Peak Condition Update | Pyramid Peak

Peak:	Pyramid Peak
Route:	Northeast Ridge
Range:	Elk
Posted By:	alexithymia6
Date of Info:	10/7/2014
Date Posted:	10/9/2014

Details
The Crater Lake/Maroon Creek Trail was snow free until the Pyramid turnoff. As you ascend the trail up to the amphitheater there was about 3-4in of snow throughout the hike. In the amphitheater the snow gets to about 7-9in in spots, but I tried to stay as dry as possible by jumping to rocks. However, the route description says to stay to the right of the rock glacier (which was pretty labor intensive as there was quite a bit of trudging in some spots), but on the way down it was much easier to stay atop the rock glacier and hike down/scramble (or up) the rocks to the main trail. Once to the back of the amphitheater, the slope up to the saddle has splotchy amounts of snow and mud, but isn't too bad. From the saddle to the summit, the narrow ledge was snow free, but route finding is critical to avoid waste deep snow and patches of ice. A majority of the route has some amount of snow on it, but it varies as to how much sunlight it gets. Used micro spikes but not sure how effective they actually were. Weather was incredible, no wind. Summer/fall season is at its close.

Details

The Crater Lake/Maroon Creek Trail was snow free until the Pyramid turnoff. As you ascend the trail up to the amphitheater there was about 3-4in of snow throughout the hike. In the amphitheater the snow gets to about 7-9in in spots, but I tried to stay as dry as possible by jumping to rocks. However, the route description says to stay to the right of the rock glacier (which was pretty labor intensive as there was quite a bit of trudging in some spots), but on the way down it was much easier to stay atop the rock glacier and hike down/scramble (or up) the rocks to the main trail. Once to the back of the amphitheater, the slope up to the saddle has splotchy amounts of snow and mud, but isn't too bad. From the saddle to the summit, the narrow ledge was snow free, but route finding is critical to avoid waste deep snow and patches of ice. A majority of the route has some amount of snow on it, but it varies as to how much sunlight it gets. Used micro spikes but not sure how effective they actually were. Weather was incredible, no wind. Summer/fall season is at its close.

Comments or Questions

geojed	Strong work 10/9/2014 9:04pm Way to go!
jmanner	YEA! 10/9/2014 9:31pm What Jed said!
alexithymia6	Thanks! 10/10/2014 2:13am Appreciate it guys!
mcquentin	Microspikes? 10/14/2014 3:16pm Just curious about your comment on the usefulness of microspikes. What do you mean? Could you find enough bare ground that you didn't need them? Were they not effective on the snow / ice? Why not? Would you have preferred crampons? Would you have preferred nothing? Were they just unnecessary because you had good footing without them in the snow and ice? From the saddle to the summit was the snow soft or hard when you used microspikes? I'm climbing Friday and am deciding on equipment to bring. Obviously I want to go as light as possible and still be able to summit.
alexithymia6	Soft Snow 10/14/2014 4:20pm There were several patches of bare ground which my hiking boots would have been fine on... however, a majority of the route had quite a bit of soft powdery snow which I would mainly just trudge through. There was ice here and there but it was avoidable and/or not on the route. Snowshoes would probably have been the ideal foot accessory, but with how sporadic the bare ground would pop up along the route one might not want to be changing back and forth with their footwear. I don't think crampons would have been very effective. I'm still glad I brought the microspikes. Soft snow after the saddle. Good luck and be safe!

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