On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Wag
Two weeks after our initial attempt we met our second guide for another try. We met at the trailhead at about 6 o’clock in the morning. We are very quickly regained the 2800 Feet of Suck, and then roped up to begin of the technical climbing.
Another shot from Maroon Lake at the start of the climb. Although it had only been 2 weeks since our last climb, the changes of Fall were very apparent. The sunrise was noticeably later, and the aspen trees had really begun to change.
While we waited four our guide I was inspired by Billinglendale to try my hand at a star shot. This was taken with my iPhone set on the roof of the car with a 30 second exposure. I think you can see the Pleaides in the upper left corner.
Dawn on our way to the 2800 FoS
The climb to the top of Maroon Peak in many ways was similar to the climb up Pyramid Peak earlier in the summer. The climb involved significant traverses on narrow ledges followed by sections of steep scrambling. The sections of scrambling were longer than we had on Pyramid, with 30 to 40 foot sections of steep rock.
This photo was taken from Pyramid Peak earlier in the summer. Maroon Peak on the left, North Maroon on the right. Our traverse closely followed the skyline between the two peaks. The thin band of snow that separates the peaks is known as the Bell Cord Couloir, and when it has snow in it is a classic climbing route. A couloir is a steep and narrow gully that fills with snow.
From the summit of Maroon Peak we had a long and loose descent to the notch between Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak.
The notch between the peaks is the top of the Bell Cord Couloir. The couloir is melted out in September, and would be a nightmare to either climb up or down. This photo is a vertical panoramic photo of Pyramid Peak taken from the top of the Bell Cord
The total traverse distance from Maroon Peak to North Maroon Peak is a half mile. That half mile took us about three hours. From the top of the Bell Cord Couloir, the climbing got significantly more difficult. Having the guide made the climb a lot more fun, because we were able to traverse off of the usual route into even more technical terrain.
The descent from the peak was long, steep, and technical, but made it one of the most rewarding days in the mountains ever.
Thanks for sharing the adventures!
Albatrossity
Gorgeous shots of some gorgeous country! I’m always happy to see photos from mountain peaks. And very happy not to have to climb that peak myself these days!
TaMara
Great adventure and photos. More ambitious than I. I’m happy to view my peaks from afar. :-)
WaterGirl
These are gorgeous!
Note: Sorry this posted at 9 instead of at 5. The merge seems to have changed the time on scheduled posts – everything scheduled was moved back by 4 hours.
edit: But at least the merge brought them over!
Sourmash
I’ve hiked, skied and biked all over the Elks and loved these reminders of how beautiful, and timeless, those mountains are. One hike to Crested Butte was through rain and July snow. A hike over Electric pass showed us why that place got its name, with a 10,000 foot high thunderhead rolling in that gave us just enough time to cover before the lightning started to crash all around us. And then there was the mountain bike ride up Ajax and over Richmond ridge… Thanks for the memories!
sab
@WaterGirl:Almost Hawaii time?
WaterGirl
@sab: I have no idea. I totally suck at time zones!
Miss Bianca
Oh, how I miss the Western Slope. And I say that even as I take in the early morning majesty of the Sangre de Cristo range from out my window.
MelissaM
That star shot is lost on me and my dusty, dirty monitor. I mean, I saw the same stars in all the pictures. :-)
I’m fascinated by the tumble of rocks at the Maroon Peak summit. The banding and the rectangular shapes. I should have gone into geology I guess. Next life.
trollhattan
That’s very, what I’d call uppy-downy. Nice!
HinTN
Thanks for the trip to a place I’ll never see up close. The pan from the top of the Bell Cord is a stunningly gorgeous photograph.
Since I didn’t say it previously, the people mountains’ majesty of the Maroon Bells captured in the photograph of the initial day’s attempt was also spectacular.
lee
Maroon Bells brings back some ‘great’ memories.
Back when our first was about 1.5 years we went to a veterinary conference in Snow Mass Village. We promptly all got altitude sickness. It was totally our fault. We flew from Texas to Denver, then jumped into a car and drove to SMV. The next morning we woke up feeling like hammered shit. After about 3 days we started feeling better and took a hike to Maroon Lake with the kid in a baby backpack (our first use of it). We have a picture exactly like the first one in this series.
Did another hike the following day and then headed back down to Denver for a few days. By the time we got to Denver all the altitude sickness was gone.
SkyBluePink
Your pictures have captured such incredible beauty!
JanieM
Gorgeous. And more memories for me — although I never got to the summit of any 14000-footers, or did any technical climbing. Carrying a pack across a steep slope of scree was about as challenging as I was ready for.
If I had to pick a fave, it would be the second-to-last one — both for the vista and for the colors. Also, nice to see a picture of the photographer!
StringOnAStick
Nice! Thanks for the reminder of my old home state.
RaflW
Stunning!
I’ve never been in the summer, but the view at the top of Aspen to the west in winter is also just breathtaking.
way2blue
Gorgeous landscape. And very cool geology. Thanks for sharing.
Victor Matheson
Nice accomplishment. I took a nice 2 pound rock at high speed off of my helmet during one of my climbs of N. Maroon. Would have been ugly without a helmet.
One funny story. My second ascent of N. Maroon was guiding a group of novice and intermediate climbers to the summit to spread the ashes of one of the group’s mothers. It was a successful climb with nearly everyone making the summit and everyone making it down safely. However, on the summit when we released the ashes, we forgot to account for wind direction, and I got a full face of the beloved Mrs. Buckner. Gritty and somewhat disturbing.
BigJimSlade
Beautiful shots! I especially like the vertical panorama. I mean, my knees are protesting that I couldn’t possibly like all this stuff, but I’m not listening to them.
Wag
Thanks all for the great comments!
@Victor Matheson:
I imagine Mrs Buckner was amused, wherever she may be.
cope
Excellent pictures, thank you.
I just got back from 10 days with the fam in Grand Junction. I had hoped for some time in the San Juans in order to get my mountain fix but this trip was pretty desert and river centric. We (my grandson and I) did do the drive up Land’s End Road to the top of Grand Mesa and then over and back down to GJ as well as a very fun day to the LaSalles the back way through Gateway and John Brown Canyon but, alas, no soaring, pointy, awesome mountains like your Maroon Bells. Next time…
Thanks again.
Carol
Sitting here in the front range, I thought maybe I was in a time warp, or something. It’s 95 where I am and I thought the aspens must be dying of thirst rather than nearing autumn before I saw your time notes. We are having some better weather here next week, but not nearly anything like fall yet. For me the light changes significantly in the middle of August.
jnfr
Wow! Wow! Wow! These are glorious pictures. Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
Wag
@Carol: As I too swelter in the Denver heat I am looking forward to Fall as well.
Jim Tanner
Thanks for great photos and article, this brings back memories! Been at Maroon few years ago on a backpacking trip with my dad. We just grabbed some bear bags and hammocks from https://gritroutdoors.com/ back then, was more than enough since weather was nice and warm. Such a gorgeous place to just spend time connecting to nature. It gets pretty cold at night in the valley tho, and we regretted not getting warmer sleeping bags back then, but hey, you live – you travel – you learn after all