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They say you never forget your first time.........
Somehow, throughout my adventures the Elk Range has eluded me but it was time to pop the cherry and Pyramid Peak was the obvious choice. Okay that was gross and sexual, sorry not sorry.
I needed a partner, Alex was down, and I hit the jackpot because he turned out to be solid unlike the rock on Pyramid Peak (actually it is not as terrible as everyone makes it out to be.)
I made my way towards Aspen in the oppressive heat that was Monday afternoon. Naturally I needed some vert so I stopped and ran up and back to Hanging Lake and Sprouted Rock. That will be the first and last time I ever visit that place. It is a gem but humans, everywhere, shitting it up. There were many signs reading, "do not go in the water, fragile eco-system" and "area closed for restoration, keep out." People. Trampling. Everywhere. I blazed up that trail, screamed at a bunch of people, and blazed down. I cannot go places like this. It depresses me to see natural beauty trampled by ignorance.
After everyone ran away in fear I was able to get a peopleless shot.
After the crazy lady (me) at Hanging Lake incident I went to Glenwood Springs in search of the finest of substances, coyote urine. Apparently porcupines have been busy sabotaging brake lines at the Maroon Lake trailhead. Since I like the option of stopping the low rider I took the proper precautions. Turns out coyote urine is not a popular excretion, also expect strange looks when asking for it.
A failed attempt to protect Lola landed me at the Whole Foods in Basalt where I mowed down some food and beverage. Finally I went and visited my friend Zach in Aspen before heading to the trailhead around 8:30 pm-ish. I made some tea and set out to investigate Maroon Lake but was distracted by a fury of helicopter activity. It is a very erie feeling to be in a place of known danger and see helicopters. Without cell phone reception I could only speculate, so I said a few words hoping whoever was involved was okay. The helicopters flew low, in and out, for several hours but eventually stopped. I assumed they called off the rescue but when first light brought no chopper activity I was hopeful. Turns out a mother and daughter were successfully night rescued off of North Maroon Peak!! Incredible job to all those involved, what a great outcome.
Alex and I started around 5:15 am with feelings of excitement and nerves swirling through our bodies. Some would argue climbing mountains in the winter (both Alex and I have done this and he has snowboarded down many of them) is more difficult than the standard route of Pyramid in the summer. However, both of us felt this would be our most difficult challenge yet. I was imagining a non-stop dodge ball game with basketball sized rocks torpedoing downward and the mountain disintegrating with every step I took and hand held I grabbed. This was not the case. What I did find was extreme vigilance is required for several hours, hand and foot holds must constantly be tested, the climbing is sustained class 3 to 4, and route finding is a must.
The Bells awaken.
The trail turn off for Pyramid is easy, it was not difficult to spot the massive cairn on the left. The trail that the CFI constructed is a pleasure and should be appreciated because what's to come in the amphitheater will make any sane person want to rip their face off. There was still snow but it could easily be avoided on talus to the right. It was too icy in the morning for us to utilize without traction.
The fortress of pyramid and avoidable snow.
My first experience looking in to the heart of Pyramid Peak was other-worldly. In fact my first view of the Maroon Bells was other-worldly. Perhaps it is because I waited so long to venture to the Elks but I felt like I walked into Jurassic Park and dinosaurs were about to come charging out of the forest. The colors, the massiveness of these mountains (even though they are among the lower 14ers), the broken cliffs they are comprised of...they demand respect. They appear as impenetrable fortresses.
After an eternity of upwards talus hopping through the ridiculously giant amphitheater that sits under the north face of Pyramid we located what we thought was the "trail" up the one thousand foot damn near vertical death gully to the 13,000 foot saddle. Both Alex and I agreed going up and down this was our favorite part of the day. It was loose, steep, long, and there were tons of those spikey thorn plants to grab a hold of.... any real mountain climbers dream.
Dreamy......(taken on the way out) Got rubble? Alex really enjoying himself.
Arriving at the saddle allowed a confidence boosting view of Pyramid. We both looked at one another and said, really? The first goats of the day greeted us with their black soulless eyes.
Welcome to Pyramid mortal.
Should I crap my pants now?
And so it begins, turn right, and have at it. For the first hundred feet there is a trail but we soon lost it. From the descriptions I read you stay right of the first two gendarmes and I could not have imagined staying on the ridge would be the correct route so I dropped down low and was instantly whisked away to inhospitable terrain. We backtracked and stayed along the ridge crest until a small snow crossing and a couple of moves through a tunnel put us on the south side of the ridge.
And we're off... Alex after we corrected my mistake. The views are distracting.
From here it was more careful traversing until we were staring at the leap of faith. It was death defying. A lot more happened until we were finally at the base of the green rock. It is difficult to give a route description because cairns are hard to spot and some led us astray (good job Bill and Gerry, this is not an easy route to describe).
Look mom I can fly! What is left of snow in the gully crossover. The views are distracting.
The green rock is solid and we had a blast climbing it. Such a blast we missed the exit gully towards the summit. I was about fifty feet above Alex and I went too far right eventually ending up in class 5 rock. To give an idea, I was so far right there was nothing but air below. After poking around for a bit I thought it best we retreat and find some class 4. We traversed left through broken cliff bands and kept finding viable routes that would allow us a bit more up-ish action. We did not see cairns so we knew we were off route but everything was kept manageable and it turned out to be fun having to pick our own way up Pyramids east face. Patience went a long way.
Lower and upper green rock.
Limited climbing photos... The views are distracting.
Check out the looseness...
Just shy of the summit!
About 100 feet from the summit the route presented itself, the terrain eased, and a top Pyramid Peak we stood (9:45 am). We had the summit to ourselves for thirty minutes...well kind of.....
And so they came with wild dreams of pee....
Warning: The next string of photos may warrant the question, Is this real life?
Snowmass and Capitol. The Deadly Bells. My favorite shot of the day by Alex... The Elks.... Thunder and Lightning.
Every girl should aspire to one day flash the Elks. Alex deciding if he wants to do a reverse pike or a one and a half off the diving board. Representing Mile High Clothing Company at 14,018 feet. Could not think of a better shirt to be wearing, Love Colorado! Team supa fly.
Eventually three other dudes joined us, Ethan and ? from Indiana a.k.a "little house on the prairie," and a polish astro-physicist who had a meeting at 2 pm. The weather was perfect albeit incredibly HOT. The physicist took off and we decided to stagger ourselves ten minutes behind him and little house on the prairie ten minutes behind us to help mitigate rock fall.
Team little house on the prairie.
On the way down we were able to spot cairns and located the gully that leads from the green rock to the summit. There were still several tricky down climbs. At this point the goats were in heavy stalk mode glaring at us like the worthless urine bags we are. A solo dude coming up said our pollock friend was off route and looking confused. A polish mountain climbing astro-physicist who speaks four languages is rather hard to come by so it was our civic duty to make sure he did not miss his meeting. We yelled back and forth to him until we located him several hundred feet above the gully (picture 24 in Bill's description). He picked his way back to us and we all down climbed the green rock until it met up with the standard route. Off he went to study dark matter.
goingdown Alex and the astro-physicist down climbing the green rock. Mountaineering 101
The views are distracting.
Alex and I high-fived and returned to the saddle very excited and eager to head down the one thousand foot gully of doom. It was so much fun!!!
Farewell you beautiful siren.
Good thing the views are so distracting...
Back in the amphitheater Alex picked up a pair of green trekking poles we had noticed that morning and hiked them out. Since we were the first people on the summit we assumed they had been forgotten. Alex left them at the Maroon Lake trailhead if someone is looking for them.
I forced Alex to hike to Crater Lake with me, honestly I thought Maroon Lake was prettier. The walk out was brutal. I think we decided it sucked so bad because of the heat and the mind F of Pyramid. Our brains were fully engaged for hours and as much as I joke around, in a sense, we were in survival mode and apparently that is exhausting. A trip, slip, rock, or faulty hold could end your life and that was always on our minds. We worked very well together and I appreciated having a good partner.
Crater Lake
A scenic death march.
This was hands down one of my favorite days. The Bells and Pyramid are GORGEOUS peaks.
Maroon Lake
On the way home I pit stopped at Whole Foods in Basalt and stuffed my face full of three different meals. From there I intended on soaking in the Glenwood Hot Springs but fate and destiny intervened and the two gentlemen sitting next to me struck up a conversation. Two friends from college they were on a bro-venture across Colorado and Brian was an ultra-trail runner and mountain climber. He lived in Crestone so we had lots to talk about. He gave me directions to Penny Hot Springs, a natural hot springs outside of Carbondale that sits along the Crystal River. I love random adventure so... What a dream this place was!!! The three of us swapped stories while sitting in scalding hot, dirty, rotten egg smelling water We swam in the freezing cold Crystal River and they laughed at my trunk bed. In the end we exchanged numbers and I made two new friends. I love Colorado!
The last six weeks of my life have been a trip. I am right where I should be, free as a bird; living. I am excited to be heading in to the Chicago Basin with some amazing people on Friday!
Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen....yourself, right now, right down here on earth. Until next time...
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for being such a great partner! Easily my favorite day out in the mountains. Cant wait to get out with you again. I think we should go back and just hike up and down the dirt gully a few times.
Love this peak, love the purple quote at the end, and LOVE your tattoos!!! Great job - Pyramid was my first Elk about a year ago and it remains my favorite peak still.
some of the best pics I've seen on here, so great. We did Pyramid last saturday (check out the report!) and it was awesome....Cant get over your pics though, so many good shots!
I really appreciate being able to get a feel for the scale of some of the walls there, sometimes it's really hard to tell if I'm dramatically over- or under-estimating the size of some of these faces. Well done.
I sensed it when I randomly decided to read your first trip report, but now it is undeniable. You have a special talent for writing trip reports! Thank you for all the laughs and joy your reports have shared!
That's by far the best shot of someone jumping that gap I've seen... crazy perspective in that photo, I sort of did a double take looking at it. Yes, it is ”death-defying” isn't it?
Cool report. Your writing makes all of your outings come across as these awesome little adventures... which they are! Good luck in Chi Basin.
Natalie - re: tourist traps, I thought you said it was ”all about perspective” (think Telluride/4th of July). Just a friendly reminder.
going up : sounds like humans are on your nerves these days. Understandable. You might want to look in to moving north though. Colorado has a lot of humans and many many many more to come.
Natalie~~~ Someone thought those pants were jeans which my snowpants are also mistaken for. I found those gems in the target sales rack for 4 bucks.
@lordhelmut ~~ I have a healthy balance between like and dislike for humans. I like the ones who don't trample Hanging Lake and dislike the ones who do.
@wooderson ~~ I can thank Alex for that awesome shot! However, it does not look like I am going to make it.
@tdogge ~~ I am glad you mentioned that. Def one of my favorite shots.
@Rainier~~ Thank you, that is a very nice thing to say. Summary writing was never my strong suit and writing trip reports has helped tremendously.
Jeff~ Stuff it.
Jay~~ Chi Basin, not sure what to expect so I have no expectations
@Krullin_14ers ~~ I did read and comment and like your trip report
@aliciaf ~~ I am glad someone likes my tattoos, most hide their children's eyes and run away in fear.
Although (thanks to the folks at CFI and the excellent rout descriptions on 14ers.com) Pyramid is not the tangle of false leads, ledges and summits that it once was, your TR will be an excellent resource for today's climbers. Obviously, before heading up, you and Alex had done your homework!
In that regard, the photos are absolutely outstanding -- and would be very helpful to later climbers. Hey, the photo ”staged” for Alex where you are making the Leap of Faith was great. My palms started to sweat just looking at it!! And, of course, the several humorous shots and captions were classic!!!
PS: I hope to see you team up again with ”Lady McClimbsalot” -- first, of course, because you are clearly soul mates and secondly, because it might help to keep those solo adventures to a minimum!
Your report conveys obvious joy in this trip. Loved your picture of the galloping goat, of Alex inspecting the end of the diving board, and of Mountaineering 101 ”basics.” Pyramid is a such a fun peak.
Your reports are awesome to read - full of joie de vivre!
Congrats on Pyramid - one my favorites, too.
Thanks for another great TR. You go, girl!
Cheers!
Is that what it takes nowadays for a girl to find hiking partners? Nice pants, too (I haven't seen those in REI). Cheers!
p.s. Agree about Hanging lake. What a tourist trap.
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We swam in the freezing cold Crystal River and they laughed at my trunk bed. In the end we exchanged numbers and I made two new friends. I love Colorado!
