A LIGHTNING PYRAMID@
(13,722')July 24, 2009
By Tim Briese
10.7 miles, 4200' elevation gain, 12:40 roundtrip time
I headed for Snowmass the afternoon before the climb to meet Brian and Jason at the Wildwood Lodge. While driving over Independence Pass I noticed Brian=s car along the side of the highway and spotted him in the distance hiking down the slope north of the pass. He had just driven in from out of state today and was completing a climb of Twining Peak. I waited to greet him and then followed him to Snowmass.
We rose at 3 a.m. and drove to the Maroon Lake Trailhead to start the climb. At 4:15 we embarked on the familiar trail past Maroon Lake in the dark. Brian had forgotten to bring his headlamp from his car which we had left in Aspen but nevertheless got by with the light from Jason and my headlamps. At Crater Lake we turned left on the West Maroon Creek Trail and followed it 1.8 miles up the valley to the point where the trail crosses West Maroon Creek at about 10,500 feet. We had timed our hike to reach this point at approximately first light because we were about to leave the comfort of the nice trail and needed daylight to continue. After a short break we continued on the main trail on the east side of the creek for approximately 200 yards beyond the stream crossing until we found a climbers trail going off to the left up through the willows. We followed this trail upward into increasingly rougher terrain. This steep route is the key to relatively easy passage up rough talus slopes and through cliff bands to get to a grassy upper basin at 11,800 feet. The faint trail was generally well cairned and not hard to follow. This route was much better than the bushwhacking route we had taken to get up into this basin when we climbed Thunder Pyramid in 2005.
We reached the upper basin at 7:40 and paused to consider our next move. We had planned to climb either Pt. 13,631 or the more difficult Lightning Pyramid today, or possibly both. After a short consultation we elected to go after the tougher one. The route looked very ominous from here. The ascent gully that lay between Thunder and Lightning Pyramids held steep snow in its lower reaches and the adjacent slopes were riddled with cliff bands. We tediously climbed a loose scree and talus slope to reach the base of the gully at 12,300 feet, where we paused to put on our helmets and admire the view across the valley. I peered around the corner up into the hideously steep gully and quickly decided it was a no go without ice axes and crampons. We began scrambling up the steep, loose slopes to the south of the gully with Jason leading the way. The climbing was very slow and tedious, with dangerous loose rocks everywhere. Cliff bands barred our progress in many places and we frequently found it necessary to backtrack to find a viable route. Some of the climbing was fourth class and quite nerve-wracking because of the extremely loose rock. This nightmarish climb is indeed a hidden horror, and made our former climb of Thunder Pyramid seem like relative child=s play. Jason remarked later that this was perhaps the hardest and most dangerous climb we had done in the entire Maroon Creek Valley.
After climbing about halfway up to the saddle, at around 12,800 feet, we worked our way to the left back over into the gully, which was a little less steep from here on up than it was down lower. Nevertheless it was still very steep and filled with miserably loose talus and scree. I have gone up many a loose gully in my climbing days but perhaps never a worse one than this!
With great relief we finally reached the 13,420 foot saddle at the top of the gully and followed a relatively easy Class 2 ridge 250 yards south to the summit, where we arrived at 10:30. The morning was clear and calm and we spent over an hour soaking up the spectacular views we had worked so hard to earn. The views from an Elk Range summit on a clear day are truly a scenic treat. The Maroon Bells towered majestically across the deep valley to the west. Thunder Pyramid stood proudly off to the north, with access from this side well guarded by a rough and gnarly ridge. The figures of two climbers were visible on its summit. The register on our summit showed only two visitors prior to us this year.
At 11:40 we left the top and headed back down the majestic north ridge to the saddle. The descent back down the gully and slopes was very slow and tedious as we inched downward on the treacherously loose rock, concentrating every moment on safety. We were stymied by cliff bands a couple of times but managed to find a way back down through them. Jason checked out the steep snow in the lower gully for a glissade but wisely decided against it without an ice axe. He pushed on ahead on the lower slopes while Brian and I painstakingly brought up the rear.
We finally returned to the grassy basin a little before 2 p.m., after a two hour descent from the saddle. It was fortunate we had perfect weather for the climb today because the route would have been a bad one on which to be rushed by weather! We lounged around in the scenic grassy basin for quite some time, admiring the wildflowers surrounding a gurgling little brook. We decided to forgo climbing the other point today because Lightning Pyramid had proven to be considerably more difficult and time-consuming than we had expected.
We made our way back down the steep climbers trail to the main trail in the valley. The afternoon heat was wearing on us so we doused ourselves with refreshing cool water from West Maroon Creek. We finally tramped back to the trailhead at 4:55, well over twelve hours after we had left, feeling pretty wiped out but pleased to get this tough climb under our belts.
