The Bells Traverse: Maroon Peak to North Maroon

I’ve heard about Maroon Bells Wilderness for a while. There’s a reason pictures of this place occupy so much space on the walls of hotel rooms and lobby’s. It’s the same reason you have to take a shuttle to the trailhead. This place is beautiful from top to bottom. The Maroon Peak to North Maroon peak traverse is packed with a little bit of everything. Hard to find trails, tumbling stones, short scrambles and amazing views. I highly recommend it just remember you have to get up pretty early to beat the shuttle and get a parking spot.
Gear:
Salomon Shoes amzn.to/2NMqzI2
Dynafit Shoes amzn.to/2pN7FbO
Black Diamond Bag amzn.to/2PQ84Ff
Raidlight Bag amzn.to/34FwJAe
Mammut Helmet amzn.to/2JYb7Y0
Dynafit Jacket amzn.to/2PXLjz5
Sony DSLR amzn.to/36J0wtG
Sony Lens amzn.to/2Cx0gAt

[@susanvergin655]

My mother is 93 with advancing dementia. She doesn't know who we are, but she knows you guys! Watching back to back to back to back videos of Mediocre Amateurs is honestly one of her favorite things to do. She laughs at your humor, is amazed at your awesome photography, and sometimes you give her "the willies." Your videos have truly been a lifesaver to us as we look for activities she'll enjoy. Thank you for keeping it clean!

[@GreasyBaconMan]

God bless you and your sweet mother. I hope she continues to have many adventures through the lens of others life lived.

[@isaacjamesbaker]

That is amazing!! Bless her.

[@jonelick5887]

By far the most underrated channel on YT.

[@TheMountainMatt]

Jon Elick second that👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@neslojakob12]

Actual facts, these dudes r epic

[@DomDizzler5053]

Facts facts facts. There are so many wilderness channels on YT, but they don’t have as much charm and charisma as the folks here. These are also just the coolest adventures I have seen on KZbin!

[@Chris-pw7ov]

Epic trips, great camera work, and great personalities. How do you not have more subscribers? I've been burning through these the last few days. These are great!

[@S.C.-wo8hq]

Seriously.

[@timjones8837]

Entertaining watch..Stunning colours and views..thanks for sharing...😊

[@CampfireTalk]

Breakfast buffets are the most important meal of the day. Also, that traverse made my mom nervous. Bravo gentlemen.

[@andreyv1]

One of my favorite MA videos. The scenery, camera work, and music is top notch in this episode.

[@frncscbtncrt]

Can’t stop watching these guys videos..it’s past midnight

[@AQ.Gimpalong]

I love how you guys secretly hate each other.

[@reasonmattersmost]

Not much of a secret!

[@actualstarfish3449]

Felt like the one guy was almost hoping to miss the shuttle so that he could blame everything wrong on the breakfast buffet

[@connormathias5779]

I feel like they still get together because no one else can keep up with them.

[@ncotela23]

Chrtistof is the best! He is always so positive even when he isn't feeling 100%

[@junkbox7588]

I don’t even know how many times I’ve come back and watch this one..

[@MrJespur]

Watching these videos really make me wanna go out to the mountains

[@gregb3457]

I love the honest banter back and forth. Two individuals, being themselves, straight up. Yeah, it was awesome to watch. I used to live there, age 21 - 28. It's an amazing place.

[@guregorihattofirudo2627]

There is a peculiar joy in crappy rock. Good stuff

[@chuckoffcampus9738]

That breakfast buffet looked awesome. Back in September 1991 I visited my college buddy, Randy, who was living in Aspen. We spent the week mountain biking but one day we hiked Conundrum Creek to the hot springs which are in a saddle near Castle Peak. The trail is a few miles east of the Bells. It was a long 18 miles as I wasn't used to the altitude but it was a magnificent clear day with all the leaves turned and a hot springs soak half-way through the hike. Randy died last spring in California.

[@michaelfitzgerald434]

Hope your friend had a happy life.

[@bythetimeyoufinishedreadin9083]

may I ask how Randy died?

[@spacey_face]

REALLY LOVE how this channel is all about the adventures instead of just another KZbin Infomercial selling gear 🤟

[@hikingleigh]

love your channel. slowly working my way through all of your vids!

[@momartinez6109]

Y'all r the best. Can't wait for next video

[@normiewoo787]

You are such amazing humans. I wish I had friends like you. Thank you so much for making these videos.

[@johnhawkk]

The tree comments by the bus driver was priceless! I literally LOL!! Love your channel man! Whenever I get the hiking blas I hit up one of your vids and get remotivated!

[@zettle2345]

hehe that kind of terrain... 1 rock breaks free 100 ft above you, it's 100 rocks by the time it reaches your level, and any trail in the area is disguised forever. Great climb and fun to watch. Thanks again for taking us with you

[@buddyrupp6235]

Stunning scenery, exposed, spicy climb! Bravo.

[@rickj1983]

Beautiful view. Nice job.

[@climbingcue]

Coming down North Maroon sucks... Glad you made it safely

[@michaelfitzgerald434]

You all just amaze. Your obvious athleticism and the incredible beauty of the places you go are just awesome.

[@colemanhambleton9464]

At least you got a solid breakfast under your belt. When I did the Traverse (3 days/2 nights backpacking), we got to the parking permit box at 4:45 AM on Friday morning. When I was there, you weren't allowed to carry a parking permit from Thursday through the weekend, everything reset on Friday. 4:45 AM still wasn't early enough to get a parking spot on this particular Friday. We had to drive back down to the shuttle lot (after already paying for the parking permit through the park) and wait until 8:30 for the shuttle to start running. Beautiful place, but the logistics can be TOUGH to manage. Keep on keepin' on!

[@ajjones5382]

When it comes to climbing and descending Christoph is an animal!

[@bubbabuckwheat]

Many thanks from those of us for whatever lame reason will never be "there". Your video skills are exceptional at bringing the adventure to us. Be safe!

[@natedampier7746]

That is a gorgeous view of the area and a super view of the mountain view in the area, a nice view, too.

[@tjcihlar1]

Great climb, it even harder than it seems in the video, imo. Thank you for the video!

[@sk-wx1cf]

Thanks for the great video! Spectacular scenery on a perfect autumn day 🙂!

[@garyb455]

Brilliant video thanks for sharing guys

[@michaelfitzgerald434]

The Tale of Two Buffets! Y'all are a riot. Amazing trek, just beautiful. You posted yesterday and here in Texas I am enjoying this today. Crazy! PS: Mom knows best but its fun to tease her. Loved that comment!! Y'all are studs!! Thank you!

[@monicalifornia_]

Those colors!!! Can hardly breathe. ❤❤❤

[@IdRatherBeHiking]

That's a spicy class 4 right there. A no-fall zone where every rock is loose... perfect.

[@kendestine9905]

I don’t know how you guys have time to get such great footage. The stuff you do would take me three times as long. And that’s without filming. Keep it up! Very inspiring!

[@Bigodog88travels]

Great video. Amazing footage. Beautiful views and scenery.

[@360ewan6]

The aspen here look absolutely fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@kelseyvrem4818]

Dude! love your channel! Hilarious guys- amazing adventures!

[@WilliamQ99]

Your videos are always amazing. You would have 100,000,000 views if people knew about your channel. Commentary is great, scenery is always amazing, and the visceral response is remarkable. Do some marketing because these every week!!

[@akusantafe]

Exceptionally good coverage of this route. Thanks for making the time to record it so nicely.

[@expatadventureturkey9324]

Would love another gear review with the recent trip to Europe and this one...Let’s talk packs/vest and shoes and what ever else is a pro tip....Thanks in advance....

[@zachwong7324]

Gorgeous. Love you guys

[@ZachTolar0313]

Very nice. I attempted Maroon last year, got lost on the route not too far from the summit. Definitely glad you all wore helmets, I couldn't believe how chossy Maroon was.

[@keystring]

Thank you for the vdos! I can never do sth like this. I really enjoy and binge watch your vdos.

[@kenwbrenner]

Hi. As usual, a great video. Also impressed with what you accomplished (as usual). I've seen pictures of the Maroon Bells, but now we know what they really look like. Well done.

[@lcb9807]

One my favorite so far.... wow!!💛💛💛

[@rafi54mariner]

WOW. I am lucky I got to see that. Thank you.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

This puts my video (and effort) of the traverse to shame - well done guys.

[@Vitopa13]

Dude,I love your vids!!! Way more informative and practical while these guys go more for the entertainment value.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Vitopa13 cheers man appreciate - hopefully mine will be more entertaining in the future too 😂 but I will never be able to compete with their speed

[@Vitopa13]

@@TheVirtualsherpa Honestly, I was laughing my ass off at you cursing while doing the Little Bear -> Blanca traverse. That was super gnarly, but great viewing.

[@THXbox]

Nope. Yours is better. Watched it recently in the projector room for maximum vertigo.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

H.R. Grider cheers appreciate it - hopefully you did the same with the LB blanca traverse

[@jdreaper2176]

Outstanding work. You guys are amazing. Love your channel ❤

[@diversityadventure4105]

I'm with Christoff! A good breakfast buffet is essential for an outing like this!

[@cristophermarshall6046]

My best friend's father died on Maroon Peak in 2006. Glad you made it down safely.

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

Wow I thought these mountains were unclimbable. I stumbled across this watching Capitol Peak videos and I'm amazed!

[@andrewdavid68]

Wow! A beautiful place, on a beautiful day.

[@JonathanDavidLife]

Damn dude y'all make it look so easy! Those mountains are massive.

[@brandonhall182]

bucket list hike.

[@CycleKat]

Thank youuuu for wearing helmets! On Colorado 14ers, other than weather, people above you tend to be the most dangerous part of the mountain. I've seen so many hikers knock down a shower of rocks while standing above a string of other people.

[@life_asiseeit]

Great video!! Looking forward to more content!!

[@lukejaten]

You guys may be 'amateurs' but you are in no way mediocre. Thanks for all the great vids.

[@robertlouis24]

Christof rocking the Double Dynafit...that guy’s got style....

[@cnuila]

Lord Gadget my OCD comes out full force when gear and brand consistency is concerned😂

[@MD-jf1ml]

Another excellent video! Always look forward to these. Major props for the traverse. 😳

[@michaeljohnson974]

Awesome video!

[@Theninjaonthemountains]

Great video!! love to see people other than me running this 14ers

[@Burritoisasandwich]

Love y'all's videos, and super glad to see you on one of the four "great" traverses in CO. Something bothers me a bit here, though. You spend a lot of time talking about going down a different route than you came up, and about how loose the rock is here. Nearly every year someone dies in the ascent/descent gullies on the Bells because of rockfall. At 10:09 and 10:30 y'all knock down rocks easily large enough to kill someone in the gully below - you would have no way of knowing whether a party is below you, but you don't vocalize down-route that there is rock fall coming. With the traffic the CO 14ers get, and with the shooting galley effect in these gullies, I'd be yelling "ROCK" even if I was 99% certain I was the only party on the mountain. +1 for helmets, though.

[@RTaranto118]

Agree with all of this 👆 Please yell “rock”.

[@ianatkinson2595]

Yeah this is huge, need to be more careful when downclimbing loose gullies like this, and take great care with footwork to avoid dislodging rocks in the first place.

[@georgesheffield1580]

A marble size rock in the right place can kill you .

[@cacaomonster]

Love it guys. Nice one and the scenery there looked stunning!

[@ash.walton]

Always a good day when you upload a video

[@matthewso689]

This is such a beautiful area, The way up and down these mtns is long N argouius, however the traverse in-between the two is easy, fun and pretty short compared to the rest of the hike . Have fun !

[@loveaodai100]

If this stuff is mediocre amateur I can't wait to see what you guys do when you become skilled pros! I love this!!!

[@wasatch80]

You timed the leaves changing almost perfectly.

[@mitchellmclaughlin6360]

Always good to wake up with a mediocre notification. Will Blake ever return? Been a while since we've seen the Bliz.

[@tomaskazokas8123]

You didn't miss much Danny. I was there at 5am on the same day, and the parking lot was full of photographers. They told me the trailhead parking filled up at 3am...

[@mikekostka7127]

Great footage

[@JTYoung-dh1mn]

Another great video. These videos have definitely inspired me to start building a base for trail running. I love the mountains, but need to build some endurance and explore Idaho a lot more through trail running

[@wanderingsouthwest2374]

Love the slow-mo shots, keep it up guys, you've inspired me to start filming my adventures!

[@astechproductions]

Absolutely love your videos. Keep it up.

[@woodycarr]

That was another great video. You guys always deliver. Well done!

[@ftwdjw1]

Love this video!

[@danieljensen2626]

Glad to see the helmets, and glad you managed to find the trail again. I'm a big fan of using GPX files for things like that, so you know you're at least pretty close to the intended route. You can find the files on 14ers.com (you have to make an account and log in) and I just use a free gpx-viewer app. You guys should do Little Bear/Blanca/Ellingwood as your next traverse. And El Diente/Wilson if you haven't, to finish out the Colorado traverses.

[@tcrossau]

Epic video once again!

[@sammymartinez763]

Wasn’t going to bring a helmet to the maroon bells haha I love you guys

[@myerscup9875]

I did those a couple of years ago loved them

[@markmclain1956]

Good to see you lads back on real mountains. Must have taken the bus to Zermatt?

[@cnuila]

Mark McLain just breaking up the Haute fatigue, stay tuned

[@markmclain1956]

@@cnuila Understand. Quite the contrast. Nice call on the buffet too ;-)

[@Paramedic772]

Outstanding !

[@hisoka8800]

Have you guys thought about coming to the east coast to New Hampshire to do the presidential traverse?

[@mentalrectangle]

Yeah I'd be interested to see them do some eastern stuff. Katahdin's knife edge perhaps?

[@hisoka8800]

Vatnos Oo good recommendation. Hope Danny sees this

[@elsajohnson6663]

Add the Pemi Loop in that if you come to NH

[@admiralcapn]

I'd say this traverse was significantly more exposed than knife-edge. As I've discovered, there's precious little in the way of epic hiking to be done on the east coast. The mountains are too gentle.

[@v_dubs]

Favorite 14er. Well done.

[@georgesheffield1580]

I had forgotten how wrotten the bells and pyramid are . It amazes me that are. Mountains at all .

[@Cgh432]

Excellent

[@TheMountainMatt]

Bells are now definitely on the list 👍🏼😳

[@THXbox]

Was worried the whole time about how fast they were bounding around on pretty precarious terrain.

[@BPMcCaffrey4]

I lost the trail at that same point coming down lol, down climb was the hardest part of the day for me

[@colbjallen8334]

You guy's should do a video of the gear you wear and use

[@sammcdaniel1564]

Best thing to wake up!

[@jasongraves3921]

“Honestly it’s just one of my main motives to annoy my mom” me too man, me too

[@NigelJ]

Since you did both, how did this one compare to Capitol? I plan on doing both next week & was curious. Btw great combo of adventure, humor, nature, motivation, & authenticity; subscribed!

[@georgesheffield1580]

When I did them the ridges were the easy parts , the crowds and down climbs were the crux as was the changing weather .

[@manfredseidler1531]

Wearing a helmet when freefalling is like putting your head between your legs and bracing yourself when the pilot announces we're about to crash because one of the wings came dislodged. Watching you guys is like going to see a scary movie except this is real yet I can't wait to see the next one.

[@michaelpellegrin4550]

Wait. How can you be in Colorado if you haven’t made it to Zermatt yet?

[@floris89]

Where is day 5??😊

[@jayphilipwilliams]

I thought I must've missed it, but no. It's not there.

[@Soufiane.R]

Michael Pellegrin I was asking my self the same question 😅

[@cnuila]

Danny sensed a little Haute fatigue so he threw this one in to break it up a bit. Tune in next week for our triumphant entry into Zermatt.

[@michaelpellegrin4550]

@@cnuila - No fatigue here. You have to understand I plan my day around watching the latest episode of Mediocre Amateur. Love the output. LMAO on every line. Absolutely entertaining and I hope you guys keep it coming!

[@crfdln]

Nice !!!

[@ChrisJBrown72]

I know the moto is to leave any man behind who inconveniences you, does that explain the absense of Blake, or did his Mom ground him?

[@TheMountainMatt]

Chris Brown hilarious 😆 😂🤣

[@DouglasJerome]

Y’all should run the Four Pass Loop in the Maroon-Snowmass Wilderness

[@jeremyquiros5483]

I just had a feeling that Danny would try and blame Christof and his breakfast buffet if they missed the last shuttle bus 😂

[@shawnwalden2669]

wow looks pretty tough!

[@maidhci]

Great video lads but where is the last European trip video? Was looking forward to that!

[@cnuila]

Maidhcí O Súilleabháin stay tuned

[@maidhci]

Thanks Christof. Missed Danny’s post with the explainer. No fatigue here though! Keep up the outstanding work.