Maroon Bells
Interesting facts
- The sediments that form the Bells were laid down about 310 million years ago, eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift, a range of the long-vanished Ancestral Rockies.
- The visible tilt of the rock layers dates from a much later upheaval, the rise of the modern Rockies between roughly 75 and 50 million years ago.
- The rock's colours range from orange and brown to purplish maroon, all produced by iron oxidising in the original sediments.
- Maroon Peak ranks as the 27th highest summit in Colorado, while North Maroon Peak is about 0.3 miles away across a connecting ridge.
- The surrounding Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness was one of only five Colorado areas protected under the original Wilderness Act of 1964.
- About 300,000 people come to see the Bells every season, most of them stopping at Maroon Lake.
Why it is worth it
The Maroon Bells are two peaks of Colorado's Elk Mountains, Maroon Peak at 4,317 m and North Maroon Peak, just over 14,000 ft (about 4,270 m), standing side by side at the head of Maroon Creek valley. Their shape is clean and symmetrical, two pyramids joined by a ridge, and their colour comes from the rock itself, the reddish mudstone of the Maroon Formation. Aspen groves fill the valley below, and in late September and early October they turn gold beneath the red rock.
The classic view is from Maroon Lake, at about 2,920 m, a small lake in a basin hollowed out by Ice Age glaciers. On a still morning the two peaks are reflected whole in the water, and this scene from the valley, looking south-west, is one of the most heavily photographed mountain views in America. The composition is unusually complete: lake, meadow, aspen, and at the end of the valley the two summits filling the sky.
Their beauty hides a nasty character. The same mudstone that gives the Bells their colour breaks apart easily, leaving loose, rotten rock on almost every route, and climbers call them the "Deadly Bells". In 1965 alone eight people died on the peaks in five separate accidents. The first recorded ascent dates to the 1890s. The peaks lie within the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest.
Getting there
The Bells are about 19 km south-west of Aspen. Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE) is about 20 km away. In the summer and early autumn season, access up Maroon Creek Road to Maroon Lake is mainly by shuttle bus from Aspen Highlands, with private vehicles restricted. An easy scenic trail runs along Maroon Lake, and a trail from its far end climbs gently through aspen and spruce for about 3 km to Crater Lake, closer under the peaks.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Crystal Mill 10.0 km · watermill
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about 0.3 miles (0.5 km). The mountains are on the border between Pitkin County and Gunnison County, Colorado, United States, about 19 kilometers (12 mi) southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are fourteeners. Maroon Peak, at 14,163 feet (4,317 m), is the 27th highest peak in Colorado. North Maroon Peak, at 14,019 feet (4,273 m), is the 50th highest. The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest from the Maroon Creek valley is very heavily photographed. The peaks are located in the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest. Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness was one of five areas in Colorado designated as wilderness in the original Wilderness Act of 1964. The Wilderness area surrounds the extremely popular Maroon Bells Scenic Area, which is a major access point for Wilderness travel.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
39.07080, -106.98900per Wikidata