Burnt Mountain & Maroon East Roadless Areas

Adoption Status: ADOPTED

Burnt Mountain: 1,712 acres (2.7 square miles)
Maroon East: 1,383 acres (2.2 square miles)
TOTAL: 3,095 acres (4.8 square miles)

How to get there
The Burnt Mountain and Maroon East roadless areas are located a couple of miles west and southwest of Aspen. The Burnt Mountain roadless area is also immediately southeast of Snowmass Village.

• There is no public motorized access to the Burnt Mountain RA, as it surrounded by two ski areas, private property, and Wilderness. To get into the area, use the Government Trail (1980), which bisects the unit. Pick up this trail from Snowmass Ski Area on the west, or from Buttermilk Ski Area on the east. Hike, run, bike, or ski it. Skiers often enter the area from the top of Burnt Mountain accessed by a short walk from the top the Elk Camp chairlift, and exit via the Government Trail.
• To reach Maroon East RA, take Maroon Creek Road (FS 125; paved) southwest from the roundabout on State Highway 82 west of Aspen. The unit begins on your left in the vicinity of T-Lazy-7 Ranch, and ends at the end of the road at Maroon Lake. The Maroon Creek Trail (1982) travels the length of the unit, parallel to and across the creek from the road. You may access the trail from the Silver Bar, Silver Bell, and Silver Queen Campgrounds, or the East Maroon Creek Trailhead (1983) along the way.
• Backcountry skiers often enter this area from the top of Aspen Highlands Ski Area.
• The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Burnt Mountain and Maroon East RAs are Highland Peak, Maroon Bells, and a small amount on Aspen.

Setting
The Burnt Mountain roadless area is sandwiched on between Snowmass and Buttermilk Ski Areas. Its bulk rests on a gently rolling north-facing slope that is forested with spruce/fir, aspen, and lodgepole pine. The eastern portion of the unit occupies the very steep, rocky hillside that drops from the Buttermilk Ridge to Maroon Creek. This section is highly visible from Aspen Highlands.

The southern half of the Maroon East roadless area is a narrow strip of spruce/fir forest between Maroon Creek and the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness boundary. The northern half consists of the steep mountainsides and huge alpine bowls that plunge west from Aspen Highlands Ski Area. These include Maroon and Tonar Bowls, whose vertical white expanses have tempted many skiers. Elevations in these units range from 8,000 feet along lower Maroon Creek to 12,381 on Highland Peak

What’s special about them?
The primary attractions of these areas are as recreational destinations. The Government Trail in the Burnt Mountain RA receives heavy summer use from hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers, and is the site of the Golden Leaf half marathon. Burnt Mountain also receives heavy use in the winter from skiers dropping in from Snowmass Ski Area, as well as nordic skiers cruising the Government Trail. Burnt Mountain RA is the last intact, north facing slope yet undeveloped in the valley surrounding Aspen. It is also a critical elk calving habitat and elk migration corridor between the higher elevational summer range throughout the West Willow, Willow, and Maroon Creek drainages in the Maron Bells-Snowmass Wildernss Area to lower elevation winter range. This migration corridor is becoming increasingly impinged by private lands development as well as increased recreational activity on Snowmass and Buttermilk Ski Areas. Alternate migration corridors do not exist for this population. This underlines the importance of maintaining the area’s roadlessness so as not to further stress this already impacted elk herd.

The Maroon East RA borders the extremely heavily-used recreational corridor of Maroon Creek. Maroon Lake is world reknown for its role as the foreground in millions of photographs of the Maroon Bells, and it is the most popular access point to the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness Area. The portion of the unit that borders Aspen Highlands is renowned for its long and challenging backcountry ski descents to Maroon Creek Road.

These units act as wildland buffers among crowded centers of outdoor recreation. Both areas are summer range for deer and elk. In addition, the Burnt Mountain RA contains important elk calving grounds, and the Maroon East RA is home to bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

Potential threats
The primary threat to these areas is ski area expansion and a for now shelved proposal to link Snowmass, Buttermilk, and Aspen Highlands with gondolas. Upper Maroon Bowl is included in the Aspen Highlands Ski Area permit boundary , but there are no current plans to develop this area and as the terrain is dangerous and the snowpack very unstable.