Maroon Peak (14,156) by Brian Schultz Thursday August 5, 1999
A relaxing but rainy day off yesterday gave me plenty of time to drive to Snowmass Village to meet up with Don and his climbing companion Roxanna. They were flying in from California and I arrived well ahead of them to get settled in. Don and I hiked Missouri Mountain last year and made plans to do another fourteener together. I was excited when he suggested the Bells because my other climbing pals had already done North Maroon and I wasn't too keen on doing either alone. Don had been up to 13,300 feet on Maroon once before and turned back due to the late hour and slow progress of a member in his party. He and Roxanna have climbed other fourteeners as well as many peaks around the world and with their experience I liked our chances for making the summit.
They soon pulled in and after they unpacked we got right down to business- checking out the restaurants for dinner. Afterwards we made our plans for the morning and agreed an early start was in order.
We were up at 4:00 for breakfast and arrived at the parking lot for a 5:05 start. We used flashlights and headlamps in the total darkness but got mixed up initially. The whole area was under reconstruction and we thought the trail started higher where another parking area used to be. But it began right from the parking lot. Underway, we hiked past Maroon Lake and followed the trail to Crater Lake where the first light of morning looked promising. Roxanna was having some trouble with the altitude and moving slowly though.
When we began our ascent of the south ridge, our pace was so slow I had serious doubts if we'd have enough time to make the summit. The steep elevation gain over the rocks and grass of the many mini ridges was tedious, with both Don and Roxanna having difficulty. At 10:20 we made 13,300 feet on the ridge, the same place Don stopped at last year. He indicated he didn't have the energy to go on and Roxanna was pretty much spent also. I wanted to continue on but it was clouding in heavily and when I dropped down the ridge I couldn't find the route. The visibility was so poor I had to turn around- it was too dangerous to tackle routefinding on my own in the fog.
On my way back up to the ridge two guys appeared from the left like ghosts. They had camped beyond Crater Lake and their early start allowed them to make the summit before the clouds enclosed it. We caught up to Don and Roxanna and it began raining as we descended the ridge. The two guys followed the ridge straight down while we traversed back over the way we came up. I think their route was better. Don and Roxanna each slipped and lost their balance on the wet rocks as we slowly made our way down.
We eventually caught up to the guys at their camp site and ducked under their tarp for a rest and lunch break. We found out that one of them was close to finishing the fourteeners (two left).
For future reference he wanted to know the location for turning up to Pyramid (one of his remaining peaks) and I had to laugh because I missed it myself when I did it last year. I told him to stay on the lower trail on their way out and look for a large cairn for the turnoff. We took off and they passed us in short order. When we got around Crater Lake they were waiting for us so I could lead and show them where the cairn was. I felt pretty stupid when I couldn't find it. I don't know if it was knocked down or what- I know it was there last year.
We finally got back to the car at 4:00, for an 11 hour day. I was disappointed- this was my first miss in a long time but I couldn't complain too much. With the crazy weather I've had, I did all right on this trip's fourteeners. Our next day was a rest day and North Maroon was planned for Saturday but I made up my mind I had enough and left for home on Saturday. When I called Don on Sunday night he told me they made its summit. I felt a pang on envy- if I stayed I would have had it too.
Total day- 10 hours 55 minutes