LONGS PEAK 8/20/69
LONGS PEAK 14,256'
Mountain..........Longs Peak
Elevation...........14,256'
Rank.................15th
Range................Front Range
Trail length........8 miles
Elevation gain....4,800'
Difficulty............****
Other.................Very popular
TRIP REPORT
8/20/69
My first trip to Colorado was as a teenager on vacation with my parents. We stayed at the Rams Horn cabins in Estes Park. We did a lot of sightseeing for a few days, then my brother Richard and I climbed Twin Sisters Peak (11,270?) as a warmup for Longs Peak.
On summit day, our father dropped us off at the Longs Ranger Station at 6:00 a.m. The beginning of the climb was through a forest and had a few stream crossings, some with bridges and some without. As we climbed, we watched the sun rise between the peaks of Twin Sisters.
At the tree line we came upon several campers at Jims Grove, the last cluster of dwarfed and gnarled pines clinging to the rocky slope. We strolled over to a moraine on the left for a view of the Diamond, a sheer 2,000' cliff that has seen some memorable technical climbs. Then we hiked up to Boulderfield, a large flat rocky expanse where there were several stone shelters but no campers.
We turned left and headed up the now-defunct 'Cable Route'. The Cable Route is the most direct route to the summit. It involves some very steep ledges and slabs on the north face. To provide some level of safety when climbing became popular on the mountain, thick steel cables were installed to aid climbers. The cables were removed in the early seventies to return the mountain to its natural state (nearly unclimbable).
This was our first major climb, and we were somewhat under-equipped (I was in tennis shoes, Richard in flat-soled work boots). That didn't seem to slow us down, however, as we passed some alpine climbers with liederhosen & ice axes and ascended icy ledges to the base of the cables.
We were not much for technique - we climbed the cables hand over hand instead of planting our feet. This was a bit exhausting at over 13,000 feet, but we managed to top out by some cracks near the edge of the Diamond and took a cautious look at the face. Pretty impressive, and pretty scary.
Scrambling over a few more icy ledges put us on the huge flat summit. We had bought canned soda at sea level for the climb; when we opened them up top, they exploded in the thin air. Good thing we had also brought water bottles. We were thirsty and drank quite a bit, but were too queasy from the unaccustomed altitude to eat.
Clouds were rapidly encircling the peak, so we started down the Keyhole route on the other side of the mountain. This was an interesting combination of cracks, narrow ledges, and some snow (in the Trough, a steep uphill couloir). It began with a descent of the Homestretch, a steep vertical crack. We followed 'bullseye' paint splotches down the crack to the Narrows, a series of solid and reasonably wide ledges. This brought us to the top of the Trough, which we dropped into with a little difficulty (sometime after our 1969 climb, a short iron post was placed to provide a much-needed handhold here). Then it was a fun trot across boilerplate slabs to the Keyhole, a dramatic opening in the ridge that provides access to Boulderfield. Once we were through the Keyhole, the clouds burst and we trudged down in pouring rain.
Gore-Tex hadn't been invented yet - we had cheap plastic raincoats that didn't keep out either the water or the cold. We were completely soaked and near-hypothermic when we finally got back to the parking lot at 3 p.m., where we waited on the curb until our father picked us up about an hour later.
7/25/79
I attempted Longs again 10 years later with a friend from work. We used the Keyhole route up and down. He made the summit; I was about 100 feet away on the Homestretch with a brilliant blue sky above when people started pouring over the edge with warnings of a big thunderstorm coming up from the other side.
The last one off the top was my friend, just as lightning began to strike the summit. I wisely decided not to complete the climb, and we headed down as fast as we could. We were on the Narrows when the storm struck full force.
We huddled between some rocks near a gully as we were pelted by hail, sleet, and rain. Lightning was striking all around us - we were pinned down for about 45 minutes until the worst of the storm had passed. A river of hail was cascading down the gully as we began moving again. It was another cold and rainy descent.
7/25/94
Fifteen more years later I tried it again with another friend. This time we were well equipped, the weather was perfect (well, a little breezy on top), and we started at 3 a.m. so the climb was a bit more leisurely.
We summitted at 9:00 and enjoyed a long lunch and gorgeous views before the long trek down. This is the climb that my home page picture came from.
Long's Peak , Colorado gifts and t-shirts
Mountain..........Longs Peak
Elevation...........14,256'
Rank.................15th
Range................Front Range
Trail length........8 miles
Elevation gain....4,800'
Difficulty............****
Other.................Very popular
TRIP REPORT
8/20/69
My first trip to Colorado was as a teenager on vacation with my parents. We stayed at the Rams Horn cabins in Estes Park. We did a lot of sightseeing for a few days, then my brother Richard and I climbed Twin Sisters Peak (11,270?) as a warmup for Longs Peak.
On summit day, our father dropped us off at the Longs Ranger Station at 6:00 a.m. The beginning of the climb was through a forest and had a few stream crossings, some with bridges and some without. As we climbed, we watched the sun rise between the peaks of Twin Sisters.
At the tree line we came upon several campers at Jims Grove, the last cluster of dwarfed and gnarled pines clinging to the rocky slope. We strolled over to a moraine on the left for a view of the Diamond, a sheer 2,000' cliff that has seen some memorable technical climbs. Then we hiked up to Boulderfield, a large flat rocky expanse where there were several stone shelters but no campers.
We turned left and headed up the now-defunct 'Cable Route'. The Cable Route is the most direct route to the summit. It involves some very steep ledges and slabs on the north face. To provide some level of safety when climbing became popular on the mountain, thick steel cables were installed to aid climbers. The cables were removed in the early seventies to return the mountain to its natural state (nearly unclimbable).
This was our first major climb, and we were somewhat under-equipped (I was in tennis shoes, Richard in flat-soled work boots). That didn't seem to slow us down, however, as we passed some alpine climbers with liederhosen & ice axes and ascended icy ledges to the base of the cables.
We were not much for technique - we climbed the cables hand over hand instead of planting our feet. This was a bit exhausting at over 13,000 feet, but we managed to top out by some cracks near the edge of the Diamond and took a cautious look at the face. Pretty impressive, and pretty scary.
Scrambling over a few more icy ledges put us on the huge flat summit. We had bought canned soda at sea level for the climb; when we opened them up top, they exploded in the thin air. Good thing we had also brought water bottles. We were thirsty and drank quite a bit, but were too queasy from the unaccustomed altitude to eat.
Clouds were rapidly encircling the peak, so we started down the Keyhole route on the other side of the mountain. This was an interesting combination of cracks, narrow ledges, and some snow (in the Trough, a steep uphill couloir). It began with a descent of the Homestretch, a steep vertical crack. We followed 'bullseye' paint splotches down the crack to the Narrows, a series of solid and reasonably wide ledges. This brought us to the top of the Trough, which we dropped into with a little difficulty (sometime after our 1969 climb, a short iron post was placed to provide a much-needed handhold here). Then it was a fun trot across boilerplate slabs to the Keyhole, a dramatic opening in the ridge that provides access to Boulderfield. Once we were through the Keyhole, the clouds burst and we trudged down in pouring rain.
Gore-Tex hadn't been invented yet - we had cheap plastic raincoats that didn't keep out either the water or the cold. We were completely soaked and near-hypothermic when we finally got back to the parking lot at 3 p.m., where we waited on the curb until our father picked us up about an hour later.
7/25/79
I attempted Longs again 10 years later with a friend from work. We used the Keyhole route up and down. He made the summit; I was about 100 feet away on the Homestretch with a brilliant blue sky above when people started pouring over the edge with warnings of a big thunderstorm coming up from the other side.
The last one off the top was my friend, just as lightning began to strike the summit. I wisely decided not to complete the climb, and we headed down as fast as we could. We were on the Narrows when the storm struck full force.
We huddled between some rocks near a gully as we were pelted by hail, sleet, and rain. Lightning was striking all around us - we were pinned down for about 45 minutes until the worst of the storm had passed. A river of hail was cascading down the gully as we began moving again. It was another cold and rainy descent.
7/25/94
Fifteen more years later I tried it again with another friend. This time we were well equipped, the weather was perfect (well, a little breezy on top), and we started at 3 a.m. so the climb was a bit more leisurely.
We summitted at 9:00 and enjoyed a long lunch and gorgeous views before the long trek down. This is the climb that my home page picture came from.
Long's Peak , Colorado gifts and t-shirts
posted by JansStores at 11:59 AM
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