Pyramid Peak

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/6/2014, By: jselwyn
Info: Climb is totally dry and snow free as of 9/6. Watch out for goats tossing rocks. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/28/2014, By: MonGoose
Info: The standard route is completely free of snow. There is a snow patch in the amphitheater that provides relief from the monotonous boulder hopping, if you so choose. The gully is completely free of snow as is the route along the ridge and final ascent to the summit. After exiting the green rock gully and traversing to the left, the trail becomes lost in a matrix of social (goat) trails and poorly placed cairns. On the descent, the trail is clearly visible from above but just a challenge from below. *Be wary of mountain goats who will kick rocks down on you from perches high on the mountain. They are the guardians of the Pyramid and they wish to protect her. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/19/2014, By: mspalding
Info: There is snow in the amphitheater basin. But you can avoid it. No crampons or ice axes are needed. But why would you avoid snow? It's a nice break from rock walking. And I was able to glissade both sitting and standing on the way down. Even if you don't glissade, plunge stepping is more fun and less pain than rock walking. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/11/2014, By: WillRobnett
Info: Snow was clear approaching the amphitheater. A few snow fields were intact once you get there. The only snow crossing in route was at photo #24 on the route description - still a little more than in the pic. Bring an ice axe and helmet. Crampons were extra weight, I never put them on. Around pic #24 I was having trouble seeing the route. Most of the northeast ridge was pretty easy to figure out (keep going left and up), but this area was not marked with cairns and has class 5 wall everywhere. Study this part of the route before you go! I added more cairns on the way down. Got in a few glissades on the way down. Good hike! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/15/2014, By: kushrocks
Info: There was solid bulletproof snow starting below tree line in the morning. Crampons and axe mandatory right now as well as knowing how to self arrest. Microspikes weren‘t enough. The snow on the way up is was solid all the way to the saddle. Two couloirs from the amphitheater to the saddle to choose from, one that ascends the normal route the other further to the right, both with great snow for cramponing but very steep especially the right gully. Snow was good until the 13,500ft where it turned into mush. The decent was pretty tough with all the snow turning soft as well. It was not good enough for a glissade and very slick to stand up on. We all had to self arrest a couple of times. Be sure you know how if you go up there anytime soon. Photo 1: Pyramid taking on the way down from the trail (sorry there was water on my lens) Photo 2: Hard step snow below treeline. Crampons necessary. Photo 3: Steep climbing up the right couloir above the ampitheater to the saddle somewhere around 12,300ft Photo 4: Snow turning to mush as we start post holing while ascending a 60+ degree snow slope. Photo 5: View of the bells from the summit 

Route: West Face to NW ridge
Posted On: 3/17/2014, By: FireOnTheMountain
Info: The waist high "Deadly Bells" sign greeting you at Maroon Lake was almost completely covered ---> Indicator of snow. Luke (coolhandluke) and I marched in Sat, spent night at Crater and climbed Sunday. Trudged up the rib on the south side of the West Gully and then rode the gulley for the last 500' to around 12,800 and the ridge. Snow was quite good and offered wonderful glissading on descent. Fair amount of snow as you pick your way through the ridge. Above 13,800 under the summit block, took a few steps onto a SW facing traverse, 4" x 75 SF slab cracked and slid off the cliff side. The prospect of having to do about 200' more of traversing on this aspect followed by another sizeable traverse on a north face caused a turnaround. Sun was blaring all day. A very enjoyable winter mountaineering trip on the PYR! 1st Pic - Goin up the West Gulley around 12,600 2nd - the remaining traverse under the summit block 3rd - otherside of the avy I triggered 4th - the Bells I think?? 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/4/2013, By: JohnnyDangerous
Info: My friends and I attempted to climb Pyramid Peak yesterday, 11/3/13. We had a nice 4am alpine start, but ran into some tough conditions. There was no trail broken on the standard Pyramid route, and we were faced with approximately 1-2 feet of snow. It was mostly sugar, and there were some wind loaded gullies. Not quiet enough for an avalanche, but its getting close. High winds, blowing snow, and our off route trek forced our hand as we turned around at the top of the amphitheater. I have uploaded some photos of the climb. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2013, By: Monster5
Info: Note: conditions this time of year fluctuate drastically on an hourly basis. Monitoring weather a few days in advance is advised. Descended Pyramid std route around 6PM yesterday. Snow was negligible and route was 95% dry. The 5% that had snow was easily avoided or stepped over. I'm guessing there's a couple more inches of slushy snow above 13K' now and a few more inches are likely tonight. The scrambly part of the route sees sun early though so a warm day or two this week might melt most of it off. Traction is probably a good idea, depending on ability, unless we get a few days in a row of sun. Hard to tell during this time of year. We ascended via a ridge run from W Maroon Pass. Conditions were dry on both sides of the ridge until 13631, where 0-2 inches of melting snow clung to WNW aspects. Abe said he‘s doing a TR. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/21/2013, By: thebeave7
Info: Ascended the standard NE Ridge route on Saturday evening. No snow on route, only talus, dirt and scree remain. Water access is very limited once you leave Maroon Lake so plan accordingly. There was one point where the snowmelt river is exposed as it comes out of the snow/moraine around 11900ft, but it is very hard to access. Other than that no water is available. Lots of rock fall coming off the North face all afternoon, best to stay far away from it. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2013, By: Hobbes301
Info: My first post! I‘ll get around to writing a TR eventually... Trail is dry until the last few switchbacks before the amphitheater. Passed some switchbacks and headed straight up to the amphitheater which had a good amount of snow (photo 1). I put on my spikes about halfway through, but my 2 partners made it up easily without them. The snow was firm and there was no post-holing (even though we didn‘t leave the parking lot until 9:30am). The NE slope past the amphitheater took a little careful navigation since the entire standard trail was pretty much covered in snow. With crampons and axe, it‘d be easier to climb straight up the 1000‘ gain. We didn‘t have those tools so we took our time finding the safest and easiest way up. Hardly any snow on the green rock, just a careful and technical climb. Very few snow patches as you reach the summit. A few places here and there we needed to traverse/kick step across snow patches to reach stable rock, but no tools were needed. I had never really glissaded before, and starting at the steep 1000‘ slope above the amphitheater was a terrifying first experience. But as we got further down the mountain and the slopes were less steep, you could actually see me smiling a bit. An axe is definitely the next item on my hiking wishlist. Summary: Crampons and an axe might have been useful for the climb just above the amphitheater, but not necessary. Axe would have been useful for glissading, but not necessary. Bring gaiters and gloves! The camera on my phone is pretty poor quality, but I‘ll take more pictures next time anyways! 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 11/5/2012, By: kushrocks
Info: Even thought we didn‘t summit Jason, Emily and I had an amazing day in the beautiful Elk Range today attempting Pyramid Peak. The trail for the first mile is dry after that microspikes and gaters are mandatory for the rest of the day. Once you find the cairn on the main trail leading toward Pyramid the trail is a little difficult to follow for the first hundred yards. No one had been up that way since the last snow fall so we plowed trail the entire way. After the first hundred yards or so the trail is easier to follow where you encounter snow from ankle to shin deep. Once in the amphitheater there was intermittent snow but mostly rock. The 1000ft slope at the end of the Ampitheater was a little tricky but not to bad. The snow was sugary and did not give much purchase. See picture 1. At the top of the slop in the saddle at 13,000ft we were hoping since Pyramid‘s most intimidating top 1000ft faced toward the south it would be somewhat snow free. . . . .. we were wrong. . . . . very wrong. See picture 2. Route finding became an issue even with the GPS. We gave it our best efforts but after a few hairy situations and deeep unstable snow we decided to call it a day roughly 300ft below the summit just above 13,700ft. Even without the summit it was roughly an 11 hour day from car to car. At this time avy danger is very minimal. We treated with an amazing sunset on the way out. I have more pictures of the Bells and one of Snowmass and Capitol if anyone is interested just shoot me a PM. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/4/2012, By: jimmtman
Info: Route has some minor snow as approach the saddle. The upper face has snow and we turned back at 13700 ft. Saw about 7 different mtn goats and they walked within a few ft of us and even followed us up the route! 

Route: NE Ridge
Posted On: 9/24/2012, By: nebraskaflatlander
Info: Clear, no ice or snow on the route as of Sunday 9/23. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/24/2012, By: TallGrass
Info: Clear of snow except for back side (east) were there is still some that hasn‘t melted off on some ledges. Main route is clear, but if you top out the green wall and try to traverse left, there will be snow on top of the loose rock (with hoof prints... and a couple new hiking boot ones). 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/13/2012, By: TravelingMatt
Info: No snow anywhere on or near route. Bare dirt areas were damp and sometimes muddy after sun came out. Easy to go up when frozen early in the day but rather challenging to come down. Sun may have dried the dirt out today but keep this in mind if there‘s precip up there again.