Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/1/2023, By: YearlyClimber
Info: With the moon at 96% full, the parking lot was only about half full at 2:00AM. Despite the extra light of the moon, most people still used headlamps. Trail was in prime condition with weather also prime. We are relatively slow and were the last off the summit at about 11:30AM. Only a handful of clouds were in the sky when we returned to our car around 6P - for 15.5 hour round trip time. 4 hours to the Boulder fields where we took an extra long break. 3 hours from keyhole to summit. 2 hours from summit to keyhole and 4.5 from keyhole down.

Most of the bullseyes were easy to find, though some had faded. The last move at the top of the trough was a bit tricky as the more obvious route was too slick and we used a different one. Some cairns in the boulder field had fallen and some others seemed to have been placed by people unassociated with the 14er initiative. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/22/2023, By: JJEII
Info: I summited both "Southeast Longs" and Longs Peak via the Loft route, then descended via the Keyhole route. The trip mostly went fine, but the route-marking from The Loft to Keplinger's Couloir was all but non-existent. It was definitely not cairned well, and I also found that segment of the 14ers.com Loft route photos and text to be completely useless. (I was not the only one who found this a route-finding block either, since there was another group up there, wandering around and trying to figure out where to go.) This was for sure the crux of the day's route-finding, and I'd very much have appreciated just a simple GPS point to drop me into the correct gulley. So, here it is, according to my own track---a point just a bit below the top of the correct gulley (a little inside it):
LatLon: 40.251074, -105.613741 (Elev: 13,373'?) 

Route: Keyhole Ridge>Cables
Posted On: 8/21/2023, By: jscully205
Info: Mostly 4th class with a few exposed 5.6 moves on the Keyhole ridge. Route-finding is fairly straightforward, when reaching the top of the notch, traverse around backside (keyhole side) for easier climbing or down climb a more committing 5.6 section on the ridge direct. Rock mostly solid. Good scramble and an engaging way of reaching the summit. Cables route down is well traveled and cairned. 5.4 downclimb was wet as 8/19/23. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/16/2023, By: veronica
Info: At the trailhead at 2:10am on Tuesday 8/15 and the parking lot was nearly full. Took the loft up and the keyhole down. No ice anywhere, but water was running across the loft couloir in some areas. The trail was incredibly obvious in some parts of the loft but not so much in other parts, especially with rout finding in the dark. Hit the top of the loft at 5:15am, hung out for sunrise before descending off the back of the loft to Keplingers couloir. All pretty straight forward with use of 14ers rout description and photos. Hit the homestretch at 7:04am and the summit at 7:12am. A little wind on the summit, but not bad. Actually had the summit to myself for a few minutes. Stayed up there for 20 min or so then descended the Keyhole. The trough had a lot of loose dirt and rock, but you can find solid rocks pretty easily. A few people without helmets told me they realized their mistake in the trough when they saw me wearing one, meanwhile other people asked me why people would wear helmets on this hike... The descent via keyhole was all very straightforward. Back at the trailhead at 11am. Dont forget sunscreen 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/13/2023, By: sklumb
Info: Some wet spots on the trough, narrows and homestretch but everything was thawed and no ice when I first went through around 7am. If it had been frozen though, all was easily avoidable. Great day up there! Started at 2am, which made for a successful day since clouds rolled in early. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/12/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Repeat of Longs Peak today via the Loft up and the Keyhole down. The Loft was super fun with some great scrambling opportunities but the routefinding was a bit difficult. I had 2 GPXs downloaded and photos from the site but I did not find they were as helpful as I had anticipated. Nevertheless, got it done and had a great time. Keyhole is your standard shenanigans - people without helmets, and who probably should not be climbing Longs. There was a rescue going on when we got back down to the TH due to weather that rolled in during our descent. There were a number of people going up around noon after we saw dark thunderclouds rolling in from the summit. Hope everyone is okay and made it down safely. Climbed Longs today with Meeker via the Iron Gates. I will post a peak conditions report separately. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/10/2023, By: Ariella6
Info: trail dry. a little bit of water run off in narrows area. Nothing horrible but it does make your shoes slick. otherwise summer conditions. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/29/2023, By: Troyister
Info: Climbed the Keyhole route this morning with my 13 year old son. Some wet rock in the homestretch that can be avoided, otherwise summer conditions. Parking lot was full before 2:30 this morning when we arrived, had to park about a 1/4 down the road. Stream was still running before the boulder field to filter water if needed. All the bathrooms were open. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/30/2023, By: MollyJean628
Info: Weather was perfect! Hardly any snow in the trough, a little wet on the homestretch, but plenty of paths available to scurry up to the summit. As others have mentioned, Long's Peak lives up to its name...L.O.N.G. Backside of the ridge past the keyhole is shaded and windy, have layers, have water and/or filter pump to refill at the base of the boulder field. Be wise and mindful with each step, especially on the descent with tired legs. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/28/2023, By: Coreylyons1986
Info: Nearly completely dry. Bathrooms are open at chasm lake and the boulder field. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: Sameerkumar1979
Info: Summer conditions. Go get it! Lots of hikers/climbers summited today.

The restroom facility at Boulder Field was not open though. Have an alternate plan. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/24/2023, By: axelmalahieude
Info: Loft is in summer conditions until you get behind the notch. Between the notch and the homestretch theres a snowfield right on the path (see picture). Climbers right is a class 4+ traverse but its dry, climbers left is pretty much a walk but its got black ice from the snow runoff. The move is to take it slow on climbers left (I was almost on all fours feeling for ice). My friend went right but it ended up being sketchier than going over the ice because it becomes vertical and has next to no holds.

Descended the keyhole and saw lots of people bringing ice axes. Completely unnecessary; any snow is far too hard/icy for an axe to be useful, and climbing around is very easy. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: tsars03
Info: The whole route was snow and ice free except for the trough and homestretch. The snow and ice was easy to work around though. The trough had some very loose rock and there were parts of the trough where the rocks were wet making it slick. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: The Stadler
Info: Absolute beautiful day. Just a little breezy at the keyhole around 6am, no wind at all on the peak around 9am and kinda warm. Spent a lot of time up at the top because it was so nice. No snow or ice really. The biggest problem, though, was all the snow melt covering rocks in water. Especially on the steep/exposed parts of the hike, wet rocks were the biggest problem. Our main focus during the Homestretch really was just finding a route that was as dry as possible. Otherwise, conditions couldn't of been better. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/20/2023, By: LukaLikesClimbing
Info: I climbed Longs on July 9th 2023 and there was still a considerable amount of snow on the Trough and Home Stretch. The Narrows were very melted out and you could walk around the snow. I had some friends attempt it 17th and they said everything was clear except the Home Stretch which has a steep piece of ice on it near the summit that they said was too sketchy to pass. I think a rock scramble is possible. They talked to the ranger and the ranger said they don't think it'll fully melt all season.