I've been doing research for the climb my group and I want to do this summer. I've tried Longs (didn't make it but rest of my group did) but I feel like I'm pretty well acquainted with the trials to get to the top. I've also done La Plata, but only via the standard route. In reading my Roach book he has this bit of relative difficulty he calls 'Route Points' which many of you might already be familiar with. He ranked La Plata's Ellingwood Traverse as higher than the Keyhole Route on Longs and I wanted to get a relative difficult from someone who's done both. I've done enough looking to know the route up Ellingtonwood will be long and tough, with lots of ups and downs.
Thanks!
Sieg
La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
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- sieggy80305
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- crossfitter
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Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
The Keyhole has more mileage and gain, but the technical sections are shorter, the routefinding is easier, and the commitment factor is lower. I can see the argument for Ellingwood being harder, but it largely depends on where your strengths reside; if you are a confident scrambler then you might find the lower mileage and gain to be to your advantage. If you are fit but less experienced at scrambling, the reverse may be true. The keyhole has bullseyes painted on the rock which makes the routefinding trivial, but Ellingwood is a choose your own adventure that you can keep at 3rd by dropping low, or turn into 4th or low 5th depending on how high you choose to stay on the ridge. An important thing to keep in mind is that bailing off of Ellingwood ridge is not easy, and if you happen to be caught in a storm in the middle of it you're a long ways from relative safety. One last thing to consider is that most of the Keyhole is in a very well maintained, long, but not very steep trail. In contrast, simply getting to Ellingwood ridge is not entirely straightforward, requiring a bit of bushwhacking and ascending the arduous talus slope.
- A mountain is not a checkbox to be ticked
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- Alpinism and mountaineering are not restricted to 14,000 foot mountains
- Judgment and experience are the two most important pieces of gear you own
- Being honest to yourself and others about your abilities is a characteristic of experienced climbers
- Courage cannot be bought at REI or carried with you in your rucksack
- sieggy80305
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Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
Thanks for the info!
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Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
How many people are in your group?
In dry conditions, Ellingwood gets my vote as being more difficult. It took my friend and I three hours from the parking lot to the start of the ridge, damn that forest. Six hours on the two mile ridge, damn that loss of elevation and countless rock towers to negotiate. And four hours back to the car, damn myself for not speaking up as we descended the wrong way and had to wrap around la plata's ugly western side to rejoin the standard route. Bring plenty of water! September is a good month for such a committing day. I did enjoy the heck out of longs peak via the keyhole, so it is a win win between picking either of these routes
In dry conditions, Ellingwood gets my vote as being more difficult. It took my friend and I three hours from the parking lot to the start of the ridge, damn that forest. Six hours on the two mile ridge, damn that loss of elevation and countless rock towers to negotiate. And four hours back to the car, damn myself for not speaking up as we descended the wrong way and had to wrap around la plata's ugly western side to rejoin the standard route. Bring plenty of water! September is a good month for such a committing day. I did enjoy the heck out of longs peak via the keyhole, so it is a win win between picking either of these routes
You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.
René Daumal
René Daumal
Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
Agreed. There are many differences in these routes. It is commonly noted that route finding along the ellingwood ridge route of La Plata is very time consuming, don't expect many cairns.crossfitter wrote:simply getting to Ellingwood ridge is not entirely straightforward, requiring a bit of bushwhacking and ascending the arduous talus slope.
- jenkscolin
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Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
To echo what others have said they are very different routes. I found Ellingwood to be mentally and physically more challenging than Keyhole. The route finding on Ellingwood is tedious and non-stop from the car to the summit. The ridge is committing and at a certain point your safest way to bail is to summit and back down the main route, so you need an ideal weather window. I enjoyed both but Ellingwood definitely kicked my ass a little harder than the keyhole did.
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- Cool Hand Luke
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Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
The rock quality on Ellingwood is also much worse than Longs. On the ridge proper it is pretty solid, but down low it can be questionable in places.
Also, if you get off route you can easily find yourself in low 5th class terrain.
The trail to the ridge fades out after about 1/4 mile from the main trail and is mostly a bushwhack. Just know you are heading in a SE direction and stay true to course until treeline, at which point the talus slope and ridge are obvious.
After gaining the ridge it is mellow for a bit, easy ridge strolling. Once the terrain gets more difficult you stay low and to the east side and do not regain the ridge proper until close to East La Plata. It is surprising how much time is spent off the ridge to the climber's left (east).
Ellingwood is one of the best routes in the Sawatch, but is also a step up in difficulty and route finding from Longs. Kelso Ridge and Grizzly A would be great practice climbs before Ellingwood.
Also, if you get off route you can easily find yourself in low 5th class terrain.
The trail to the ridge fades out after about 1/4 mile from the main trail and is mostly a bushwhack. Just know you are heading in a SE direction and stay true to course until treeline, at which point the talus slope and ridge are obvious.
After gaining the ridge it is mellow for a bit, easy ridge strolling. Once the terrain gets more difficult you stay low and to the east side and do not regain the ridge proper until close to East La Plata. It is surprising how much time is spent off the ridge to the climber's left (east).
Ellingwood is one of the best routes in the Sawatch, but is also a step up in difficulty and route finding from Longs. Kelso Ridge and Grizzly A would be great practice climbs before Ellingwood.
Re: La Plata Ellingwood vs. Long's Keyhole
Sorry to be an argumentative jerk, but this isn't true. It's a subtle trail, much like a game trail, and if you lose it you should probably try to get back on it.Cool Hand Luke wrote:The trail to the ridge fades out after about 1/4 mile from the main trail and is mostly a bushwhack.
Edit: also crossfitter said Longs has more elevation gain. It does have more mileage, but according to the route descriptions on this site it's only 5100 ft of gain vs 5900 on ell ridge of La Plata.