Thunder Pyramid (13,932 feet)
Via the Maroon Lake Trailhead
September 6, 2009 
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A Thunder Pyramid climb is supposed to be something around a 9 mile trip. So, how did I end up with over 14 miles? Well, it started when I forgot my climbing helmet. On Thunder, going without a helmet would just be foolish. So, at about a mile into the hike, I put my pack behind a tree, and ran back to the car for my

The creek crossing just before the start of the ascent up Thunder Pyramid.
helmet. So right off the bat, I added 2 extra miles. After that debacle, I continued on towards Crater Lake. I reached the lake just as the sun was starting to come up. I continued past the lake, and began to circumnavigate the base of Maroon Peak. A few more miles, and it was time to leave the main trail, towards Thunder Pyramid. The turnoff for Thunder Pyramid is very close to the turn off for South Maroon Peak. For Maroon, the turn off is right,

Thunder Pyramid from the base.
for Thunder, it is left.

This is where my second mileage gain came from. Roach’s description says to hike northeast down a small drainage. I trusted my GPS compass to show me northeast, but that direction just didn’t make sense. I continued regardless. Basically what I did was take an immediately left once I crossed over Maroon Creek. I walked along a dried riverbed and did some amount of bush wacking. As I watched my tracks drawn on the GPS, I noticed that it was straying from the route that I had previously drawn

The typical boulder field that I climbed in order to get up into the basin (off route slightly to the south).
up (in the GPS software). Needless, I continued. Ultimately, I found myself in an active creek bed, with water flowing down from the Thunder Pyramid slopes. At this point I knew that I was off. So, I just took a right turn, and started to work my way in the direction that I thought would get me back on track. I worked myself up onto a large boulder field, and continued to try and climb upwards. Ultimately I found myself in the valley at the base of Thunder Pyramid, but about ½ mile south of where I should have

The slopes of Thunder Pyramid from the basin.
been. Well, at least I knew how to get back on track, even though I had traveled unnecessary miles again.

I looked up at the slopes of Thunder Pyramid and tried to figure out where the Roach class 3 route was. Although I had a great view of the slopes, it was difficult to determine the Roach route. So, I just decided to start hiking towards where I thought I should be, and see what happened. When I got back on track, I found a relatively easy gully that I used to start gaining the slopes. It turned out this was basically the correct route. Roach’s description talks about

South Maroon clouded in
a “white gully” which you use to gain a lot of elevation. You use it climb from 12,200 feet to 13,400 feet. I think that I found this gully. It was the easiest gully that I could find. It climbed almost due east, and it did have some amount of white rock in the gully. I was actually more like a white-greenish rock. So, I continued to climb this gully. Roach describes this climb as class 2+. I would agree with this rating. It was relatively easy, but it really was steep. I found myself stopping to rest every 30-50 feet. I continued up this gully, and actually went past 13,400 feet. I actually felt that I could have taken this gully all the way to the summit. But, ultimately I chickened out, and headed south to gain the south ridge. I grabbed the ridge pretty high, and wasn’t on it very long. I pretty much stayed on the top of the ridge. The ridge was a mix of mild class 3 climbing. There was some wicked catwalk exposure on the ridge, as it approached the summit. I ultimately made the summit in around 5 and ½ hours. This was much longer than I had planned. But, the weather seemed to be holding, and I actually felt great. I hung out for about 15 minutes, as the clouds and fog came in.

Pyramid and the ridge from just below the summit of Thunder Pyramid.
I started down, by back tracking the ridge. I was planning on heading down the proper route, so I kept going down the ridge. Once I reached the top of the gully, I decided, what the heck, I might as well grab Lightening Pyramid, another 13er that was close by. So, I continued along the ridge. I figured that Lightening Pyramid must be one of the two towers that were pretty close to me. I traversed the first tower, then easily climbed onto the second tower. I quickly looked for a summit register, but deep in my

The summit of Thunder Pyramid
 heart, knew that neither of these towers were Lightening Pyramid. There was another peak that was a bit futher, but the route looked much harder. That was most certainly Lightening Pyramid. Stupidly, I decided, what the heck, my legs feel good, and the weather was holding. So, I continued along the ridge. I’m not sure exactly where I made my mistake, but I quickly found myself down climbing some really tough terrain. After down climbing some pretty tough stuff, I continued along a ledge towards the peak, and realized that something must be wrong. There was a huge gap in the ridge between me and the peak. It was at least 200 to 300 feet drop in order to clear the gap. So, I continued to drop. The terrain got tougher, and a bit scary. I again traversed a ledge to check out my progress. The gap seemed impenetrable. At that point, I decided to give it up.  I later found out that I should have dropped down from the ridge to the left.  I dropped down to the right of the ridge.  Lesson learned.

My problem was that I didn’t want to reclimb that crappy stuff, and I wasn’t exactly on a main route of any kind. Stupidly I decided to go ahead and continue to downclimb anyway. At that point I was probably at 13,400 feet. I just needed to get down to around 12,000 feet, and I knew that I’d be in the clear. I

Example of some of the ledge work that I had to deal with on the descent.
slowly worked my way down, along cliff bands, dropping down a bit at a time. Several times I found myself at a cliff, which I could not down climb safely. So, I would continue along the cliff bands (ledges)

Looking back up at one of the downclimbs that I chose to find another way around.
 looking for a better option. I shamefully admit that at one point I thought I was really screwed. My options were not looking good. Everywhere that I looked the down climb was a cliff. I had one additional point to check. I traversed a thin ledge in order to check out the neighboring gully. I didn’t have much faith that this would be any better. But, luckily, it was slightly better. So, I moved over to that gully. I continued this strategy of down climbing cliff bands, then back tracking whenever

Looking down at my most difficult, but final downclimb.
I found myself “cliffed out.” Ultimately I found myself at the top of a very skinny gully. The down climb into the gully would be tough, but the reward would be great. I could clearly see that this small gully ran cleanly down into the boulder field that would be my escape. I tried to find another way into the gully, but was

Looking back up at that final downclimb and the crudy little rock gully.
 left with only one option:a tough down climb. This down climb turned out to be the scariest one that I’d done yet. The hand holds and foot holds were scarce, and the rock in the area was loose. I was able to make the moves though, and found myself at the top of a scree gully that led to freedom. The final climb down was tough on the feet, but it was technically easy. I made it back to the boulder field. I never did find the drainage that Roach talks about as I climbed back towards the main trail. But, with some boulder hopping, and a bit of

Another shot of South Maroon on the way out.
bush wacking, I was able to get myself down, and back on the main trail. My feet were sore, but overall, I wasn’t too badly beat up. I followed the easy main trail about 3 miles, past Crater Lake, by Maroon Lake, and back to the parking lot.  My total trip was just over 10 hours and just over 14 miles.

Back on the boulder field and home free.

When I was on the summit, I was thinking to myself, “That one wasn’t too bad.” I guess I just couldn’t leave it at that, could I? That down climb was probably the most challenging mountain climbing that I’ve ever done. I will admit, although it was a bit scary at times, I truly learned a lot. I learned how to route-find on truly difficult technical terrain. I learned to look for better options and how to quickly spot impossible options.
THE NUMBERS TIME (hh:mm) DISTANCE (miles)
TH to the turn back for my helmet 0:26 1.0
Back to the car for the helmet 0:11 1.0
From the car (with the helmet) back 0:16 1.0
To Crater Lake 0:29 1.5
To the Summit of Thunder Pyramid 4:05 4.2
Back to Crater Lake 3:55 4.2
Back to the TH 0:51 1.5
TOTAL 10:13 14.4


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