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While not part of the platform groomed by Pitkin County and the City of Aspen, Maroon Creek road offers a beautiful nordic skiing experience. The views of the Maroon Creek Valley and the Maroon Bells (if you persevere) are incredible! The road to the Maroon Bells is generally closed to vehicle traffic around mid-November and reopened in late May. During the winter months the TLazy7 ranch grooms the road for their snowmobile tour operation and the benefit of the public. They typically re-groom the snow covered road nightly from TLazy7 Ranch to Maroon Lake. The distance is 10 kilometers and involves a climb of roughly 1400’. The surface is nice corduroy- excellent for skating- with a classic track set on the left side of the trail as well. Sunday is a good day to enjoy the beautiful grooming as there are no regularly scheduled snowmobile tours on that day. Monday has limited tours and is also a good day to enjoy the tracks. TLazy7 does run tours on Sunday during the X-mas holidays and Presidents Day. Please respect the snowmobile tours if you encounter them by hugging the river side of the road where the classic tracks are. You’ll find the snowmobile guides very cooperative. In addition to providing the ski platform at no cost (as you will find in the Aspen/Snowmass Nordic system) TLazy7 also provides hot drinks for folks that make it to the lake at no charge.
It is important to know that the Maroon Creek Valley has a number of avalanche chutes that endanger the road. Therefore it is important that you take responsibility for your decision regarding skiing up the road. Neither TLazy7, the Forest Service, the Aspen Nordic Council, the City of Aspen nor Pitkin County makes any representations as to the safety of skiing in the Maroon Creek Valley. This page provides a link to the Colorado Avalanche information Center to help you make your decision about whether to venture up the valley or not.
https://avalanche.state.co.us/forecasts/backcountry-avalanche/aspen/
To get to the “trailhead” take the Maroon Creek Road to the wintertime closure at TLazy7 Ranch. There are about ten spots at the very end on the left for parking. There is also parking along the road adjacent to the ranch on the right as marked. Needless to say… Pay attention to all parking signs and be sensitive to ranch operations- we wouldn’t be skiing there without their generosity!"
This trailhead cannot be accessed by RFTA. Closest bus terminal is at Aspen Highlands about two miles up valley.
Options exist at the Aspen Highlands base area, and Aspen offers extensive options four miles away.
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