Pyramid Peak Trip Report 02/15/2016

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Pyramid Peak - 14,029 feet
Date Posted	02/15/2016
Date Climbed	02/13/2016
Author	Yikes
Additional Members	Mickeys Grenade

The Grand Pyramid
(Apologies for the blurry photos, my camera had a smudge on the lens. And there aren't many photos near the top because my batteries died (and it was dark)) Participants: Jim and Jeff Mileage: way too many; 22 miles based on another TR Time: does 26 hrs count as a "one day" trip??? Jim: Hey Jeff, weather looks good for this weekend. Want to do Snowmass or Pyramid? Jeff: Let's do Pyramid. Jim: Sounds great, I'll pack my camping gear. Two days later... Jeff: Looks like the weather forecast is iffy for Sunday, might get 1/10" snow. We should probably do it in a single day. Jim: Um...that sounds pretty hard. Are you sure we can do it? Jeff: We won't know until we try Jim: um...I've never done 22 miles before, let alone in Winter. And you want to do this on one of the most challenging peaks? Jeff: sure Jim: um...sounds absolutely miserable. Okay, see you on Friday. So we met up on Friday after work, sans camping gear. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on Thursday night and wasn't expecting to get much on Friday pretending to sleep in the passenger seat. Perhaps a lack of sleep helps on these trips, zoning out to prevent thoughts of the pain, suffering and endless miles. We ate at the Hickory House in Aspen (ribs were good, the chicken a little bit dry, but calories are calories). Contemplated a room at the Little Nell, but $1200 a night was a little steep. So we drove up to the T Lazy 7, where there were plenty of places to park (I was worried we would have to park even further down the road) and camped out in the front seats. We woke at 2:30 (after getting maybe 3 hrs of sleep) and started up the road at 3:10. In hindsight, an alpine start of 3:10 is way too late for a 22 mile day. Perhaps next time skip the useless "sleep" at the trailhead and just start moving. The road was well packed by snowmobiles to Maroon Lake, so at least 12 of the 22 miles were "easy". Jeff brought his cross country skis and pulled a sled with his gear. The "nice" bathroom at Maroon Lake (our backup sleeping arrangements) was locked, but the smelly outhouses were open (fortunately I didn't need to use them). Jeff stashed his sled and skis, and put on his snowshoes. I was hoping with the recent nice weather spell that maybe someone would have snowshoed up to Crater Lake (perhaps one of the snowmobile riders), but there wasn't any trench so we had to make our own. The snowshoeing up to and beyond Crater Lake was straightforward, but it took a while to get to the gully. Jeff breaking trail above Maroon Lake The Bells in all their glory Our objective (just the wrong side) Jeff heading towards Crater Lake Da Bellz Above Crater Lake The climb to the saddle was challenging, with some long sections of bullet proof snow. We used our snowshoes about a third of the way up before it got scary and we switched to crampons/axe. The snow was very hard in the narrow gullies, and we had to front point for a long time. I eventually got tired of kicking into the slope, so traversed to the tundra on the left side of the gully thinking it would provide a respite. But that section had plenty of knee deep snow and loose rocks which didn't make things any easier. We were both ecstatic when we reached the saddle (which had an awesome view off the backside). The gully (notice where treeline is; a whole lot mountain isn't visible) Starting up in snowshoes A short section of good snow More gully And more gully Ready for the Bell Cord? A whole lot of scary bulletproof Less steep near the saddle, but occasional deep snow The route to the rubble gully helped prepare us for the steeper snow traverses to come. The rubble gully was well named, and we stumbled our way up to the top. We had brought a thin rope and some gear for the headwall, but it looked pretty easy so I scrambled up without. I setup the rope for a rappel on our later return to that spot (ended up to being a good idea since we descended in the dark and downclimbing wouldn't have been fun). Taking a break at the saddle Heading to the rubble gully Rubble Gully (center) Starting up the Rubble The final traverse looked challenging, but the snow was stable all day and we were eager to summit, so we headed across. Steep traversing near the top A little thought provoking It grew dark as we neared the summit. At least we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset. At least we had a nice sunset (nearing the summit) It wasn't my preference to be that high on the mountain in the dark, but sometimes you have to deal with less than ideal conditions. The top of the mountain is a bit of a maze and you have to do a lot of scrambling (not always easy with crampons on); fortunately we found our way to the top without any issues. After spending 2 minutes at the summit (no cell reception, so no "we're safe" text messaging), we started to slowly make our way down. The wind would occasionally gust and blow spindrift, but fortunately didn't fill in our tracks, so we didn't have any issue following our way back to the saddle. Lower down the mountain, it felt like the snow had hardened, and we spent a LONG time front pointing our way down the steep slope to the valley floor. We had stashed a stove, so boiled some more water and mixed up some Apple Cider which seemed to help. The hike back to the truck seemed endless. Jeff, on his skis, had a little help from gravity, but still had to deal with a lot of poling on the flat sections. I think I was hallucinating at that point, because the road felt uphill all of the way to the truck (from what I remember from summer, it isn't). We finally reached the truck at 5am, where I sat down in the passenger seat and fell asleep within 2 minutes. After a solid 2 hrs of sleep, we woke up and drove to Glenwood to partake in a (very) greasy breakfast. Thanks again to Jeff for being a great hiking partner and helping me get one summit (and 22 miles) closer to the end. (NOTE: THIS ROUTE IS NOT EASY AND YOU NEED TO BRING YOUR A-GAME. YOU SHOULD ONLY CONSIDER IT WHEN AVY DANGER IS LOW) Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

The Grand Pyramid

(Apologies for the blurry photos, my camera had a smudge on the lens. And there aren't many photos near the top because my batteries died (and it was dark))

Participants: Jim and Jeff
Mileage: way too many; 22 miles based on another TR
Time: does 26 hrs count as a "one day" trip???

Jim: Hey Jeff, weather looks good for this weekend. Want to do Snowmass or Pyramid?
Jeff: Let's do Pyramid.
Jim: Sounds great, I'll pack my camping gear.

Two days later...

Jeff: Looks like the weather forecast is iffy for Sunday, might get 1/10" snow. We should probably do it in a single day.
Jim: Um...that sounds pretty hard. Are you sure we can do it?
Jeff: We won't know until we try
Jim: um...I've never done 22 miles before, let alone in Winter. And you want to do this on one of the most challenging peaks?
Jeff: sure
Jim: um...sounds absolutely miserable. Okay, see you on Friday.

So we met up on Friday after work, sans camping gear. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on Thursday night and wasn't expecting to get much on Friday pretending to sleep in the passenger seat. Perhaps a lack of sleep helps on these trips, zoning out to prevent thoughts of the pain, suffering and endless miles.

We ate at the Hickory House in Aspen (ribs were good, the chicken a little bit dry, but calories are calories). Contemplated a room at the Little Nell, but $1200 a night was a little steep. So we drove up to the T Lazy 7, where there were plenty of places to park (I was worried we would have to park even further down the road) and camped out in the front seats.

We woke at 2:30 (after getting maybe 3 hrs of sleep) and started up the road at 3:10. In hindsight, an alpine start of 3:10 is way too late for a 22 mile day. Perhaps next time skip the useless "sleep" at the trailhead and just start moving. The road was well packed by snowmobiles to Maroon Lake, so at least 12 of the 22 miles were "easy". Jeff brought his cross country skis and pulled a sled with his gear.

The "nice" bathroom at Maroon Lake (our backup sleeping arrangements) was locked, but the smelly outhouses were open (fortunately I didn't need to use them). Jeff stashed his sled and skis, and put on his snowshoes. I was hoping with the recent nice weather spell that maybe someone would have snowshoed up to Crater Lake (perhaps one of the snowmobile riders), but there wasn't any trench so we had to make our own. The snowshoeing up to and beyond Crater Lake was straightforward, but it took a while to get to the gully.

The climb to the saddle was challenging, with some long sections of bullet proof snow. We used our snowshoes about a third of the way up before it got scary and we switched to crampons/axe. The snow was very hard in the narrow gullies, and we had to front point for a long time. I eventually got tired of kicking into the slope, so traversed to the tundra on the left side of the gully thinking it would provide a respite. But that section had plenty of knee deep snow and loose rocks which didn't make things any easier. We were both ecstatic when we reached the saddle (which had an awesome view off the backside).

The gully (notice where treeline is; a whole lot mountain isn't visible)

Less steep near the saddle, but occasional deep snow

The route to the rubble gully helped prepare us for the steeper snow traverses to come. The rubble gully was well named, and we stumbled our way up to the top. We had brought a thin rope and some gear for the headwall, but it looked pretty easy so I scrambled up without. I setup the rope for a rappel on our later return to that spot (ended up to being a good idea since we descended in the dark and downclimbing wouldn't have been fun).

The final traverse looked challenging, but the snow was stable all day and we were eager to summit, so we headed across.

It grew dark as we neared the summit. At least we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

At least we had a nice sunset (nearing the summit)

It wasn't my preference to be that high on the mountain in the dark, but sometimes you have to deal with less than ideal conditions. The top of the mountain is a bit of a maze and you have to do a lot of scrambling (not always easy with crampons on); fortunately we found our way to the top without any issues.

After spending 2 minutes at the summit (no cell reception, so no "we're safe" text messaging), we started to slowly make our way down. The wind would occasionally gust and blow spindrift, but fortunately didn't fill in our tracks, so we didn't have any issue following our way back to the saddle. Lower down the mountain, it felt like the snow had hardened, and we spent a LONG time front pointing our way down the steep slope to the valley floor. We had stashed a stove, so boiled some more water and mixed up some Apple Cider which seemed to help.

The hike back to the truck seemed endless. Jeff, on his skis, had a little help from gravity, but still had to deal with a lot of poling on the flat sections. I think I was hallucinating at that point, because the road felt uphill all of the way to the truck (from what I remember from summer, it isn't). We finally reached the truck at 5am, where I sat down in the passenger seat and fell asleep within 2 minutes. After a solid 2 hrs of sleep, we woke up and drove to Glenwood to partake in a (very) greasy breakfast.

Thanks again to Jeff for being a great hiking partner and helping me get one summit (and 22 miles) closer to the end.

(NOTE: THIS ROUTE IS NOT EASY AND YOU NEED TO BRING YOUR A-GAME. YOU SHOULD ONLY CONSIDER IT WHEN AVY DANGER IS LOW)

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Grimpeur	Well done 2/15/2016 7:18pm I did this exact route and trip almost exactly a year ago, it's no joke. Great job persevering, especially for the sunset summit.
dsunwall	tough one 2/15/2016 9:39pm loose slopes or bullet proof, rarely perfect. Nice climb and report. Day trips are the thing lately. I've had one 25 hour day myself, I call it a day trip.
FireOnTheMountain	quite an endeavor! 2/16/2016 8:32am Awesome job and way to get back safe! Thats a great sunset photo too. Also, I think its pretty sweet that Pyr & Mass went down on the same day, keep gettin after it man.
I Man	Wow! 2/16/2016 9:20am Congrats guys. Wish I had joined on this one as well. Very psyched to see you guys pull this off.
piper14er	way to go 2/16/2016 11:13am long day but rewarding too, great report
kushrocks	Currently 2/16/2016 1:46pm this is the winner for best TR so far. That sunset view I am assuming has been seen by very few people on this planet. Bad Ass is not a term worthy enough to describe this 26 hour effort. Jeff you act like you are training for something. :D
SarahT	Congrats!!! 2/16/2016 1:54pm Woohoo! Nice work fellas!
AlexeyD	mileage 2/16/2016 3:52pm "Mileage: way too many; 22 miles based on another TR" Man, is that, like, a thing now - 20+ mile single-day winter pushes in the Elks :) Seriously - amazing effort and great TR!
Brian Thomas	BRING YOUR A-GAME 2/17/2016 11:30am You certainly did. Another quality TR, Jim.
wojtekw	Thank you! 3/3/2016 5:06pm I was behind you guys to Crater Lake. Thanks for breaking trail! Great TR.

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