Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/23/2019, By: 123tqb
Info: Route is clear of snow except for in the Trough, where some ice blocks the normal path making climbing a tad harder than usual. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/22/2019, By: jrsundevil06
Info: There are a few small snow patches that you must cross from the Chasm-Keyhole junction to the base of the Loft but all other snow is avoidable while keeping it to class 3 moves. The top of Keplinger's had a few slick spots due to the snow melt but not too bad overall. You could choose to go onto the snow to avoid those sections but we didn't feel it was necessary to do so. We brought crampons and axes but didn't use them. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/21/2019, By: Cameron Derwin
Info: Hike to Chasm Lake is straightforward. The snowfield that crosses the trail shortly before the lake is easy to cross without traction or axe, though a slip would not be great. There are still several large snowfields that occupy the center of the loft couloir, but they are straightforward to navigate around in the lower part of the couloir. In the upper part of the couloir, I stayed to the left of the snow and climbed broken cliff bands directly below the grassy ledge that escapes the couloir. The climbing here is good and fun. There is one step on the ledge that contains some snow and forces you to make an easy move on some wet slabs. From there, I directly ascended on easy talus (class 2) to the summit of Meeker, with its fun and airy class 3 summit block. On descent of Meeker via a climber's trail to the Loft, there is a snow field below Meeker's summit block that forces you onto loose and unpleasant (but easy) scree and talus. I followed a climber's trail across the Loft, and struggles a bit to find the infamous cairn. Eventually I found it -- it was below me, and I did not expect that. There were two moves on the downclimb in the gully below the cairn that I would call class 4. The second one is right above Clark's Arrow, and I would call it the crux of this route. After turning past Clark's Arrow, the climbing along the Palisades is easy, but this is where things start to get a bit loose and tedious. The last sequence to enter Keplinger's below the exit ramp offers tricky routefinding: by following the Palisades too closely, I ended up at a spot that offered a really awkward downclimb on a tiny ledge (maybe 2 inches across), but I ended up backtracking and there is a hidden ramp into Keplinger's just a little bit below the ledge. This is the "clever 20 ft up and down sequence" referred to by Roach. Keplinger's is loose until the exit ramp, but offers some better scrambling on more solid rock on slabs to the left. Most of the exit ramp still holds snow, but there is mostly easy scrambling below the snow all the way to the Homestretch. The toughest move on the exit ramp are the initial slabs, which have meltwater flowing over them.

The rest of the route is straightforward. The Keyhole route is almost entirely in summer condition, with lingering snow forcing you onto looser talus on climber's left, or harder, steeper, and more exposed rock on a ridge to climber's right. I saw people go both ways but the talus on climber's left offers far easier climbing. I though the crux of the Keyhole downclimb was the chockstone at the top of the Trough, the route I took was easy but exposed, and there appeared to be a much better sequence from below that I could not find on descent. I found the Trough to be really tedious (it is quite loose, at least on the talus above the snow), and I found the Loft to offer much better and more fun climbing, though it certainly forces you into some harder moves (most of which are still fun!). 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/20/2019, By: dalittle1717
Info: Most difficult part of the route right now is the trough as snow/ice/melt blocks some of the bullseye'd route. This was my first time up but others along the way agreed that the trough was a little harder than when it's snow free. There are a couple of sketchy spots, but dozens of people managed without issue, a few did turn back though.
We brought microspikes but had started late so the snow in the trough was already softening. One guy went up with microspikes, another group used crampons, all had axes which seemed necessary given how steep the ascent is. If you have the gear, going up through the snow definitely seems to be faster than scrambling up the trough, though almost everyone we met had scrambled. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/18/2019, By: MontanaBen
Info: short section of snow/ice pack through the trough...seemed to turn a few crews around. very doable, I used yaktraks, and ran right up.
very blustery day on the transition corners - but no thunderstorms to speak of.

oh and a rockchuck tried to eat my burrito supreme on the summit. 

Route: Kieners / North Face
Posted On: 7/18/2019, By: pbakwin
Info: No one has reported on routes other than the Keyhole lately so I might as well. Kieners is in good shape. Easy cramponing up Lambs Slide - the snow was quite soft by 8AM, and someone had very kindly kicked in good steps. Broadway is smooth sailing. Upper Kieners is still a bit wet in spots, but nothing unusual. Actually, I climbed straight up to the S Ridge / Stepladder just for a bit of a change. There were some very wet sections there, but the Stepladder pitch itself was dry. North Face is now coming into "summer" conditions. Coming down around 9:30-10AM, I crossed 1 short snow field above the Cables which was very slushy and didn't require any gear. The cables section was all flowing with water, as expected, but no ice since by now it was very warm (and probably quite warm over night). Early in the day there will no doubt be quite a bit of verglass if it freezes over night. The big snow field reaches to just below the lowest eye-bolt and is continuous for a few hundred feet down. Melt water was flowing down the East Face and blowing back up in the wind, creating a beautiful "rain" effect.

Keyhole Ridge will be dry.

As far as the Loft route, I could see that there's still plenty of snow below the exit ramp, but it is no longer continuous to the Chasm Lake cabin, as it was 2 weeks ago.

At 6:00AM on a Weds there were still a few parking spots in the main lot. When I left a bit after 11:00 there were maybe 30 cars parked along the road - nothing like a typical summer weekend. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/18/2019, By: Tacocat Climbing
Info: Trail is well-defined and well-maintained. I left the trailhead at about 5:15am. Saw an amazing sunrise on my way up. Easy to follow the trail upto the boulder field where it looks like quite a few people were camped. Wind was pretty strong going through the keyhole, but after passing through, it was fine. Still some snow on the trough but it is easily avoidable if you climb to the left on the way up. The climbing isnt too difficult nor too exposed. The narrows werent quite as narrow as I was thinking they were gonna be!

15 miles round-trip. Took me 7h30m for the whole trip. A real fun 14er! A real nice day!

Video of the Hike: https://youtu.be/WEicmDNqOeY 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/17/2019, By: LoveThisSite
Info: Previous report is still accurate. Finding a route through the rocks on the left side in the trough was a little tricky sometimes. The trough is in fantastic shape for crampons/ice axe action if you choose to do that - far easier than the rocks IMO, but then there's the added weight you have to carry. It was an extremely windy day - at times the wind was knocking me off my feet, especially near the keyhole. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/15/2019, By: chaz_fim
Info: Snow gear isn't absolutely necessary anymore. Just approach shoes worked for me. The only trouble spot is the trough. At the beginning of the trough, icy snow covers the trail but you can scramble around it using nearby rocks (pic 1). The main route on the trough is completely filled but you can scramble alongside it until the narrows. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: basil4life
Info: The route is dry until the ledges, where there is one short (20m) snowfield with deep postholes you must cross, and a few others that are easy to avoid. This was firm and easy to cross in the morning without traction or axe. The trough still has snow, which forced me left onto slightly more challenging, occasionally wet rock. The homestretch was wet/icy in spots but that was avoidable with careful route finding. I carried an axe and traction but did not use them; the route is only slightly more difficult than in totally dry conditions without them. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: Snoda21
Info: Nearly summer conditions. Trail running shoes all the way, no snow gear necessary unless you want to climb the remaining snow in the Trough. One small stable snow patch at the end of the ledges that you can walk through in shoes, otherwise all snow easily avoidable.
That being said, if you haven't hiked Longs before it is a rather strenuous climb that people get hurt on so watch your step, turn back if you feel uncomfortable, and keep your eye on the weather. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/12/2019, By: mnsebourn
Info: Still snow on the “trail” in the ledges section. I encountered a deep, slushy trench that I crossed safely, even in the morning hours. But there really is no “trail” beyond the keyhole, and some of those snow patches aren't so conveniently trenched out. Be careful.

Snow in the trough covers up the bullseye recommendations, and many of the flat rocks to the left of the snow were dangerously slick. Again, be careful. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/12/2019, By: Courtneymader18
Info: M group and I left at 3 am from the trailhead and reached the summit at 9:30 am. We took about a half hour break at the keyhole and enjoyed the view looking west, it was breathtaking. Little did we know that getting to the summit was only half the exertion and struggle. We hung out at the summit for about 45 minutes and didn't get down to our car until 3 pm and I will say the boulder field on the way down was brutal and seemingly never ending.

Overall, conditions were great. Very minimal amounts of snow all the way up. We didn't run into any snow on the trail until the ledges where there was about 60 ft you had to cross, you will be absolutely fine with spikes. Poles were extremely helpful for extra comfort with the steep traverse. The trough was were things were a little uneasy. Still a great amount of snow up the whole trough but steps were kicked in, we began our ascent up the left of the trough to avoid the snow but since we had gear we decided to go up the snow instead which we found easier on the way up. The snow was very icy up the trough so I wouldn't do it without poles(an ice axe would have been better) and DEFINITELY microspikes, crampons may have been overkill. The narrows were completely dry, just exposed. The homestretch on the other hand is where I was tested mentally, it wasn't anything out of my comfort zone necessarily but with the snow melt it was a little icy and hard to find good foot holes in some areas. Overall it was done with general ease until we started to descend.

On the way down, we found the trough was the biggest challenge..there was really no good way down it besides to downclimb along the steep rock slabs to the right and deal with the loose rock. I'm glad we had helmets. Overall a great day, totally doable but exhausting. We wish we would have started at 1 am or even midnight. 

Route: Chasm lake
Posted On: 7/4/2019, By: Benclimber
Info: No snow at all up until Chasm lake junction. A few ice fields on the trail to lake but steps already stomped in making it easy to cross, just be careful. Lake is frozen over. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/2/2019, By: erie
Info: Went up the keyhole this morning leaving from the boulderfield around 6AM. Patches of snow between the boulders in the upper boulderfield till you reach the keyhole.

The ledges between the keyhole and the trough are in pretty good shape. However, there is a pretty long and sketchy traverse across a icy snowfield to get to the trough (pics 2 and 3), which in my opinion was the sketchiest part of the climb.

The trough is still pretty much fully filled in with snow, but you could scramble up the left if you really want to avoid the snow (pics 4 and 5). Plenty of steps kicked into the trough, so it's quick work with traction and an axe. The narrows are pretty much clear (pic 6).

The homestretch still has a solid amount of snow up the middle, and it mostly has a layer of ice under the snow (pic 7). I scrambled up the dryish rock to the right. Would not recommend going up the snow on the left.

Overall, not too bad. I wouldn't go up there without micro spikes or crampons. I used spikes and felt they were sufficient, but crampons would have been better. Also, I would recommend an axe for the bigger snowfields where a slip without a self arrest would equal death.