8/10/03 – Pyramid Peak – Northeast Ridge

7.0 miles, 4450'


Erin and I were to climb Missouri Mountain on Saturday and complete the Sawatch Range fourteeners. When I arose on Saturday morning to see 3:30 a.m. – the time that we wanted to be at the Missouri Gulch trailhead – staring back at me from our clock, I silently cursed myself for sleepily disengaging the alarm 3 hours earlier. I went back to bed, knowing that a late start on Missouri, Emerald, and Iowa would be foolish, given that we're in the midst of monsoon season.

During the day on Saturday, as Erin and I busied ourselves with work we had set aside for Sunday, we gradually lost motivation for Missouri Mountain. We also had a desire to maintain our streak of climbs that contained at least third-class scrambling, a streak which now reaches back to June 14th and our climb of El Diente. A challenge was in order, and naturally, we turned to the Elks.

Capitol was right out. That climactic peak lends itself to being set aside for one of one's final fourteeners, something Erin and I thought we would do at the time. Snowmass Mountain wasn't an option because of its long approach, not the best idea for a Sunday climb. This left only a few Elks to choose from, and Pyramid Peak seemed like the best idea, its short round-trip distance appealing to us. It was a bit unnerving to have changed plans from a salubrious Sawatch sojourn to the toughest climb Erin and I have ever tackled as a duo. But I was feeling ripe for the challenge, fresh off some of our most difficult climbs to date, including a traverse of the Bells three weeks earlier.

We set off from Broomfield at 1:00 a.m. and drove I-70 to Glenwood Springs and used CO-82 to reach the Maroon Creek Road. We arrived at the TH a little before 5:00, but we took a short nap and actually started hiking at 6:00. Thinking that they would be a hindrance during the scrambling and climbing high on Pyramid, we made the mistake of leaving our trekking poles at the car. Despite the fact that it was full daylight and that John and Kurt Traskos had pointed it out for us, Erin and I could not find the turnoff for Pyramid Sunday morning because the cairn that we had seen before had been toppled. We hiked almost all the way to Crater Lake before turning around and making our own way across the moraine that leads to Pyramid's steep slopes. We fortuitiously intersected the trail, and we made the stiff grunt to Pyramid's hanging basin quickly.

What a stark but gorgeous locale! Views of Pyramid's unclimbable north face opened up between the twin pinnacle guardians at the ends of each of the basin's arms (if there ever were an epitome to the term 'devil's armchair,' this is it!). We continued following the main trail, not noticing the cairned route below us, which can take a small bit of elevation gain off of your trip. The trail we were taking is the one that leads to the Keyhole Route on Pyramid, and we soon realized our error. Onward we went into the hanging basin, staying right of a small snowpatch over a talus-covered creek which drains the basin. As we neared the north face, we began to cross to the basin's other side, over an undulating talus field. Soon we had reached the gully which leads to Pyramid's northeast ridge. One climber (14erWorld's Mike Darnell, as it turns out) was climbing ahead of us, but he stopped to shoot some video, which meant no one would be above us for the whole gully.

There's not much to say about the gully. True to Elk form, it's steep, loose, and tiresome, but all I could think about on the way up was how much it will suck to descend it. But at last, we reached the saddle point at 9:00. Views opened to our east of Highland Ridge, with its monarchs Hilliard and Keefe Peaks. Beyond that ridge, Castle Peak reigned supreme. To our west, the Bells had completely transformed since our previous vantage near Maroon Lake. North Maroon's summit is very spire-like from Pyramid! Erin and I used a large slab as a rest stop to apply sunblock, shoot pictures, and eat a Nhu bar. As we did so, two climbers were descending Pyramid. We were exchanging hellos, when the first climber said that Erin and I looked familiar. It was none other than 14erWorld's Brett Atkinson and Todd Holmes! Brett recognized our visages from pictures online. Brett and Todd had started climbing before 3:00 a.m., if I remember rightly, and they had summitted Pyramid at an impressive 7:00. Brett gave us some brief beta, and Todd warned us of a guy who was off-route and setting off some rockfall. Then they were off!

Erin and I packed up and began the final climb. I think there's a newly cairned route on Pyramid, because both on the way up and down, Erin and I somehow avoided the crux fourth-class wall that's described in Roach's and Dawson's guidebooks. We never even saw it! We followed cairns on a level traverse for a while, which seemed reasonable since we were only supposed to gain 80' during the quarter-mile between the saddle and the crux wall. After gaining a few hundred feet, though, I realized we must be somewhere other than on Roach's route. A large party of five with a couple of young climbers and a black lab were making quick progress behind us. The young climbers began to get too close for comfort and were getting hit by scree that Erin and I were unavoidable ejecting behind us. I think this provided a lesson for the youth, because they began to maintain some space between our parties. Erin and I thought the climbing was easy, and I would liken our route to the standard route up Maroon Peak, weaving over ledges and up gullies, though we never were compelled to lose elevation. After climbing a short wall, we could see a subpeak of Pyramid's to our north and at our elevation; we knew we had to be close. After maybe a hundred more feet of climbing, we were suddenly there! It was 10:00, and Brett's estimate of an hour to the summit from the saddle was spot on. Unfortunately, clouds were building all around us. None of them looked like the traditional monsoon clouds, but they had appeared out of nowhere. We weren't taking any chances, so our stay on Pyramid's summit was painfully short.

As we were descending, the party of five and another party of two were just reaching the summit area. Erin and I stepped aside and as I came to a stop to let them pass, I dislodged a grapefruit-sized rock. I yelled, "Rock!" and, though it wasn't headed his way, one of the climbers made an admirable dash away from its general vicinity. I felt like an ass the rest of the day. You simply must be careful at all times on these loose peaks.

Lower on the mountain, we passed by the party's tied-up lab, which had been filling the area with its echoing howls. The descent wasn't too bad until I led us down a gully that we hadn't climbed. This ended up being the loosest segment of our day, and Erin gave me some hell for it. Back at the saddle, Erin and I chased off a mountain goat that had been nibbling on the black lab's doggy-backpack, which the dog's owner had left there. We made it down the next thousand feet back to the basin in about 45 minutes, and our knees were aching. After crossing the basin, we managed a standing/crouching glissade down the snowfield, which cut an appreciated few hundred feet off our descent. Maybe it's just because we were tired, but the descent through the trees back down to the main trail felt like the the steepest part of the day! Bush-belays were in order almost the whole way down.

Back among the rude tourists (anyone notice how they all walk two-abreast and won't say "Hi," "Excuse me," or "Thank you" ?), we quickly returned to Maroon Lake. Views of Sievers Mountain's strange hoodoo-like summits struck us most near the lake, while the Bells behind us were dark from shade. Erin and I ate at Little Annie's in Aspen and drove back to Broomfield over Independence and Kenosha Passes, avoiding I-70's traffic.

I really enjoyed Pyramid Peak even though we were rushed, and I'm still surprised how easy we thought it was. I guess all this difficult climbing we've done lately has paid off!