The molten light of dawn pours down the precipitous north walls of the Maroon Bells. Named for their brittle, red sedimentary rock, the striated peaks are both beautiful and dangerous. Climbing the “Bells” has been described as scrambling on a mountain of broken plates. They are among a cluster of six rugged fourteeners within the 181,138-acre Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. The wilderness was established by the original Wilderness Act of 1964.