Final Class 3 Approach on Snowmass Mountain

Rob and Andrew above me, on the final approach to the summit of Snowmass Mountain. There were a few Class 3 moves to make just below the summit. Surprisingly, and fortunately, this rock was pretty solid! Helmets! At this point in the climb we were (obviously) not wearing helmets, as they were still strapped to our waist or backpack. In my opinion this was a mistake. I remember feeling a little uncomfortable ascending, thinking that the rock was steep and loose enough to warrant helmets. After my incident earlier on the climb on the scree slope I should have know better. Unfortunately I didn't listen to my instincts. Fortunately, we had no incidents. Live and learn! I would argue that at a minimum, from the notch all the way to the summit, helmets are needed. This portion of the route is steeper, being mostly Class 2+ with one or two Class 3 moves just before the summit, and the rock is very loose. We had no one above us, which I'm sure made us feel a little more secure, but it was still wrong. On our backpack in the prior day, we met a couple that had reached the summit that day. They saw our helmets and told us we would not need them. They said no one on the mountain had helmets that day, as the route was solid. This was surprising to me as everything I had read leading up to this climb said that helmets were necessary, and after experiencing the route first hand, I would have to respectfully disagree with that gentleman. FWIW - Andrew and I wore our helmets on the entire descent, finally taking them off once we reached Snowmass Lake. Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness August 17, 2010