Bells Traverse question....?

[hedup]

Thanks again for all the help! I did read that Labor Day trip report...lots of good stuff!

I climbed the south Bell today. The 2800ft on the approach lived up to its name, but just barely! The dirt was wet but not muddy so things were consolidated pretty well under foot. Took me a little under 3 hours to ascend that area.

From the ridge to the summit: 1.5 hours...I found it all to be easy but fun climbing. Went off route several times on purpose just to climb some more fun stuff.

Weather on the summit was crap. Could only see the North Bell occasionally and the concern of a wet decent on unknown terrain wasn't very appealing...so I bagged it. Better safe than sorry. OF COURSE, halfway down the mountain, the weather cleared and it was a beautiful day. Should've traversed...but then again...that weather might not have ever broke...

Round trip time from the trailhead was about 11 hours which included about a half hour looking for the junction to go up the slope, and about 40 minutes on the summit.

Thanks again for the advice!

[JeremiahG]

Cool. As you say, better safe then regret. Congrats on the summit and safe return.

[hedup]

I may try it all again tomorrow...it's really eating at me!!! We'll see how the legs feel when I wake up at 2:30am again....

[hedup]

For anyone interested...climbed Maroon Peak again today and successfully did the traverse to North Maroon! It was awesome!! Challenging, fun, but totally do-able. Glad the weather cooperated! Thanks again to everyone who gave advice!

[bdloftin77]

hedup, how did you find the traverse? Were the class 5 areas pretty tricky, or fairly short and doable? I might do this traverse sometime in the future, maybe next summer or within the next few years. What advice would you have, having done it recently?

[illusion7il]

QUESTION ?

I did the bells traverse last week. I thought the hardest move was the 12 ft that followed the Chimney / Dihedral. I chose to go straight up and the moves seemed awkward and the holds were sketchy. Is this really the best way?

This Video shows this area perfectly (its NOT my Video) skip to 4:00 mins to see the area I am questioning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0oFe_gK13E" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks in advance

[SpringsHiker]

QUESTION ?

I did the bells traverse last week. I thought the hardest move was the 12 ft that followed the Chimney / Dihedral. I chose to go straight up and the moves seemed awkward and the holds were sketchy. Is this really the best way?

I came to the conclusion that it was the best way. As noted in the video, the other crack to the right was the harder route as it required class 5 smearing to climb. Agreed that the upper chimney was awkward and holds were hard to find. At least it *can* be done unprotected, assuming the climber has the skills and is confident they can make the moves.

[hedup]

hedup, how did you find the traverse? Were the class 5 areas pretty tricky, or fairly short and doable? I might do this traverse sometime in the future, maybe next summer or within the next few years. What advice would you have, having done it recently?

Hey....Sorry it took me so long to give an answer. I didn't have this set up to send me e-mails when there were replies. And of course, it's been quite a while now since I've done this route so I'll do my best to answer your questions!

How did I find the traverse.....Well, there are cairns marking the majority of the route. I had been told that if you traverse around to the west, there are some scree gullys that you can climb up and bypass the difficulties. I can't speak to that, because I was looking forward to the challenges so I stayed on the main route. If the weather is good, and it's a weekend, there'll be others up there climbing the route. You could probably sit around at the south summit for a bit until someone comes by who knows the route. If not, DOWNLOAD THE 14ERS APP, and make this route available for offline use. I found the photos very helpful in finding the the route a few times. For finding the route coming down North Maroon, I had found a guy who had climbed up that the day before who lead me in the right direction. Be careful here....there are places the trail is kinda vague and as you'll read, you don't want to end up above the cliff bands.

The Class 5 areas I found quite short and doable. Of course, this all depends on your experience level and comfort with exposure. The first crux has a lot of exposure. The second one (the dihedral) I found quite easy. And the third was definitely the most nerve racking. This is the one with a bit of an overhang on the top. If you're roped up, it's no big deal really, but when you combine the exposure and the overhang...all without a rope...it definitely gets your heart pumping! It did mine anyway! From there, it's easy.

I have to say though, that it is very difficult for me (or anyone who doesn't know your experience/comfort level) to really judge if it's easy or not. What's easy for me may be impossible for another, or vice-versa (which is the case more often! Ha!). It all depends on experience and comfort.

Advice: Download the 14ers app and make the route available for offline use so you can see the photos of the route without cell service. If you have that "uneasy" feeling about the route...listen to it. People are awesome in the mountains and I'm sure they'd let you tag along for route finding help. If weather looks like it's coming in, bail on the route. I wouldn't want to do it without a rope on wet rock.

I don't know....I'm just spewing a bunch of obvious stuff I think. Hopefully you'll find something valuable from this!