  We have used the adaptive optics system on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
to study a field 6 arcmin from the center of the heavily obscured elliptical
galaxy Maffei 1. Our near diffraction-limited H and K' images reveal an excess
population of objects with respect to a background field, and we conclude that
the asymptotic giant branch tip (AGB-tip) in Maffei 1 occurs at K = 20 +/-
0.25. Assuming that stars at the AGB-tip in Maffei 1 have the same intrinsic
luminosity as those in the bulge of M31, then the actual distance modulus of
Maffei 1 is 28.2 +/- 0.3 if A_V = 5.1, which corresponds to a distance of 4.4
(+0.6, -0.5) Mpc. This is in excellent agreement with the distance estimated
from surface brightness flucuations in the infrared, and confirms that Maffei 1
is too distant to significantly affect the dynamics of the Local Group.
