed to head to my left to get to the base of the gully leading to the saddle. I crossed a small snow field and started heading towards the gully. I made it to the gully at 6am. A group of three caught up with me here and decided to take a break. I headed up the gully. I was anxious about this section. It turned out not to be as bad as I expected. The top is visible for most of the uphill, so it gave me a "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling as I made my way up. I made the saddle at 6:45am. Took a quick breather and moved on toward the ridge.

From here all the way to the summit was a ton of fun. Route finding was decent, a couple times I had to look around a couple different options before finding the best way. Very soon I was upon the green wall. Exposure here was not frightening, easy scramble. Near the top of the green wall section I stayed to the left to keep an eye out for the exit. I found the exit and started going up some ledges again keeping an eye for the easiest way up. At one point I found was I thought was a trail, it ended up being a game trail leading to a steep cliff. I backtracked and found the way up. Easiest way up ended up being to the right and gaining a gentle ridge to the right of the summit.

Weather was developing and getting darker on the other side of the bells. I summitted at 8:02am. The bells were in the sun and everything behind them were in darks clouds. The bells seemed to have stage lights on them for a few minutes. I did my best to take summit selfies and started to head down. I left the summit at 8:13am. It started to snow, before I reached the green wall I came across the party of three that I saw at the base of the gully. They were worried about the weather. I showed them pictures of what I saw. I also explained that I saw a band of blue skies behind the dark clouds when I first got up there. They were unsure if they would continue. I continued down, the weather got better and soon there were blue skies again. As I neared the saddle I came across a group of 4 heading up.

As I was heading down the amphitheater I came across a group of 6 older ladies. They shouted at me when I was about 100 yards away, asking me where I came from. Not sure how to answer the question I said the Maroon Lake parking lot. They asked again and I said Pyramid Peak. They said they were trying to get to Crested Butte. Poor sweet ladies, they were just above treeline a little ways into the amphitheather. I explained that they were on the wrong trail and had to turn around and get back on the Crater lake trail. They had a large map and I showed them where they were.

I was happy to descend and get out of the rocks. Fun hike but lots of rocks. I made it back to the parking lot at 11:25 and headed home.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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