TR: Pulling the thorn out of my side: North face, North Maroon 6-3-07

[goldenboy]

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.

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:



MBSC and I parked at the trailhead, and got this photo:



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):



He was able to catch up as MBSC and I cramponed up, and we looked at the first part of the ascent:



Going up:





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:



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:


Jcwhite and I continued on, and the NW ridge proved to be fun, steep, and ultimately faster than the N face.





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.


Other summit shots:





OK, time to ski! (I had my video camera once again, so Jcwhite and I traded his camera, while MBSC took some from below)



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:


Ours view:



Next pitch:




Jcwhite, the dot heading towards me on the same pitch:


Heading towards me on the next pitch:


This is right after. I am traversing towards the next slot, while jcwhite is watching, just below where the last shot was taken:


Or, here:


Then, here:



The next slot was really fun, good corn, steep and sloughy:









We made our way out, and met up with MBSC to ski the lower pitches. The route:


Walking home:


Plenty of tourists to keep us entertained on the walk out:




This one's my favorite, I love the way this lady is holding her jacket. Very Ahhspen:



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.

[mtnbikerskierchick]

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? .

Well, I guess what was your thorn has become mine now. Really bummed about this one. I will be for a while.

Anyway, great TR!!!! I like how you're like "here's the view from below... and this is what it looked like up here!" Too bad I didn't have the video camera though! Oh well! From your shots it looks like a much better ski than it looked like from below. Then again, I was watching 2 black dots for like an hour

Way to get it done boys!

[Rideski]

Beautimus

[IridePow]

Congrats to a very classic ski descent!!!

I am sorry that Brittany did not make it, but I am sure she will sometime in the near future.


I like this shot. It's a very scenic valley. Just too many tourists there.

This one is hilarious.
Something like:
Q: Where did you ski?
A: Just that face up there.
Q: WHAT?

[couloirman]

gotta love tourists, they all say shit like "You've been awake since when???" Good times, nice line.

[jon turner]

Awesome! That looks like a great ski.

[mantraskier]

Amazing part of the state....how is Snowmass looking from up there?

[doughboyshredder]

Holy Shit, now that is an intense line. "Intensive routefinding" uhhh, yeah...

[philfort]

Definitely looks like a route-finding challenge!

I like this photo:

[upallnight]

awesome route-finding on that face!

always entertaining to pass hikers with skis on your back.

[LeeLau]

Its hard to believe that line could be linked like that - well done

[Steepdeepnlong]

I've looked at many mountains in my years and thought, "That could be skied." I have never thought that about the 'Bells. Holy crampon batman, that's an awesome TR!

[shirk]

Sweeeeeeeeet ski stoke in June.

I've given into the bike and forgotten that skiing is out there.

The Dynamic Duo just keeps on skiing and giving us great TR's. Thanks.

[Phill]

Jcwhite and I continued on, and the NW ridge proved to be fun, steep, and ultimately faster than the N face.

Nice, I've never climbed anything that steep before so all I can say is wow.


edit: btw you should have totally skied down it too

[MOHSHSIHd]

yet anothet killer TR. I always love running into tourists on the trails in the summer...."Yall findeny snoe up ther?"

[Hicks]

Very well played, especially on the routefinding when not ascending there before.

[Tectonically_Neglected]

Oooh, that's one hell of a thorn...

Ballsy line, sweet execution.

[enlosandes]

Nicely pieced together and way to keep trying to you goot er done!

[bcrider]

Another awesome line and report GB!

Love the tech aspects of that line!

Looks like a classic.

[Trackhead]

Not sure what's better, the descent pics, or the tourist pics.

We got that all the time in the Tetons last year.............Is there snow up there?

[Alpine Dreams]

Tip of the hat - Sir!

[buckethead]

yea, hat's off indeed!
as i started reading the post, i figured you were gonna hit the couloir to (looker's) right of the line you took.



love the long shots from below...looking for the dots!

[HikeforTurns]

Gotta love the TR's with burning cars!

Excellent report and pics. Congrats all

[smitchell333]

Big line!!

I guess thats getting done somewhat frequently now.

Over cliffs = yucky in my book - I think its one I probably wont ever do.

[PNWbrit]

Wow! Ballsy line and killer photos.

Tourist question I'll never forget, "So is that the sort of snow you can actually ski on?"