Pyramid Peak

Pyramid is probably the most difficukt fourteener I have completed (or attempted) to date. It is a challenging climb with alot of exposure and loose rocks Some of the pics on the right can give you an idea of how treacherous it can be, but the pics dont even come close to doing it justice.

We started by driving to Aspen Friday night and camping near the Maroon Lake trailhead. We stopped in Glenwood Springs for some dinner on the way, and were able to buy some beer just before the stores closed near Carbondale. We got started very early (hiking by 6am) Saturday morning. The first aprt of the trail is pretty easy hiking from Maroon Lake up to Crystal Lake and then you have to find the place where the Pyramid trail breaks off to the left. There is a carin there and its pretty easy to spot. the trail becomes steeper there, and switchbacks up the forrested hill. At this time of year there was still alot of snow in the shaded areas, and we got pretty wet on the approach.

After that we reached some vey large snow fields and proceeded to hike up them - both of us were thinking we should have brought the crampons with us, but oh well- we hiked on. There is a very steep talus covered hill to ascend, and it had a snow field right up the middle of it. In the winter this is probably pretty easy, but the snow was too slushy in the summer sun to trust is, so we managed up the talus to the saddle near 13,000 ft.

This is where the fun starts. the remainder of the hike took us three hours to ascend and two hours to descend because it was very slow going. The paths (when there are paths) are very narrow and exposed, and the rock is loose. Any mistake would result in a very serious and most likely fatal fall. We crossed several snow fields that were nearly vertical, and worked our way up the loose rock slope with several class four moves involved.

Once at the top we had a quick snack and headed down hoping that the weather on this beautiful day would hold out long enough for us to get back down to the lake.We found a slightly better trail on the way down, and only a few snow crossings gave us trouble. Once we got back down to the big snow fields around 12,000 ft it was pretty easy going. We even got a few short glisades in and some standing glisades on the snowfields.

Back down the switchbacks and past the lake, and to the car where a nice warm Miller Lite awaited both of us. We headed back to Glenwood Springs to get some dinner and make the three and a half hour drive home.