BELLEVIEW MOUNTAIN
(13,233’)July 22, 2014
By Tim Briese
9.9 miles, 3200’ elevation gain, 8:25 roundtrip time
Brian and I left Crested Butte early in the morning and drove north over Schofield Pass to the East Fork Trailhead. We found 8 to 10 other vehicles parked there and other hikers moving about. The day promised to be clear and beautiful. We left the 10,400’ pass at 7:15 am and hiked east on the excellent trail. After climbing about 0.3 miles through the woods we emerged into open meadow slopes where we were greeted by one of the most incredible arrays of wildflowers I have ever seen in the mountains. The slopes were covered in a dazzling and spectacular array of waist-high wildflowers that continued unbroken for a mile and a half!
flowers along the trail
The early morning light and the deep blue sky made for outstanding photo opportunities, which we took advantage of for quite a while. I felt like a kid in a candy store strolling through the lush and colorful flora snapping photos.
more flowery slopes
Eventually we continued on the trail up a scenic valley toward West Maroon Pass.
on the trail up the valley
The route curved around to the right through verdant green meadows and gracefully ascended to the 12,500’ pass.
getting closer to west maroon pass
the final push to the pass
We arrived at the pass at 10 am, after hiking 4 miles and climbing 2100 feet from the trailhead. There were numerous hikers and backpackers milling about at the pass, and the scenery was outstanding.
brian and i at west maroon pass, with south maroon peak behind us
view down the west maroon creek valley, with pyramid peak above
We could see Belleview Mountain up the ridge to the north from the pass.
belleview mountain, with south maroon peak to the right
After a nice half hour break we donned our helmets and headed up the Class 3 ridge to the northwest toward Belleview.
the first part of the ridge, with belleview visible to the right
It was a lot of fun scrambling up the ridge. There was some exposure and a few tricky spots and narrow steps. It was quite reminiscent of climbing the nearby Elk Range 14ers in years past.
brian coming up the ridge. the trail near west maroon pass is visible below.
on the ridge
a view of belleview as we approached on the ridge. south maroon looms through the notch.
After climbing about 0.3 miles up the ridge from the pass the terrain became much easier and we scampered another 200 yards up to Pt. 13,210. From here we could see Belleview a short distance to the northeast. It looked a little intimidating from here, a large rocky tower. It was obvious that the route had to go up the other side of it because the near side looked very tough to climb.
view of belleview from pt. 13,210, with south maroon to the left and pyramid peak to the right
We descended about 100’ and hiked around the right side of Belleview and found a reasonable Class 3 route up its eastern side.
the terrain up to the summit (photo taken on the descent)
We stepped on top of the rather small summit at 11:55.
brian on top of belleview mountain
The views were simply sublime. It would be hard to imagine a finer vantage point for the scenic Elk Mountains! Furthermore, we were graced with perfect weather, deep blue skies, and crisp visibility.
south maroon peak
snowmass mountain and capitol peak, with lush and green fravert basin in the foreground
pyramid peak, at the left, with thunder pyramid and lightning pyramid to its right
view of the treasury mountains to the west
the ridge we came up, with west maroon pass at left center. crested butte is in the distance at the upper left.
fossils in a rock on the summit
We enjoyed this wonderful place for half an hour before starting our descent. It was a lot of fun going back down the ridge, too. It was just hair-raising enough to keep the adrenaline elevated a bit.
coming back down the ridge
We returned to the pass at 1:40 and took another nice little break, admiring the different afternoon lighting now on the surrounding scenery.
view of belleview from west maroon pass
afternoon view down the west maroon creek valley
the valley to the west we were about to hike back down
Then we headed down the trail at a brisk pace, stopping again to take a few more photos of the amazing wildflowers. A guy at the trailhead later asserted that the flowers were always the best there.
more wildflowers
There were other hikers on the trail hustling to get back to the trailhead to catch a shuttle van from Crested Butte. Apparently a popular dayhike in the area is from Maroon Lake over West Maroon Pass to the East Fork Trailhead, or vice versa, with hikers taking a road shuttle back. We got back to the trailhead at 3:40 and promptly celebrated with a cold Coke before heading back to Crested Butte. This was one of the most scenic and beautiful climbs I had done in a long time! The incredible sights of the day were not over yet, though. From Crested Butte we took a shortcut to Buena Vista via Cottonwood Pass that evening, and along the road on the east side of Taylor Reservoir we were treated to the sight of a moose with 2 calves standing in a pond.
momma moose and her calves
