Wag
WaterGirl asked for submissions, and I live to serve! In addition to our trip to the Chicago Basin detailed in a previous set of OTR posts last Fall, we did a series of trips to the Elk Mountains outside of Aspen to climb the 14,000 ft peaks.
The Elks, especially the Maroon Bells and their close neighbor Pyramid Peak, are some of the most photographed mountains anywhere in in the US, and they are a major tourist draw in the Aspen area. As such, the area at the base of the peaks has been loved nearly to death, with thousands of tourists coming to see them on a daily basis. In response, the Forest Service has, quite understandably, significantly limited access by restricting cars from parking without permits, and utilizing a very efficient bus service to take most of the tourists to the lake at the base of the peaks.
The one group that is poorly served by the buses are climbers. In order to climb the peaks before the typical afternoon thunderstorms hit, most people want to begin climbing before 5 AM. Parking to climb requires parking permit for the day, and the permits for the entire summer sell out in a matter of hours when they go on sale in the Spring. Taxis and Uber/Lyft are not permitted to take climbers up, so if you don’t have friends who can drive you up before dawn, access is difficult.
Climbing in the Elks reminded us that tackling peaks requires patience and the wisdom to turn around when necessary, and to come back another day, if needed. This summer we successfully climbed Pyramid, Snowmass, and the Maroon Belles. Each of these climbs in the Elks required two trips to successfully climb each set of peaks.
On The Road – Wag – The Elk Range and Pyramid PeakPost + Comments (24)
In October of 2020, my wife and I decided to try and get a late season climb of Pyramid Peak before the snow flew. We couldn’t get a parking permit, and couldn’t find a friend to drive us up to the parking lot, so we took a different tack. The beautiful paved road to Maroon Lake begins just outside of Aspen Highlands ski area, and climbs 8 miles and 1600 ft on paved road. We decided to try the climb by parking at the ski area, then riding our bikes to the trailhead, changing into our boots, and climbing from there. We looked forward to coasting down to the car after our climb.
Riding a road bike up a long steep climb is a challenge, but it is even more of a challenge when you have a mountaineering pack with boots and jackets, as well has 3 liters of water and food for a day on your back. We go to the trailhead just after 7:30, and began our planned climb.