I drove to the Maroon Creek parking lot alone. Inside I chuckled that the great Neal Beidleman could be stymied by something as petty as an alarm clock misstep.

At a certain point in the spring, after so many days up high, you know with near certainty what the conditions will be, it almost becomes second sense. I was so sure of South Maroon I felt OK going for this solo.

I blazed up the runneled Bellcord 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 Bellcord. Early in spring you can get quite far, being this late in May the time on the east face would be short. As I skied off the summit I acknowledged this to be a pretty serious solo for me, and to play it conservatively. Good corn snow was reassuring, only a stupid accident could cause a problem. Oh how Neal would miss out.

A little way into the descent, as I trended towards the Bellcord, I heard a loud 'Yo!' and as I looked over, there was Beidleman, having just arrived at the top of the couloir. I skied nearer and called him a few names. We laughed.

So as to allow him to get the summit descent, I waited there on the face for him to complete the climb and follow the tracks down to me. He had woken up way late and made a frantic effort to catch up. In the end, 40 minutes was all he needed to close the gap.

We skied the Bellcord down through the garbage chute and were enjoying PBR's at the car in no time, looking up at North Maroon(next). In the end, Neals' tardiness mattered little but I do like to hold it over his head from time to time, in particular when I'm at Highlands and need a beer.