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After completing the Ice Cubed traverse on Saturday, Michelle and I headed over to Aspen hoping for a Maroon Bells traverse. But, it wasn't to be. The weather crapped out with plenty of snow and hail coming down and accumulating over 13,000ft, so the traverse was out of the question. However, with some routefinding, we still made the summit safely. Here are some brief lessons learned...
Don't attempt to bushwack up to the basin from Minnehaha Creek! We weren't patient enough to find the climbers trail and just went for it. Steep and nasty...definitely not worth it.
Norh Maroon can be kept Class 3 if you avoid the crux chimney close to the summit. As of Sunday, there were cairns showing a traverse to the right about 100ft below the crux. Around the corner, on the north face, there are several "easy" options for climbing the cliffband. But you will definitely have way more snow and ice accumulation there.
Lightning hit the summit about 45 minutes after we left. Another party that was going up while we were coming down, were within spitting distance and just barely escaped. It was the one and only lightning bolt that hit close all day, but sometimes that's all it takes.
Håkan |
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