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Me and a couple of the guys I hike/climb with had about a day and a half of off time together so we decided to try and hit both bells. We left Littleton at ten thirty on Friday and got to the trail head at three in the morning. After napping in the car for about an hour we started hiking and reached the bottom of the bell cord at about five thirty or six.
As the sun came up the alpenglow was truly remarkable. The snow in the couloir was firm making for a great climb.
kyle
kyle again
kyle once more (i need to trade off the camera once in a while)
pyramid
and south maroon
We reached the top at around ten and took a break. The plan was to hit north maroon, traverse back to south maroon and descend the south ridge. In hind sight this was an incredibly stupid idea that I now attribute to the lack of sleep. Doug was feeling a bit off so he would stay at the top of the couloir while Kyle and I would tag north maroon and pick him up on the way back. We lost the trail on the traverse and ended up in some very loose class 4/5 terrain that was no fun.
kyle on the traverse
me on the summit of north
On the way back we were able to follow the trail which made for a much faster and safer time. A note for anybody considering the traverse, the webbing on one of the rappel points had some marmot damage. We would have replaced it but it required more webbing than we had so we ended up just throwing our rope around a horn.
We picked Doug up and made the summit of south.
doug and kyle right below the summit of south
me and kyle on the summit
cool views
doug
Descending the south ridge turned out to be a terrible experience. I apologize for the lack of pictures but I was hating life so much I didn't even think to take any. The trail was hard to follow and the remaining snow fields made for a hell of a time getting down.
We got back to the car at around ten and back to Littleton at 4 due to a bit of napping on the way home. It was a great trip that I would have liked to have more time on. Thanks for reading and I apologize this report isn't the best, it's the first one I've written up.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
This is a tough trip - and I can‘t imagine coming down the south peak and those ”grassy ledges” (with slippery snow on them) after doing the traverse. You got your peaks, came down safe - and got some good route pics showing the current conditions. Congrats on your first trip report. Oh, and on getting two of the toughest 14ers, on one of the most difficult routes. You guys did good.
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