The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

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Alpinefroggy
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The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by Alpinefroggy »

Howdy y'all.

I have plans this summer to engage with the bells traverse to cap off my summer of 14ers by doing the traverse in September. I have been spending a lot of time on beta gathering and have grouped together a few folks in my own personal circle who have done the standard routes on Maroon and NM and are interested in the traverse.

Ironically the route descriptions from going up M to down NM have only a few sections which truly scare me. While some of the chossy chimneys have their faults, the rock looks relatively stable and since I have become a decent rock climber, these difficulties do not present themselves as the challenges in skill. Instead they are challenges in route finding and mental fortitude. Stuff I will assess before high on both peaks and something I now currently have many plans to build and test on tricky routes all throughout the summer.

The stuff that really gets my panties in a knot are the gullies on both mountains. With the up on M being mentally easier in the loose dangerous scree of 1 or 2. And especially the grass filled loose stuff that makes up the descent on NM. That gives me the most pucker out of anything on either route. I'd love for somebody to expand on the conditions on the NM and M gullies to give a more realistic sense of the rotten rock and steepness. The NM gullies seem super slippery and certainly the M gullies are. These mountains certainly are serious and the gullies have claimed lives so I am trying to gather beta in my head now. So what do I have in store on the grass filled, loose, mountain goaty gullies of NM?
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cottonmountaineering
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by cottonmountaineering »

its been a while but what i remember

upper mountain: choss pile but well traveled, most loose stuff out of the way if you stay on route
grassy ascent: slopey hardpack with loose gravel and some grass
both have potential for rock fall

trekking poles make it easier to keep your feet on the ground on the slopey stuff IMO
Last edited by cottonmountaineering on Wed May 05, 2021 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CaptainSuburbia
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by CaptainSuburbia »

The Maroon gullies are not that bad. Just stay on route and it's a fun climb. Taking screenshots from the route page helps. There is a direct ridge route if you really want to avoid the gullies. It has more rock climbing which you might like better.
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by yaktoleft13 »

Agreed, North Maroon's gullies are not bad at all. The twin gullies on South Maroon though...
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by jbealer »

I have to disagree, I found descending NM more challenging then M, the route seemed easier to follow up M, had a blast on the traverse, and going with a friend that had done it the yr before we still got turned around coming down NM trying to avoid to much 4th class down climbing, there was also still some snow sections in Aug we were trying to avoid. I had 2 boulders come down on us in the gully of NM, one we think was from a goat, the 2nd was from a climber that was headed up as we were heading down. I did not fell safe till we crossed that narrow section through the middle of the gully that lead us out of that mess. I would do that traverse over and over if NM was not the option down.
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by Alpinefroggy »

yaktoleft13 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 11:42 am Agreed, North Maroon's gullies are not bad at all. The twin gullies on South Maroon though...
So just sorta like steep scree with some rock, slippery but not overly puckery?. What might you compare them to?

Thank you all so far. I plan to bring poles on these hikes for sure as is since the crap up to the scrambling would be great with them.
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by Tornadoman »

The key to success on the Bells is routefinding ability. I did the two peaks separately and made minor routefinding mistakes on the descent on both peaks and could see how any major routefinding Snafu could lead to disaster. On North Maroon I let myself down a ledge and then realized it was going to cliff out, and it was hard to get back up the ledge due to the slope/moisture. On Maroon I went just a few steps below the cairn that leads you out of the top gully on the descent and it gets bad FAST. I realized it and quickly turned around but that's not a spot to mess up.

With the above said, I didn't think either peak was that bad on route. I found Maroon to be more of a steep slog with a few scrambling sections here and there. On route I didn't think it's gullies were worse than say Sneffels high gully. As for North, I felt more exposed to rockfall in those broader gullies, and I seem to remember overall routefinding was a bit harder (I was quite a bit less experienced on North though so maybe it just seems more difficult in my mind). I would try to pick a weekday if you can to limit the number of people on the route/rockfall risk.

Good luck!
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by yaktoleft13 »

It was a couple of years ago, but I remember the gullies being grassy, rocky, and dirt-filled with braided trails. At the top of gully 2 was typical elk ledgy terrain. Neither one felt as steep as they looked. Until the ledges, I remember them being class two and way overhyped
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by OldTrad »

You have to keep your act together if you downclimb the crux, "4th class" chimney on NM, however. I'm aware of some people who have freaked out there, and though I thought it was fun I totally understand why others don't feel the same way that I did.
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by daway8 »

I recommend bringing along an old pair of microspikes for the gullies - gives you much greater confidence in your footing especially on those loose dirt sections (I wrote up an extensive review of using them in my "One Bell at a Time" report).

There's a lot of little loose stuff around but just go real slow and you'll be fine. At a couple points I remember briefly walking in exaggerated slow motion so as not to send anything down on the people below me (it worked).
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by Alpinefroggy »

daway8 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 12:44 pm I recommend bringing along an old pair of microspikes for the gullies - gives you much greater confidence in your footing especially on those loose dirt sections (I wrote up an extensive review of using them in my "One Bell at a Time" report).

There's a lot of little loose stuff around but just go real slow and you'll be fine. At a couple points I remember briefly walking in exaggerated slow motion so as not to send anything down on the people below me (it worked).
This seems wildly dubious to me. But idk seems like you wouldn't get much more purchase at all.
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Re: The loose gullies on North Maroon and Maroon Peak

Post by daway8 »

Alpinefroggy wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 12:53 pm
daway8 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 12:44 pm I recommend bringing along an old pair of microspikes for the gullies - gives you much greater confidence in your footing especially on those loose dirt sections (I wrote up an extensive review of using them in my "One Bell at a Time" report).

There's a lot of little loose stuff around but just go real slow and you'll be fine. At a couple points I remember briefly walking in exaggerated slow motion so as not to send anything down on the people below me (it worked).
This seems wildly dubious to me. But idk seems like you wouldn't get much more purchase at all.
Oh I was skeptical too when someone on this site first mentioned it but I was shocked at how much difference it made. Now I never do a hike anywhere at any time of year without microspikes in my pack (it does wear the points dull though).

If you want more details and analysis the trip report is here: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine there's a bolded section halfway down called "Microspikes on dirt/small loose rocks" that gives detailed analysis, plus various other comments sprinkled through the report.
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