Long's Peak Trip Report
Trail: The Loft (ascent) and the Keyhole (descent), Class 3, 15 miles, 5500 ft elevation gain
It was 11:45 in the evening of Friday, September 5th, 2003 and after a 70 hour work week I figured a good way to unwind would be to climb Long's Peak. After all it had been a full 6 days since I had last hiked a 14'er (two actually). Even before moving to Colorado I had heard of Long's and the mountain had taken on mythical proportions in my mind. I had heard of the trials it held for the unwitting hiker and the wonders and glories it had to offer. What better way could there be, I figured, to get my mind off of radiative transfer equations and quantum physics.
Jen and I headed over to my friend Ben's house to meet him and several others. The trip had been organized by a nice fellow named Dean who is a doctor from Pueblo, Colorado. Along with him Chris (a fellow astrophysics classmate), Jay ( a computer programmer from New Hampshire who now lives in Colorado), Than (an ex engineer now a Geophysicist doctoral student), Ben, Jen, and Myself set out for a good day of hiking. We pilled into Dean's 3 row SUV and set out for the trailhead. We arrived at 2:30 in the morning to a parking lot which held only two available spaces. I simply could not believe how many people were up and getting ready to hike at this ungodly hour of the morning. We began hiking at 2:45 and unfortunately the digital camera was not able to take evening pictures. At roughly 4:00 in the morning we came to the split between The Keyhole and The Loft route. Looking back down at the trail we had walked we saw a near endless stream of headlights mounted to a plethora of other hikers. It was kind of early seeing this stream of lights stretching back for miles and disappearing into the trees. Seeing all of these people we decided to take the Loft route as it was much less crowded and sounded more interesting.
We cut off and began heading up the steep slopes of the Loft with the light of our LED headlights to guide us. At several places we ran into iced over snow fields which required a good deal of sidetracking and climbing to circumvent. Around 5:00 or so we had gained near a thousand feet and had climbed up several short but vertical rock outcroppings. As the sun began to rise and we were skirting a narrow ledge at the top of the Loft it began to rain. Now this was not good as it was more dangerous to go back down than to continue on. We decided we would head on and skip the infamous Homestretch to the summit if need be.
Below is a picture of the sun coming up and the flat area at the top of The Loft where the rain turned to snow.
After The Loft we headed over a wide flat area and decided not to summit Mt. Meeker which we had thought we might do. We crossed the open area and headed down the other side. The trail leading to the Homestretch (the famous last ascent to Longs Peak consisting of upwards of 60 degree pitches and solid rock) was in theory quite close but was blocked by towering cliffs. The first picture is the side we faced before down climbing around the cliffs. The second is the cliffs from the other side. You can see why we added allot of walking and climbing to avoid these guys.
These of course required we down climb quite a bit as we only saw class 4 descents from the ledges of these cliffs and I was not in the mood for that without rope. We went down at least 500 feet in elevation and hung around on some neat house-sized boulders for a bit of lunch. Once we rounded the base of the cliffs we headed back up for one hell of a climb to the base of Homestretch. The climb was long and arduous and at its beginning required a bit of tricky down climbing. I was particularly happy with myself as I think it helped me get over allot of my down climbing phobia. Take a look at our trek up to the base of the Homestretch.
At the top of this climb we found ourselves at the base of The Homestretch. By now it was snowing and 35 degrees. We all stopped and geared up for the weather. In some act of joint stupidity we decided to go for it. No one said anything but we all just started climbing. I wouldn't suggest this or do it again. It was wet, slippery, and a fall from the Homestretch leads directly to cliffs which are quite fatal. Below is a picture of how our conditions were and what it would look like in sunny weather.
Below is all of us up top.
We quickly tapped the peak's highpoint and speedily headed to a SLOOOOOW and cautious descent of the Homestretch. Our time on the summit numbered in the minutes.
After the Homestretch we headed through the Narrows. This was a very short and interesting area. Here again is how it looked to us and how it normally looks.
We headed through the Narrows and down the trough.
From the Trough it was a quick jaunt through the Keyhole where it was snowing in great big flakes which blanketed the entire boulder field beyond the Keyhole. I was excited to see the stone hut and Keyhole in person.
After the Boulder field it was basically just a long 4.5 mile walk back to the car on easy dirt trails. I did meet a student in an astronomy class I TA for hiking up to the Keyhole and thought this was pretty neat. We walked quickly and mostly quietly as everyone was very tired. I paused to take a shot of the Loft we had climbed hours ago in the pitch black.
We arrived back at the car at 3:30 in the afternoon and everyone had a beer and sat around talking. We headed back to Boulder and I opted out of the group dinner as I just wanted to go home and nap.
Longs was a fabulous experience for me. It is without a doubt my favorite mountain to date. I must say that it is a long walk and beautiful and I will do it again but people over blow the difficulty. If you are in decent shape and don't mind a bit of heights it really isn't so bad. I think its reputation comes from arm chair hikers who might want to try a couple easier mountains than this one first.