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| Longs Peak as seen 2 days before climbing from our Moraine Park Campsite |
September 10-11th 2018
This spring the ball was set in motion for an opportunity to
climb Longs Peak (14,289).
I’ve had this
mountain on my sites for a long time.
I
had a taste of Longs Peak all the way back to 2004 when I was in
Colorado for a wedding.
Back then I had
the opportunity to hike the first mile from the trailhead and set up camp at
Goblin’s Forest (10,120), the date was June 21
st, with the hope of seeing
the Keyhole but was turned back by a snow storm and therefore only wet my
appetite for another day to give it a shot.
Back in 2004 when I checked out Long’s Peak I had already climbed Colorado’s high point
Mt. Elbert (14,433) which was my first 14er & was basically just a long
hike with a little bit of a scramble just below the summit. A few days later I ran a marathon up Pikes
Peak (14,114) which to this date was my hardest marathon, but again I just
slogged up a trail to the summit. My
only other 14’er in Colorado was in 2009 when I cycled to the top of Mt. Evans
(14,265). None of those three peaks compares
to Longs Peak since 1.3 miles from the summit you enter thru the “Keyhole” at
13,200ft and begin a Class 3 scramble the final 1,000ft, a technical route that
would take me 3 hours from camp at a “the Boulder Field” (just below the
Keyhole) and another 3 hours down from the summit back to the Boulder Field.
When you read about climbing the Longs Peak 7.5 mile route
to the summit it can be broken down into two sections. Attempting the route is 10-15 hours so can
be done either as a long day hike beginning at 2a.m the day before so you reach
the Keyhole at sunrise or climbing to the Boulder Field below the Keyhole with
a backpack, camping at 12,760ft, and getting up at sunrise to tackle the upper
section of the mountain. I debated on
which choice and for me a fresh start to the technical section of the upper
route meant I would have to carry all my camping gear the day before and spend
the night on the mountain.
I didn’t want to tackle this summit alone so when my good
travel buddy George announced his retirement and that he was going to take a
two month vacation across the west first heading to Rocky Mountain National
Park it was all it took to begin planning the summit. The trip was planned for mid-September which
was at the very end of climbing season.
The number one rule for Longs Peak is “weather” so there was only a
50/50 chance the conditions would be favorable to make a summit bid.
We were to arrive in RMNP three days earlier and on our
fourth night we were able to reserve one of the 6 camp sites in the Boulder
Field (successfully requesting our date 5 months earlier). The
two days prior to beginning Longs Peak trail I was lucky to have a high school
friend who had already reserved 2 sites for 2 nights in Moraine Park and we
lucked out as his friend couldn’t make it and we could stay share his
site.
One obstacle coming from sea level is the unpredictable way
your body will adjust/react to the elevation change. I’ve found that Diamox a couple days before
travels does wonders for me so arriving in the mountains while sometimes a
simple flight of stairs can leave you breathless I was adapting well. We had two days to acclimate and the first
day was our first test. We decided to
hike from Bear Lake to Flattop Mountain summit, about 9 miles round trip
ascending to 12,000ft. This was a tough
hike so we decided to take it a little easier the following day (and only 1 day before our big
climb) Another friend of mine who lives in Fort Collins joined us for the day and
drove us up to the visitor center atop of Trail Ridge road. We stopped several spots including 12,000
feet again and hiked up the ½ mile Alpine trail followed by a 4.4 mile hike to
Milner Pass from the visitor center. Two
days at this elevation and thus far we were both feeling great, not to mention we got a taste for the
wind and temperature we could expect at base camp below the summit which should be similar and as a bonus was unseasonable warm for mid September.
Sunday before the Ranger’s office closed, we picked up our
back country permit to camp.
The ranger
confirmed we should have a good window to climb and we learned we needed to have
a hard plastic bear container.
Bummer
because I just bought a Kevlar bear sack before flying to Colorado and left my
plastic container at home so we would have to rent one.
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| Longs Peak Trailhead (9,405 ft) |
With a little nervous energy, Monday morning we packed up
camp and packed out backpacks for our big day.
The temperatures shouldn’t dip lower than 30 degrees where we were
climbing to even at night which was really good for mid September.
We divided up weight and headed to the
trailhead.
For a Monday the lot was completely full but
we found a makeready spot that would do nearly right in front of the ranger’s
office at the trailhead.
A ranger
greeted us and confirmed we had a parking pass, backcountry permit, and our
bear container.
No food could be left
in the car so we also unloaded all of our food and put in large bear containers
next to the parking lot.
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| Colorful Fall with Longs Peak in the back |
We actually were right on time, but seemed like a late
noonish start up the mountain.
George
had once hiked to the Keyhole and turned around so between the two of us we had
a little familiarity with the trail but the one thing we both knew it was a
long way to the top.
It took 5.5 hours
for us to make it to the Boulder Field, trying to break the hike into smaller
segments and many rests.
Once we passed
the turn off to Chasm Lake we started passing hikers coming down from the
summit.
Everyone we passed had made
it to the summit earlier in the day which was very encouraging.
(if they could do it I could too I thought!) One lady
said, “that’s a one and done thing for me” but I’m pretty sure she enjoyed
herself.
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| Thru tree line |
|
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| Chasm Lake |
We learned there is water in the Boulder Field we could
filter so we only carried enough to get us to base camp.
We were exhausted but wasted no time filling
water bottles, setting up tents and cooking dinner.
At over 12,000 ft you lose your appetite and
have to force yourself to keep drinking to stay hydrated.
After dinner and even before sunset we both
climbed into our tents and called it a night.
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| Beginning of Boulderfield |
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| Middle of the Boulderfield |
There were still hikers coming off the summit after we made
camp from the morning before and one guy was severely dehydrated.
A couple other’s gave him water and
encouraged him to spend the night, but the guy decided to climb down.
It was already almost dark so best case
scenario he would make it back to the trailhead by midnight.
Another hiker had a satellite phone and
radioed to the ranger station to let them know we were worried about this guy
on his own.
This was a good reminder
that we had to constantly drink all night to rehydrate for our summit climb in
the morning.
We would get nearly 12 hours of rest, if you call it that.
There were bathrooms about a 5 minute walk
and I think I got up 3 times in the night and put on warmer clothes and made
the trek, of course each time enjoying the splendor of the stars and Milkyway
but I didn’t have the energy to try to take any night shots nor get into the
bear container to take one of my last Diamox tablets, so laid awake on and off
with a bit of an altitude headache.
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| Almost to Campsite in the Boulderfield |
The wind picked up several times throughout the night and
shook the hell out of our tents, but we had them securely fastened to a bunch
of rocks.
I think I sort of talked
George into climbing Longs Peak and either he was serious or joked again and
again about letting me climb to the summit myself.
Honestly, when I woke if he would have said
you are on your own I would have turned around without any questions
asked.
Morning came and we both nearly
finished a liter of water. We packed
peanut butter and jelly on English muffins for breakfast and lunch and it was
so hard to swallow so I had to eat in small bites over several hours as I made
my way up the mountain.
There are basically two parts reaching the summit of Longs Peak, first getting to the Keyhole,
mostly a long steep 6 mile hike.
The
last 1.3 miles is where the climb starts to get real interesting!
Leaving base camp just getting to the
Keyhole was a slog, one step at a time.
On the way to the Keyhole was a combination of overnight hikers as well
as those that had started from the trailhead really early in the morning.
There is a hut at the Keyhole for protection
from storms we made it to in less than an hour and we found a half dozen hikers
stopped.
A couple went thru the Keyhole
and disappeared while the rest of the hikers their goal was to turn around at
the Keyhole.
Of course we were just
getting started but the wind was whipping thru the Keyhole.
I don’t know how to measure wind speed, but
it felt like 50 mph, of course it probably wasn’t that bad.
We put on warmer gear, hats, gloves and just
waited as we saw one climber after another turn around and not go thru.
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| Heading toward the Keyhole from Camp |
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| Waiting below Keyhole before entering |
Finally we waited enough and had to decide if we were going
to call it quits or keep moving. I was
again ready to turn around, although I didn’t say anything. George was strong and determined so he kept
me going. Also as a savior to my piece
of mind, a climber appeared in the Keyhole and said he had already summit-ed and
was on his way down. He must have got a
really early start! He said the
Keyhole & the summit were windy, but the rest of the way wasn’t too
bad. That was the encouragement I
needed so we pressed on and went thru.
As soon as we entered the Keyhole I thought the wind was
strong enough to blow us right off the mountain, but a few more steps away from
the Keyhole and the wind seemed more calm.
Once thru the Keyhole there are several more sections
First are the “Ledges”, followed by “the
Trough” which has a big “step” into a section called the “Narrows”.
Once past the Narrows, the final section is
called the “Home Stretch”.
I’d looked
at many pictures of each of these sections and knew that each one would present
it’s own challenge.
For some reason I
thought the “narrows” came first after the Keyhole, however, it would come
after the Trough and was the section I feared the most, especially if the wind
continued to howl.
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| Crossing the "Ledges" |
We started across the “Ledges” and they were pretty straight
forward.
Red circular targets with a
yellow center market the rest of the route pretty clearly.
The ledges had pretty steep cliffs so we
just slowly made out way from bullet to bullet until we would reach the
Trough.
There were a couple of long
stretches which being tall was a great plus.
They always say that getting to the top is only half the battle, getting
back down back safe is when you’ve really finished the hike.
There were a couple of moves in the Ledges
that I was not looking forward to on the way back down!
I quickly decided my gloves while keeping my
hands warm had absolutely no traction on the rocks so they went back in the bag
and I climbed the remainder of the day barehanded.
This section was a great area for pictures as
the scenery completely changed after crossing the the Keyhole.
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| Heading up the Trough looking back down |
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| Looking up to the top of the Trough from somewhere in the middle of the Trough |
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| Looking down the Trough from near the top of the Trough |
Next we enter the Trough which is a straight up pitch that
goes for 1,000 feet. From the bottom of
the Trough you can not see the top and it seems like it goes on forever. While there were only a few groups camping
on the mountain in front of us, there were quite a few other day hikers both
heading the same direction as us as well as those that had been to the summit
and were on there way back down. We
finally reach the top of the Trough and there is a girl coming down and knows
the way she made the final step into the Ledges, but is afraid of coming down
by herself so a few hikers help her down the steep section. I probably read about the final step but
didn’t know how we were going to get over it.
Again it seems easier to go up than it was going to be to get back
down.
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| Starting Across the Narrows |
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| Middle of the Narrows |
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| View from the Narrows |
Finally above the final step there is the entrance to the
Narrows.
This was the part I had been
fearing.
I had expected a long 150 ft
section where only one climber could pass and figured we would have to wait for
anyone coming down before we could start.
On the way up the Trough one hiker said the Narrows
were overhyped and it wasn’t as scary as you
think.
Again that was good
encouragement for me because again leaving the Trough the wind picked up thru
the entrance to the Narrows.
Again a whole new set of scenery presented
itself from the Narrows and I paused for a few pictures.
Before I knew it I was across the legendary
Narrows and agree as we had perfect conditions it was not as scary as I had
thought.
Of course this is no place I
would ever want to be if it was raining or worse yet storming.
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| Straight up the Home Stretch |
Finally on the other side of the Narrows I looked up and got
my first glimpse of the Home Stretch.
Lord, another 500 feet of climbing straight up.
Unlike the Trough which had a lot of loose
rock, this was as steep (if not steeper) but this time the rock was all
solid.
I continued to spot out bullets
above and head to each new one as it took me closer to the summit.
This section there were both a lot of
climbers coming up as well as descending.
I thought to myself that going up of course is tiring, but thought
coming back down wasn’t going to be any easier.
At last we make it to the top of the Home
Stretch and for the first time could stand on my feet again and walked across
the top of the mountain to the
summit.
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| View from the Summit |
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| Summit Longs Peak 14,289 |
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| Summit Longs Peak |
I seeked out the summit medallion and took several
pictures. I think it was already noon so
already later than I wanted to be on the summit so we didn’t waste anytime
making our way back down. One last deep
breath and then to begin the trek back down this slab of rock. Honestly seeing the pure number of climbers
going both up and down helped with the route and the confidence that I could do
this. We descended the Home Stretch
very carefully as well as across the Narrows very carefully and found ourselves
on top of the big move we had to climb to get out of the Trough. I wasn’t sure how we were going to do this
but as luck would have it once again one of the climbers was proficient and
carried a rope and gear that he could wedge in the rocks to create a
ladder. He let George and I go first
and we were safely thru yet another big challenge.
We couldn’t see the top of the Trough on the way down nor
could we see the bottom on the decent.
We saw there were still climbers coming upward so it mad it easier to
find the next bullet to aim for as we made our way further down. While the decent wasn’t nearly as
exhausting, it was extremely steep so much care was taken with each foot and
hand placement. We ran into a girl
heading up the Trough by herself that was only 1/3 of the way up and she was
doubting herself as she had already missed her deadline when she should have
turned around, but was “so close” she didn’t want to turn around. We shared with her the facts we knew to
possibly discourage her from taking too many risks but she continued upward. We also passed a father and son team on
their way up.
It was taking nearly as long to descent as it did to climb
up when we were sucking air, but made it back to the Ledges.
The ledges which I thought would be a tricky
part on the way back down ended up not being as scary as I had expected and
soon we found ourselves next to the entrance to the windy Keyhole and entrance
back to the Boulder Field.
The first ½
mile leaving the Keyhole the Boulder Field is extremely steep so again we didn’t
make up any time.
Ends up it took
nearly six ours from base camp to get to the top and back to our tents.
I was exhausted from the effort expelled all
morning so took off my boots and crawled back into my tent for a
30 minute nap.
At this point you would think we are safely
off the mountain, yet at over 12,650 feet we still had a long way to go to get
back to the trailhead.
Hiking
Description to the Keyhole:
NPS Guide to
Climbing the Keyhole Route:
Keyhole Route
Conditions:
14ers.com (great pics of route here)
Videos of Longs
Peak Hike
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