Pyramid Peak

September 4, 2021 / 14,018’

RT STATS: TOTAL TIME - 10 HR & 36 MIN, 7.92 MILES* (actually a little longer), AND 4,824’ ELEVATION GAIN

TIME STATS: 6 HR & 9 MIN TO SUMMIT, 25 MIN AT SUMMIT, 4 HR & 2 MIN BACK TO TH

RATING (HOW MUCH I LIKED THE HIKE): 8/10

Pyramid Peak…CO 14er #51!!! Well, this was the first peak of a quick Labor Day Weekend trip to Colorado. It was my 3rd Labor Day weekend in a row summiting 14ers!! Anyways, for the Maroon Bells, unless you want to take a shuttle in, you have to book a permit in advance. I booked a permit for Saturday, Sept. 4th and Sunday, Sept. 5th way back in April right around when they first opened the time slots. Basically, what I’m saying is that it is very cool that these permits were put to GREAT USE! I woke up early, drove to Charlotte (from Greenville), and flew out to Denver on Friday morning at 8:50 am. I landed in Colorado around 10:15am MST. My dad picked me up because he had already flew to Colorado the day before.

After leaving the airport, we headed to Glenwood Springs. Cue the many similarities to our last trip…that I will now describe. Once again, we stopped at the Chipotle in Wheat Ridge (after stopping at this massive REI). My dad and I mixed up our bowls somehow (they labeled them kinda bad lol), so he got my double chicken bowl :’(. So, unlike a month ago when we were going to Telluride, now we headed over to Glenwood Springs. Just like before Capitol, we stayed in Glenwood Springs. Right when we were getting into Glenwood Springs, we made (LOL) a big change to our plans—we were planning on doing the Maroon Bells Traverse the next day, but, now, we were going to do Pyramid on Saturday and, maybe (note: we didn’t) do the Traverse on Sunday (we just did Maroon).

We checked into the lodge, went to City Market to get food (third similarity), and went back to the lodge. We debated where we wanted to go to eat, and we went back to the Italian restaurant that we ate at before Capitol—Brava Modern Trattoria. It was super good. I basically got the same meal as last time— pappardelle bolognese, vegetables, bread and olive oil, and a side of grilled chicken (instead of a salad like last time). After dinner, we went back to the inn and went to sleep soon after.

At 3am, we woke up to get ready for the day! We wanted to leave at 3:30am, which we did! We didn’t want to get into the Ampitheater portion of Pyramid when it was still dark, which explains the “late” start that we planned. I’m kind of joking about a late start…I’m just remembering while writing this waking up before midnight once to drive to a 14er last year. Anyways, we got to the Maroon Creek Trailhead at 4:30 am and started at 4:48 am. I took some great quality pictures of the beginning…see below.

The first mile or so of Pyramid is COMPLETELY flat on the Maroon Lake/Crater Lake trail. I told my dad something along the lines of “hey, this is a good warmup, but Pyramid is going to be super steep if it is actually only 8.25 miles RT.” Well, Pyramid was very steep, but I will talk more about that later! Anyways, before Crater Lake, you are supposed to leave the trail and get on the Pyramid trail. It was honestly a little hard finding this Pyramid trail in the dark with no cairns (there was an other guy we met who also said the same thing)… I’ve always been pretty good at route-finding in general (LOVE Class 3 and Class 4 route-finding), but, finding the Pyramid trail segment among many trail segments really was not evident at all. We probably wasted about 25 minutes roaming around, but all is good!

The Pyramid trail to the amphitheater was fairly nice…and it was the last of any “trail”. That is part of the fun of mountain climbing and hiking though…really exploring nature with no evident trail… We reached the Amphitheater entrance (elevation ~11,400’) at 1 hour and 41 minutes in (pretty good even with the wasted time earlier!).

The Amphitheater is essentially a massive talus field. There was a lot of talus hopping and gaining some elevation as we trekked through this portion. Once we were through most of the Amphitheater, we took about a 10 minute break to eat and put on our helmets! AND XTRA CHEDDAR FLAVOR BLASTED GOLDFISH MADE THEIR 14ER DEBUT! Goldfish was my snack growing up…Anyways, I was looking for a replacement for bananas because my bananas kept getting smashed in my pack on the August trip, so I kind of gave up on them for this trip.

The first picture is of me (duh) with Pyramid in the background and the second picture is of ME (what a surprise) with the gulley that we would be ascending in the background. I should note that we took this break about 5 minutes before getting to the 1,000’ gulley that would bring us up to the Pyramid saddle.

We started up the gulley at the 2 hour and 43 minute mark. The gulley was very steep and was a mix of grass, dirt, and loose rock. I really didn’t take any pictures during it because it wasn’t anything special. We made it up the gulley in 58 minutes to reach the ridge. :)

THE RIDGE IS WHERE WE SAW THE FIRST OF MANY MOUNTAIN GOATS. I really don’t understand how they survive up here. They jump around with all of the loose rock and some massive drop-offs…it doesn’t make sense! Anyways, NOW THE FUN (class 3 and 4 climbing) BEGINS. We headed along the right side of the ridge.

We went across the Ledges area and over the infamous “Step-over” area. It’s a big drop (third picture below), but, since I have long legs, I didn’t have to jump over it like short people probably have to.

Soon, we made it to the base of the Green Wall and went up it. Like the other recent 14ers we’ve done, I took the lead with route-finding because I love it. It’s honestly a lot of fun (but also VERY SERIOUS) determining the best way to ascend and descend these mountains. I am posting tons of pictures of the remaining climb to the summit below. The pictures show what we climbed up (meaning it’s not just rock nearby that I thought looked cool hahaha).

We reached the 14,018’ summit of Pyramid Peak in 6 hours and 9 minutes (we were much quicker on the descent as you can tell). We spent 25 minutes on the summit. I got some pictures with my mountain goat homie as well as with the Maroon Bells in the background. We met a group of 3 on the summit that were very nice, but, also were not careful on the descent (which I detail more below). Pyramid actually has a bench mark—neat, since I feel like no 14ers have them anymore!!!

I took some pictures of the descent (including the trickyish down climb—third picture below). Anyways, about 45 minutes after the summit, I am on the Green Wall and A BOWLING BALL SIZE ROCK COMES FLYING DOWN. It was knocked down from the group we met on the summit.

The rock was about 8ft. or so from me, but it was in my path (i.e. I was descending heading left and it flew right by the area I was headed). It was ultimately just one big rock, but when you see it coming down and have no clue where it is going to hit and bounce, it is scary. It is also common for multiple to fall (domino effect). I was definitely being watched over by God today. The third picture below shows the Green Wall where this occurred (fourth picture looking back).

The climbers that caused it were embarrassed because I didn’t see sight of them at all again. I think they just waited for a long time because it was now kind of awkward if we were around each other even on the “easy” parts. It really is true that other climbers are, a lot of the time, the biggest risk on mountains.

We made it back to the 13,000’ ridge (top of the gulley) in 1 hour and 14 minutes. We took 5 minutes for a quick break and pictures before descending the gulley!

It took us 36 minutes to descend the gulley (22 minutes faster than our ascent). We’re speed demons >:). I took my hiking poles out when we were about 60% through the Amphitheater (because peer pressure!!!!!! just kidding, but my dad got his out, so I did too). We made it back to the entrance of the Amphitheater at the 9 hour and 21 minute mark (2 hours and 47 minutes after leaving the summit).

It was very relaxed for the remaining portion. We soon got back to Maroon Lake and I took a picture with the Bells behind me!! 10 hours and 36 minutes later, we finished!!!!! I took a kristin selfie to commemorate the moment and show my excitement. We finished at 3:26pm and would be back at the TH in less than 12 hours for Maroon Peak, so we left pretty soon after finishing! We headed into Aspen to go to my FAVORITE Aspen restaurant—White House Tavern. Just like after Capitol, I ordered the same 2 entrees (massive burger with coleslaw, bbq sauce, and white cheddar), and a rotesserie chicken kale salad. Clean Plate Club, of course. “I want real food” —Kristin Fairey. My dad knows this is one of my quotes at the “end” (on the descent) of 14ers HAHA. After this, we really just headed back to Glenwood Springs to get ready for Maroon because it was going to be a quick turnaround!