Bell Cord Couloir

Type: Backcountry or Sidecountry

Bell Cord Couloir is a very steep descent of the east face of the Maroon Bells. Slough, runnels, and rockfall are guaranteed hazards of this route.

This is a serious route, the ability to self-arrest is imperative and rockfall coming off of North Maroon is likely.

The first snowfield after dropping in is relatively wide and might be fluted. Then, it chokes to around 15 feet wide at an angle of 60+ degrees.

Once you've passed the choke, it opens up again, be wary of crevasse-like holes on the downhill sided of rocks. I skied to the right once it opened up to make it over to a feature called the "Garbage Chute", which drops you into the final snowfield below the bells. The Garbage Chute was absolutely bullet-proof since it gets just about zero sun throughout the day.

Route assessment is a necessary skill.