North Maroon Peak

So to really kick this site off right, here's the trip report from last weekends attempt on North Maroon Peak.

After getting into Aspen relatively late Saturday night and meeting up with the rest of the party (Matt, Chris, Andy and 2 Dogs), we drove up to the trail head to camp for the evening.  After a little confusion about fees and where to camp we set up in the parking lot, and began preparing for the trek in the morning by getting all of our gear together.   Once we were all settled in our tents, due to the anticipation of what is hoping to be an awesome summit the following day, and after drifting in and out of sleep the alarms finally went off and we were up at 5:00.  Despite little sleep, we were all so excited no one was tired and thus we immediately went about packing up camp, grabbing only what could be considered the finest of breakfasts (cosmic brownies) and making some last minute preparations, we were off. 

Initially following the trail in the dark was pretty simple, but it didn't take long before we came to a bridge and realized we had missed a turn on the trail.  This would unfortunately turn out to be a recurring theme for the day.  After a little backtracking we were again going the right way and starting to gain some elevation.

After about 2 miles and a decent amount of elevation gain, Andy, as agreed upon took the dogs back down to the car to await our return.   Shortly thereafter we again missed another split in the trail and ended up going about a half mile out of the way.  But after some more back tracking we were once again on the right path again, but at this point things began to get tricky and fun.  Since this part of the trail had not been used since the last snow and was increasingly difficult to follow, however we had photos of the trail (courtesy of 14ers.com) that allowed us, after once again a short detour in the wrong, to manageably stay headed in the correct direction. 

After crossing a minor boulder field near 11,000 ft we turned and headed up a steep section, gaining about 500 ft of elevation over 400 ft of travel, only to be met at the top of this section with a 10 ft tall rock wall that requires a few class 3 moves, but was made more difficult to get over due to the snow.

From there we continued up through a boulder field, which was particularly difficult to hike through because the snow made walking difficult and made it even harder to find solid rocks to step on.  But we continued on, taking turns in the lead.

Shortly thereafter at about 11,400 feet we took a break and got something to eat and drink, and then continued hiking into a more level and easy stretch.  By this time, however; it was beginning to get a little later in the afternoon then we were comfortable with, and the added stress the snow was adding to this venture (not to mention Matt's recent bout with swine flu, slowing him down, ha) we came to a conclusion that we were not going to be able to reach the summit this time.  So we turned around and hiked back to the trucks. 

As we approached the lakes below maroon peak, we realized that the area which was peaceful and deserted at 5:30 that morning was now swarming with people out for day hikes (I can only imagine how bad it is in the summer).  But regardless we were enjoying ourselves and nothing could detract from the beauty of the place.  Shortly after snapping a few post card photos of the peaks we were on our way back to Aspen.