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| Northeast Ridge   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 39.07610°N / 106.9867°W Route Type: Hike, Scramble Time Required: A long day Difficulty: Mostly Class 3 some low 4
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| Page By: miztflip Created/Edited: Aug 21, 2002 / Nov 19, 2003 Object ID: 156842 Hits: 2955 Loading... Page Score: 81.37% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
The route is approached from the paved parking lot of Maroon Lake on main page. From the Maroon Lake Trailhead hike west 1.5 miles on a good trail, with little gain in altitude, to Crater Lake. At the trail intersection at 10,700, hike west on the Maroon-Snomass trail for .5 miles. This brings you to the point where you will make a left off the main trail onto the climbers path. Cross the little creek at the best spot and continue on the climbers trail up a steep, muddy trail and west to the end of the small basin below North Maroon's North Face. There are several trail variations in this area, some are better than others depending on the season and weather.
Route Description
The "climbing begins here as you head south at around 11,700 across a boulder and scree field just below the northeast ridges lowest cliffs. At this point pick up the climbers trail and traverse the ledges below the east face of the mountain. The climb steepens on the traverse to about 11,900 at the wide gully on North Maroon's east face. Traverse south into the gully following the climbers trail which makes steep switch-backs up the gully to about 12,800 where you will encounter a small cliff ban. Pick the easiest, ususally by way of a cleft (low class 4, loose) near the center of the cliff. Watch for falling rock from parties above from this point on. A helmet is highly recommended. At this point you leave the old gully and traverse south into a new gully which follow ledges to the crest of the Northeast Ridge at about 13,200. From this point follow on or near the ridge to the summit. Some class 4 moves are required along the ridge to the summit depending on the exact route you chose. If you find yourself on loose class 5 rock, then you are off route and should back track. Descend the climbing route making sure that you to not pass the exit point on the first gully as it leads to a steep, loose cliff.
TH to TH is approximately 8 miles and 4500 vertical feet.
Essential Gear
Light hiking boots or sturdy trail tennies, helmet, ice axe in early season may be useful
Camping
Although this route can easily be done in a long day, I do highly recommend making it an overnight trip as the surround area is absolutely wonderful. Also this route can be extremely busy on summer weekends and is best done during the week if you wish to have a safer and less crowded climb.
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Elk Mountains
