1st Attempt: Longs Peak

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Hungry Jack
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Hungry Jack »

Valesia wrote:
DeTour wrote:Longs was my first 14er, coming from Michigan with no mountain experience of any kind. For my group, we chose Longs because my brother knew it and had climbed it twice while living in Longmont years ago. We had no idea or plans of hiking 14ers on an annual basis at the time. It was quite the experience. But it started my family (brother and daughter) on a tradition we now treasure.

Longs is certainly a tough mountain to do for your first, but it has one great advantage for a 14er rookie: the can't-go-wrong route markers. Valecia, don't underestimate how important route-finding is on 14ers. A little disorientation from the altitude mixed in with fatigue can turn a fun hike into a scary situation really quick. I would encourage the standard route for that reason alone. I haven't done the Loft yet, but I would be cautious about adding any routefinding challenge to the many other challenges already offered by Longs.

Besides, the Keyhole route has fabulous variety and unique features that are better enjoyed on the ascent - Boulder Field, passing through the Keyhole, the Ledges, Narrows, even the chockstone at the top of the Trough. It's also a very stable route, that is no loose rock other than a little inconsequential rubble in the Trough. That's an underestimated factor in the ease of a route, especially if you don't have experience on loose rock.

The death count on Longs (50+) is sobering, but in large part a natural result of the much higher traffic this mountain sees. Not just the hordes of people on the standard route, but the many technical routes the mountain offers, and the many years it has been very popular. If you filter out technical routes, winter ascents, etc., and look at it in terms of total number of people on the mountain over the years, I believe it doesn't seem as dangerous as the raw death count suggests.
From MI? Upper by chance? We do alot ALOT of backpacking up in Pictured rocks. Love it up there. Its not mountains but still a great place to spend time!
PixRox (Shoreline Trail) = best backpack trail in the Middle West.

And this thread is getting borderline preachy. It sounds like you have plenty of wherewithal to do Longs. Go for it!
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by MonGoose »

FCSquid wrote: 2) Since the mountain essentially sits in the jet stream, it has pretty low average temps. The result? Longs has just about the lowest treeline of any place I've been to in Colorado.
Since treeline is directly attributed to latitude Longs Peak, the northernmost 14er in Colorado, will have a lower treeline than the southern peaks.
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Scott P »

Since the mountain essentially sits in the jet stream, it has pretty low average temps. The result? Longs has just about the lowest treeline of any place I've been to in Colorado.
This may be straying a bit off topic, but to those interested the timberline is even lower in the eastern Elkhead Mountains and the northern Park Range, probably due to heavy snowfalls. The timberline in that region varies between 10,300 feet and 10,800 feet.
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FCSquid
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by FCSquid »

MonGoose wrote: Since treeline is directly attributed to latitude Longs Peak, the northernmost 14er in Colorado, will have a lower treeline than the southern peaks.
(Only straying off-topic briefly): Is that true? My understanding was that treeline was a function of average temp, not latitude - which is why Mt. Washington's treeline is somewhere in the 4,000 ft ballpark.
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Presto »

by FCSquid » Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:28 pm

Is that true?
Yes, latitude-based (at least that's the way it was explained to me :roll: ).
Last edited by Presto on Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As if none of us have ever come back with a cool, quasi-epic story instead of being victim to tragic rockfall, a fatal stumble, a heart attack, an embolism, a lightning strike, a bear attack, collapsing cornice, some psycho with an axe, a falling tree, carbon monoxide, even falling asleep at the wheel getting to a mountain. If you can't accept the fact that sometimes "s**t happens", then you live with the illusion that your epic genius and profound wilderness intelligence has put you in total and complete control of yourself, your partners, and the mountain. How mystified you'll be when "s**t happens" to you! - FM
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Scott P »

My understanding was that treeline was a function of average temp, not latitude
It is mostly a function of tree type and average summer temperatures rather than average temperatures. There are other factors such as snowfall, etc.

Also, generally (there are exceptions of course), the higher latitude, the lower the temperature (at equal elevations), so you are basically saying the same thing? :?:
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Presto »

That makes more sense, Scott ... a combination of conditions.
As if none of us have ever come back with a cool, quasi-epic story instead of being victim to tragic rockfall, a fatal stumble, a heart attack, an embolism, a lightning strike, a bear attack, collapsing cornice, some psycho with an axe, a falling tree, carbon monoxide, even falling asleep at the wheel getting to a mountain. If you can't accept the fact that sometimes "s**t happens", then you live with the illusion that your epic genius and profound wilderness intelligence has put you in total and complete control of yourself, your partners, and the mountain. How mystified you'll be when "s**t happens" to you! - FM
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by DeTour »

Valesia wrote: From MI? Upper by chance? We do alot ALOT of backpacking up in Pictured rocks. Love it up there. Its not mountains but still a great place to spend time!
Yep, that DeTour. It's where my love of nature was born. My avatar is a sunset photo of the Straits of Mackinac. You have to squint pretty hard to make out the bridge.
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Billy the Kid »

rickinco123 wrote:People fall down the stairs at home and die. Give it a try, if you are sensible and willing to turn back if necessary, should be a fine experience. Keyhole might be a better bet. Start at 1 or 2 am, I promise you won't be alone. Just follow the train of headlamps.
I agree...it's not like you're setting off to climb Everest or K2! Just start early, use a little common sense and I'm sure your group will have an amazing time in the mountains!!

Happy trails!
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by SkaredShtles »

Hungry Jack wrote:<snip>
PixRox (Shoreline Trail) = best backpack trail in the Middle West.
I'm gonna have to go with the trails on Isle Royale. Pictured Rocks - nice. Isle Royale -spectacular.
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by Valesia »

I haven't done royal island yet. I've been stuck on a pic rock kick for a year now. I'll have to check it out. I wish I had the selection that you folks from Colo have.
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Re: 1st Attempt: Longs Peak

Post by peter303 »

Best time this year maybe the week of July 21. It will probably be non-technical by then (if not now). The full moon (7/22) will be in the pre-dawn sky. There will still be long hours of daylight. By the late August full moon the days will shorter and you might start seeing morning frost above the treeline (after 8/15).
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