TR: Pulling the thorn out of my side: North face, North Maroon 6-3-07
North Face of North Maroon, 14,014'
June 3, 2007
jcwhite, goldenboy, mtnbikerskierchick
The north face of North Maroon is about as classic of a ski descent as one is likely to find anywhere. Proudly facing the thousands of photographs and postcards taken from Maroon Lake, this face is as obvious as it gets. The face also has a longer ski history than most. The first descent was on June 24th, 1971, a mere 9 days after Bill Brigg's first descent of the Grand Teton, and stands with that descent as a major landmark in American ski mountaineering history. Fritz Stammberger made the first descent, and was a most interesting character, who married a playboy playmate and disappeared in the Himalaya amidst allegations of being a CIA spy. Check out Dawson's book "Wildsnow" for more on Fritz Stammberger.
I've had some tough luck getting this route skied. The first time, in the late 90's, we had rain and obviously non-freezing temps, so I never even got on the route. The next time, I actually made it onto the face and was above the first cliffband, known as "miner's ski jump", when the sun came up and rocks nearly instantly started falling down the face. The last time, I called up the Ute Mountaineer in Aspen and asked them how the face was looking. They responded "It looks great". They must have thought I was asking if it was worth checking out to take a photo or something, because after driving 3 hours to the trailhead, it was obvious that there wasn't much snow on the face. :rolleyes:
Enter try #4, last weekend. My friends cjw, don pedro, and some other non-mags had just skied it on Memorial day weekend, so I knew it went. Jcwhite had just moved to Aspen to start a summer internship, so he was up for it, and mtnbikerskierchick is always up for it. I wasn't sure if this was a good sign, driving over McClure pass:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181274495
MBSC and I parked at the trailhead, and got this photo:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181276036
Jcwhite agreed to meet us at the absurd time of 2am to start up the trail. By 2:30, though, MBSC and I had not yet seen jcwhite, so we started off by ourselves. The turn-off from Minnehaha creek is sometimes difficult in the dark, so even though I had been here before, we wasted some time getting on the climber's trail. We wasted some more time going up a really steep gully, and by the time we reached the big snow bowl near treeline, dawn was just starting to show. About this time, I could see a faint headlamp far below, jcwhite had somehow slept in but was now literally running up the trail to catch up. As he crested the big snow bowl, he snapped this shot of MBSC and I (2 dots):
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski004.jpg
He was able to catch up as MBSC and I cramponed up, and we looked at the first part of the ascent:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181276609
Going up:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski009.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski007.jpg
Given our slow progress so far and my previous rockfall experience on this face, I was pretty worried about our timing. Jordan said he heard that skipping the face entirely and ascending the NW ridge was something we should consider, by continuing up the couloir instead of making the first traverse on the face above the Miner's skijump rock band. I agreed and we started to head up:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski013.jpg
At this point, MBSC decided that the conditions and the route were a little too difficult for her, and headed back down. While she regretted not pushing onwards, I was proud of her for recognizing her limits and staying within them- a very important quality in any ski mountaineer. The mountain will be there, we'll get it soon, OK? :) MBSC shot this photo on her way down, the foreshortened view of the face:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181277322
Jcwhite and I continued on, and the NW ridge proved to be fun, steep, and ultimately faster than the N face.
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski025.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski030.jpg
S Maroon from the summit (or plain old Maroon if you prefer ;) ) Whetsone mtn sits on the left, meaning that I am so close yet so far from Crested Butte.
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski032.jpg
Other summit shots:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski035.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski040.jpg
OK, time to ski! (I had my video camera once again, so Jcwhite and I traded his camera, while MBSC took some from below)
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski057.jpg
Not far into the descent, we ran into the "punk rock" cliff band. Most years, this requires a downclimb, and this year was no exception: MBSC photo:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181277402
Ours view:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski074.jpg
Next pitch:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski096.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski114.jpg
Jcwhite, the dot heading towards me on the same pitch:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181278036
Heading towards me on the next pitch:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski154.jpg
This is right after. I am traversing towards the next slot, while jcwhite is watching, just below where the last shot was taken:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181278124
Or, here:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski166.jpg
Then, here:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1181278220
The next slot was really fun, good corn, steep and sloughy:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski210.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski220.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski255.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski278.jpg
We made our way out, and met up with MBSC to ski the lower pitches. The route:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...onski370-1.jpg
Walking home:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski356.jpg
Plenty of tourists to keep us entertained on the walk out:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski376.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski384.jpg
This one's my favorite, I love the way this lady is holding her jacket. Very Ahhspen:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...roonski393.jpg
It feels so good to get that one after all the trouble it's been giving me. It's a really great route, not just a straightforward face or couloir, but an intricate routefinding-intensive one. I hadn't felt this good since last year- just goes to show that the best ones are often the ones that take the most effort.
