Trip Report: Longs Peak

Bit off more than we could chew. Date: July 4th, 2013.

Scariest 14er so far. Friends of ours in Boulder invited us to climb Longs for the 4^th of July. Since this one is in Rocky Mountain National park, Cody wasn’t allowed. We had heard Longs was more technical than the other routes we’d done, but we had no idea just how technical it was. Or how deadly. On average, 2 people die on Longs every year!

The first part of the route was gorgeous, winding up tame switch backs that were perfectly runnable. The day was perfect, and we hoped the weather would continute to hold as we got to the top.

            

What a perfect day to hike!

A picture of Me!

     The first main part of the trail takes you up to the boulder field, just above tree line where you hop and scamble over giant boulders to continue on the route.

The Boulder Field

Longs Peak

The view looking out from the Key Hole

            After the boulder field, you make a quick ascent to the Key Hole. I thought this was supposed to be the scariest part of the route- but no, this just marks the beginning of all the scary parts. At the key hole, we stopped to eat a snack, including some yummy potatoes.

Potatoes = Yum

            From the key hole, you begin another stretch called ‘The Narrows’. You follow these bulls-eye signs that mark the ‘trail’. And yes, I put trail in quotes, because this is not a trail, this is precariously walking on rock ledges on the edge of a 1000 foot fall. There are only a few spots where 1 mis-step will lead to death, but for the rest of the route, if you trip a little bit, you don’t have much room for error.

Ryan navigates the Narrows

            Finally, after what felt like hours of slow, slippery progress on the edge of a cliff, we got to an area called ‘the Home Stretch’. From here, it’s just 100 feet up an 80% grade ‘wall’ to the top. At this point, about half of the people around us were turning around because there was still a lot of snow, ice and water on the rocks, making it a very slippery ascent. Without the proper shoes, you could easily slip and fall of the ledge, toppling down another 500-1000 feet. Ryan was up ahead of me, on the wall, and I could see he was not having a fun time- his feet were slipping and we was stuck on a ledge. I decided I wasn’t going up- my shoes were slipping all over the place, and I didn’t have any confidence I could trust my feet to not slip away from me. Oh, and another thing- I’m TERRIFIED of heights. I hadn’t really noticed this before, since I’ve never been up on a ledge on any of our previous climbs. But up here, at 14,200 feet, on a ledge with a 1000 foot drop- I was starting to have a panic attack.

The Home Stretch- there's Ryan, stuck on a ledge 

See that little bulls-eye marking? That's the route. Those little rocks- that's the trail

            We finally got turned around, and could start slowly making our way down these crazy rocks and ledges. Coming back down was harder than going up, because the force of gravity was working to push you over the edge and down the side of the cliff. My hands were getting sore and torn up from using them so much. This was not a very fun time.

            Finally, we got back to the Keyhole and the Boulder field, and everyone from our group was still in one piece. Three of us made it to the summit, while 3 of us decided to turn around. I do not regret my decision. The following week, a kid from Missouri fell to his death, right where I was the most scared.

            The trail back down was great- perfectly runnable, and I was in much better spirits. We all had a really good time running together. I'm not sure if I'll go back to summit Longs. I haven't been terrified of heights since the trip. If I go back, I will definitely bring gloves to protect my fingers on the rocks, and shoes with rubber soles (not plastic- I was wearing Asics get fuiji trail racers- the wrong shoe for wet rocks). 

Overview:

The first 5 miles up to the Keyhole are all wonderfully runnable single track, with a steady switch back grade, and not too many technical areas. Past there, it’s all climbing.
Elevation Profile: