"Lightning Pyramid" (13,722') by Brian Schultz Friday July 24, 2009
Roundtrip mileage: 10.7 miles from Maroon Lake trailhead
Elevation gain: 4,142'
Participants: Jason Mayfield, Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
The three of us met in Snowmass Village last night. After a tasty meal at the Stewpot and a restful night of sleep, we drove to Aspen this morning fully intending to climb UN 13631. While readying our packs I realized I left my headlamp in my car at the parking lot ten miles down the road so when we started at 4:15 AM, I took the middle hiking spot and stepped carefully, following Tim's and Jason's lights as best I could. Fortunately, I only stubbed my toes twice and morning light came quickly.
We reached Crater Lake at 5:10 and the West Maroon Creek crossing at 6:10, where we stopped for a breakfast break. The morning was chilly but the forecast called for sunny skies, a blessing for what turned out to be a long day.
We continued on the east side of the creek on a good trail and navigated our way through cliff bands to 11,800' in the upper basin, arriving there at 7:40. This was where we would've continued on to UN 13631 but discussion turned to climbing Lightning Pyramid instead and how great it would be to get the harder peak out of the way. The described gully by Garratt & Martin lay straight ahead and from where we stood, it looked nasty. The snow filled lower part looked especially steep, but we proceeded ahead knowing the climbing would be outside the gully, at least initially. The obvious drawback to attempting Lightning Pyramid was getting stopped by the snow in the gully at some point and ending up with nothing for our time and trouble. We decided to go for it and if it got too dicey we'd just head back down and go for UN 13631.
We made our way up the steep scree to the base of the gully, put on our helmets, and looked for a route on the right side. We scrambled up blocks and ledges- 4th class climbing on the hardest moves- and found an occasional cairn pointing the way. Progress was extremely slow. Every block or ledge was littered with small pieces of rock, and every hand and foothold had to be carefully tested; it truly felt like the mountain was crumbling apart as we made our way up. Gerry Roach refers to neighboring Thunder Pyramid, which we climbed four years ago, as a hidden horror. Lightning Pyramid was proving to be a living nightmare.
After traveling halfway up on the outside of the gully, we crossed into it and found the going to be a bit easier but still steep. There was no snow in the upper half and we were relieved to finally top out of the gully with only a short walk remaining to the summit. Our arrival time on the summit was 10:35 and we took advantage of the outstanding weather to settle in for a long break. Our attention easily focused on the spectacular fourteeners and lesser peaks to the west and Thunder Pyramid to the north. The summit register was placed in 2007 and we noticed only 2 people had signed in ahead of us this year. It's easily understandable why this peak is seldom climbed and why I won't ever repeat it, but for the time being we enjoyed the weather and stayed an hour and ten minutes on the summit.
We departed at 11:45 and knew our descent would be slow. Jason wanted to descend the snow in the lower part of the gully but without an axe, a slip would be difficult to stop. As he stood on the hard packed snow, one foot gave out under him and he quickly regained his balance, but further thoughts of a snow descent ended right there. It took a full two hours to get from the summit back to the basin below and we stopped for a long break by a stream carpeted on both sides with grass and wildflowers.
Back at the West Maroon Creek crossing we encountered the first tourists of the day, an energetic group who'd hiked much further than the usual Crater Lake destination. The sun was beating down and we peeled off our shirts and soaked them in the creek, instant air conditioning as we put them back on. I was whipped from the exertion and overall lack of acclimatization on just my second day in Colorado and welcomed a short rest break when we reached Crater Lake. From there we trudged on and arrived at the parking lot at 5:00. This was a tough peak, definitely one of the loosest and steepest I've ever climbed.
Trailhead to summit- 6 hours 20 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 5 hours 15 minutes
Start to finish- 12 hours 45 minutes