Pyramid Peak Trip Report 07/05/2015

Peak(s):	Pyramid Peak - 14,029 feet
Date Posted:	07/05/2015
Modified:	07/08/2015
Date Climbed:	07/03/2015
Author:	Hoot

Pyramid Peak - Northeast Ridge
Pyramid Peak (14,018', Colorado # 47) 3 July 2015 Climbers: Mark, Chris, Kent, Stan, John, Michelle, and me (CMC Trip) Trailhead: Maroon Lake Distance: 8.6 miles Elevation gain: 4460' Pyramid Peak was my 3rd to last Colorado 14er back in 2003 and I spent two weekends working on the trial to the Amphitheater with CFI in 2005 and 2006. When I heard Mark was leading a CMC climb of Pyramid this weekend, I added myself to the waiting list and quickly made it into the group. Thursday night we slept in the backs of our vehicles in West Maroon Wilderness Portal overnight overflow parking area. We weren't the only ones. After an early rise, coffee and breakfast, the seven of us started out from Maroon Lake with headlamps blazing at 4:24 am Friday morning. About 45 minutes later under lightening skies, we left the trail to Crater Lake at a large cairn and began our ascent of Pyramid. We followed the excellent CFI trail up through boulder fields and trees to the Amphitheater which we reached after about 2 hours of hiking. I was glad to see the cairn I built for CFI in 2006 was still standing and marking the entrance to the Amphitheater. We climbed on good low-angle snow in the Amphitheater but had to put on our rain gear due to rain at 6:30 am! I put on my Dry Ducks top and bottom. At about 7:30 am we donned our helmets and began climbing out of the Amphitheater to Pyramid's southeast ridge. It took about an hour and 20 minutes for everyone to climb the steep lose slope to the ridge. From the saddle the northeast ridge to the summit looked as intimidating as I remembered it, but with some big patches of snow that could make things really interesting. We could see the one group ahead of us, a guided group of three, high on the ridge just above the largest snow field. After a break at the saddle, we split into faster and slower groups. I took the lead of the faster group and Mark led the rest. I was able to follow the cairned trail up the ridge reasonably well. None in our group had any trouble crossing the well-known gap and narrow ledge on the left side of the ridge. Shortly after the ledge, we crossed a relatively low-threat snow field. The snow was soft and trekking poles served adequately for protection. Right after the snow, I led the way up the class 3 "pale-colored wall" following cairns as best as I could. Above and a bit left of the pale-colored wall, we climbed one 10 foot section that was relatively easy but moderately exposed class 4. There were lots of different paths to the top and I suspect we could have avoided any class 4 climbing if we had wanted to. There was a lot of loose rock above the pale-colored wall, but we climbed carefully. I think I got too far to the left a little below the summit. As Mark and I were the only ones with ice axes, I decided not to take what looked like a nice snow ramp directly to the summit and climbed a particularly loose short pitch to the summit ridge. Kent and Michelle followed me up. The others, including George who joined our group after his two partners turned around, climbed closer to the ridge to the right of our route. I reached Pyramid's summit at 10:34 am after climbing about an hour and 40 minutes from the saddle and almost 6 hours after starting out. It wasn't long before all seven of us were enjoying the summit with George. The views of the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, Capitol Peak, and just about everywhere we looked were spectacular! I downed a 6" sub on the summit and my energy level remained high. As the skies were looking a little threatening and we knew we had a long descent ahead of us, we didn't stay on the summit too long. All eight of us started back down at 11:12 am. Mark led us down the ridge proper which looked a little exposed from above but turned out to be a very solid and the easiest way down the first 100 feet or so. As expected, descending required a bit more care than climbing and the exposure was much more apparent. While re-crossing the now softer snow slope, a step busted loose for one in our party and I watched him slide down the snow about 25 feet to the rocks. Fortunately he wasn't hurt. As George didn't have any poles, I loaned him one of mine to make sure he made it across the snow safely. Graupel began to fall on us as we continued down the ridge. Just past the narrow ledge, I descended on the right side of a snow covered stretch of ridge which we had ascended on the other side. While I made this work, the others behind me were able to get back on the other side of the snow for an easier descent. I was back to the saddle on the ridge by 12:47 pm. As typical for a group our size, our descent speeds varied quite a bit and we got pretty spread out on the way back down. Occasional light rain and thunder kept us moving down through the amphitheater. Descending on the softer snow in the Amphitheater was a bit awkward, but much more pleasant than boulder hopping. Near the base of the Amphitheater, the thunder started to rumble in earnest so several of us headed down the trail below the Amphitheater at a good clip. I missed the downhill turnoff for the main trail and went almost to Crater Lake with Michelle and John before turning back downhill on the main trail. As we hiked down the trail with a few tourists, the rain and sleet gradually increased to a pretty steady downpour by the time we go to Maroon Lake. My Dry Ducks top kept my upper half dry. Michelle, John and I reached the trailhead at 4:30 pm, 12 hours and 6 minutes after staring out. Stan, who had been ahead of us, took a scenic route down and arrived just behind us. Mark, Chris, and Kent returned before I headed out. All in all, it was a very fun and challenging climb in one of the most beautiful areas of Colorado! My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Pyramid Peak - Northeast Ridge

Pyramid Peak (14,018', Colorado # 47)
3 July 2015
Climbers: Mark, Chris, Kent, Stan, John, Michelle, and me (CMC Trip)
Trailhead: Maroon Lake
Distance: 8.6 miles
Elevation gain: 4460'

Pyramid Peak was my 3rd to last Colorado 14er back in 2003 and I spent two weekends working on the trial to the Amphitheater with CFI in 2005 and 2006. When I heard Mark was leading a CMC climb of Pyramid this weekend, I added myself to the waiting list and quickly made it into the group. Thursday night we slept in the backs of our vehicles in West Maroon Wilderness Portal overnight overflow parking area. We weren't the only ones. After an early rise, coffee and breakfast, the seven of us started out from Maroon Lake with headlamps blazing at 4:24 am Friday morning. About 45 minutes later under lightening skies, we left the trail to Crater Lake at a large cairn and began our ascent of Pyramid. We followed the excellent CFI trail up through boulder fields and trees to the Amphitheater which we reached after about 2 hours of hiking. I was glad to see the cairn I built for CFI in 2006 was still standing and marking the entrance to the Amphitheater.

We climbed on good low-angle snow in the Amphitheater but had to put on our rain gear due to rain at 6:30 am! I put on my Dry Ducks top and bottom. At about 7:30 am we donned our helmets and began climbing out of the Amphitheater to Pyramid's southeast ridge. It took about an hour and 20 minutes for everyone to climb the steep lose slope to the ridge. From the saddle the northeast ridge to the summit looked as intimidating as I remembered it, but with some big patches of snow that could make things really interesting. We could see the one group ahead of us, a guided group of three, high on the ridge just above the largest snow field. After a break at the saddle, we split into faster and slower groups. I took the lead of the faster group and Mark led the rest.

I was able to follow the cairned trail up the ridge reasonably well. None in our group had any trouble crossing the well-known gap and narrow ledge on the left side of the ridge. Shortly after the ledge, we crossed a relatively low-threat snow field. The snow was soft and trekking poles served adequately for protection. Right after the snow, I led the way up the class 3 "pale-colored wall" following cairns as best as I could. Above and a bit left of the pale-colored wall, we climbed one 10 foot section that was relatively easy but moderately exposed class 4. There were lots of different paths to the top and I suspect we could have avoided any class 4 climbing if we had wanted to.

There was a lot of loose rock above the pale-colored wall, but we climbed carefully. I think I got too far to the left a little below the summit. As Mark and I were the only ones with ice axes, I decided not to take what looked like a nice snow ramp directly to the summit and climbed a particularly loose short pitch to the summit ridge. Kent and Michelle followed me up. The others, including George who joined our group after his two partners turned around, climbed closer to the ridge to the right of our route. I reached Pyramid's summit at 10:34 am after climbing about an hour and 40 minutes from the saddle and almost 6 hours after starting out. It wasn't long before all seven of us were enjoying the summit with George. The views of the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, Capitol Peak, and just about everywhere we looked were spectacular! I downed a 6" sub on the summit and my energy level remained high. As the skies were looking a little threatening and we knew we had a long descent ahead of us, we didn't stay on the summit too long.

All eight of us started back down at 11:12 am. Mark led us down the ridge proper which looked a little exposed from above but turned out to be a very solid and the easiest way down the first 100 feet or so. As expected, descending required a bit more care than climbing and the exposure was much more apparent. While re-crossing the now softer snow slope, a step busted loose for one in our party and I watched him slide down the snow about 25 feet to the rocks. Fortunately he wasn't hurt. As George didn't have any poles, I loaned him one of mine to make sure he made it across the snow safely. Graupel began to fall on us as we continued down the ridge. Just past the narrow ledge, I descended on the right side of a snow covered stretch of ridge which we had ascended on the other side. While I made this work, the others behind me were able to get back on the other side of the snow for an easier descent. I was back to the saddle on the ridge by 12:47 pm.

As typical for a group our size, our descent speeds varied quite a bit and we got pretty spread out on the way back down. Occasional light rain and thunder kept us moving down through the amphitheater. Descending on the softer snow in the Amphitheater was a bit awkward, but much more pleasant than boulder hopping. Near the base of the Amphitheater, the thunder started to rumble in earnest so several of us headed down the trail below the Amphitheater at a good clip. I missed the downhill turnoff for the main trail and went almost to Crater Lake with Michelle and John before turning back downhill on the main trail. As we hiked down the trail with a few tourists, the rain and sleet gradually increased to a pretty steady downpour by the time we go to Maroon Lake. My Dry Ducks top kept my upper half dry. Michelle, John and I reached the trailhead at 4:30 pm, 12 hours and 6 minutes after staring out. Stan, who had been ahead of us, took a scenic route down and arrived just behind us. Mark, Chris, and Kent returned before I headed out. All in all, it was a very fun and challenging climb in one of the most beautiful areas of Colorado!

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Jay521	A nice report. 7/6/2015 11:49am One of the best I’ve read on Pyramid and one that I will reference when I manage to give that mountain a go. Thanks for posting this.
Brian Thomas	What Jay said 7/8/2015 11:52am Nice beta and route info. Thanks for posting x2.

Caution: The information contained in this report may not be accurate and should not be the only resource used in preparation for your climb. Failure to have the necessary experience, physical conditioning, supplies or equipment can result in injury or death. 14ers.com and the author(s) of this report provide no warranties, either express or implied, that the information provided is accurate or reliable. By using the information provided, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless 14ers.com and the report author(s) with respect to any claims and demands against them, including any attorney fees and expenses. Please read the 14ers.com Safety and Disclaimer pages for more information.

Please respect private property: 14ers.com supports the rights of private landowners to determine how and by whom their land will be used. In Colorado, it is your responsibility to determine if land is private and to obtain the appropriate permission before entering the property.

14ers.com

Social

Mobile App