Route: East Face to Bell Cord Couloir

Team: Ted, Neal Beidleman

I drove to the Maroon Creek parking lot alone. Neal Beidleman had an alarm clock mishap and no-showed.

At a certain point in the spring, after so many days up high, you’ve watched the snow and conditions evolve and start to have a very good sense of the conditions. I was so sure of South Maroon Peak I felt OK going for this solo.

I blazed up the runneled Bell Cord Couloir and was on the summit early, 3 1/2 hours from the car. I was happy with that. Our goal had been to ski down the East Face of South Maroon, as far as we could, until cliff bands directed us back into the Bell Cord. Early in spring, you can descend quite far; this late in May, the continuous snow wouldn’t allow a long descent, and I would have to traverse to the couloir quite high.

As I skied off the summit, I acknowledged this to be a serious solo for me and to play it conservatively. Good corn snow was reassuring. Only a careless accident could cause a problem. It was a shame Neal was going to miss out.

A little into the descent, I heard a loud call as I trended towards the Bell Cord. As I looked over, I saw Beidleman, who had just arrived at the top of the couloir. He had woken up way late and frantically tried to catch up.

To allow him the full experience, I waited on the face for him to get to the summit and come down to me. Ultimately, 40 minutes was all he needed to close the gap.

We skied the Bell Cord down through the Garbage Chute and were enjoying PBRs at the car in no time, looking up at North Maroon. In the end, Neal’s tardiness didn’t matter, but I do like to hold it over his head occasionally.