Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/21/2017, By: crazylukedog
Info: This was my first time hiking a class 3 14er and it seems I could not have picked a better day. The route was more or less dry all the way up (very small trickles of run off, but entirely avoidable with no real deviations from common paths). As many have stated, a helmet for the Trough is highly recommended, I observed and gave many warnings to down hikers for falling rocks (I did not bring a helmet and wish I had). 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/19/2017, By: aneldon
Info: The conditions on the keyhole route today were the best I have ever seen. There were no icy spots or wet rocks that even made me reconsider my path of climbing. Get up there now before its too late. 

Route: North Face / Cables
Posted On: 8/20/2017, By: ldkuhlmann
Info: Overall, the route is in great condition but water and ice is forming on the more technical sections just above the camel's gully. Didn't change the approach to those sections that much but did take away some of the more straightforward routes. Very cold over the weekend for late August but the storms stayed away so I can't complain! 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/17/2017, By: cougar
Info: Similar to previous reports. Mostly dry. Loft couloir has avoidable snow, just limits the line flexibility on slabs. One tricky icy wet spot area on slabs below homestretch, careful maneuvering and line choice gets around it. Homestretch had small spots of ice that are avoidable. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/16/2017, By: wondering_hough
Info: Started at 345am. A few flashes of lighting happened early, as well as minor drizzle for twenty minutes. The loft has patches of snow and running water which are all avoidable. Keplinger's is dry. The home stretch had minor spots of barely qualifies for ice and tickles of water. The trough was wet in places and the ledges were dry. There is a dry line on the entire mountain if you navigate thoughtfully. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/16/2017, By: bketron2
Info: Was going to attempt long yesterday until my partner and I woke up to a thunder storm at our start time of 2:30. Opted to hike to Chasm lake later instead. All the reports from people coming down and from the ranger indicated lots of ice between the key hole and summit. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/14/2017, By: jerseybrian
Info: Small snow fields in the loft but can be avoided. The one near the top hides the easy way around to the exit ramp so we took the slabs up to the ramp which is always fun. Downclimb is pretty dry with only a few tiny patches of snow that don't interfere. Keplingers is pretty dry up until the slabs at the top and then it was pretty wet with a little ice. Homestretch had some ice and a good amount of water making it pretty slick. All these can be avoided with caution. Took the keyhole down. Narrows clear but the turn into them was slick. Trough had a few inches of snow but can be avoided. Didn't use spikes but brought them in case. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/10/2017, By: amandagstone
Info: Trail dry up to the bottom of the Trough. About an inch of snow is hanging out in the Trough. Climbing up the Trough around 10 am revealed frost and ice on the rocks but starting to melt. Turned around at the top of the Trough since storms were quickly moving in. There was water flowing down the Trough on my way down from melting snow. Spoke with other climbers who had reported a lot of ice prior to me being there, likely from a combination of rain and melting snow. Was snowing fairly heavily on my descent back to the Keyhole. Ran into one other person coming down who had summitted and reported some black ice on the Homestretch. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/6/2017, By: slysalimander
Info: Arrived at parking at 1:35 AM. The parking was full already. I parked on the road between the Trail-head and the Camping area near the bathrooms. I and my partner started walking at 1:50 AM. Plenty of other people were on the trail. It was neat once you are above treeline to see the headlamps of others both in front of us and behind us as we walked.

Took a break at the keyhole. Watched sunrise. Crossed the keyhole at 6:00 AM. Full summer conditions. No ice or snow on the trail. Windy and cold around the keyhole. Got to summit around 8:00 AM. Got down and back to the car around 1:30 PM.

Good day. A few people but manageable. I noticed a few people on both the Loft route and the Cable Route. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 8/2/2017, By: floydfanatic872
Info: Great route and my first time climbing Longs Peak. I was a bit nervous at first after reading so many discouraging things about the difficulty of the Loft Route but I believe people really over-do the difficulty rating. This route does require some good scrambling! This is my second time doing anything over class 2 and I really thought it was not that bad, it was just a lot of fun. It is also so much less crowded than the keyhole route. I ascended Loft and came down the Keyhole and I thought the keyhole was just annoying especially the boulder field.

I have seen some people talk about route finding on the Loft route being one of the biggest difficulties but if you just follow the Cairns which are noticeable and easy to see you'll be totally fine. At the downclimb section though we did have one problem with the route. From the pictures and description we did not think the cairns were going in the right direction because it seemed we were downclimbing a lot more than the route description said so we sat for a while trying to figure out if the cairns were going in the right direction (of course they were). This was us just second guessing things but it added an extra 45 minutes to our course. Follow the cairns you'll be totally fine. Some of the sections of scrambling and climbing were a tad wed so I would make sure you have some good grip footwear, I was wearing a pair of boots that did just fine, my friend a pair of approach shoes that did better.

Some snow in areas but nothing that will stop you from completing the route. Get a good start time (before 0430) and enjoy an amazing, fun summit! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/23/2017, By: jfm3
Info: There is running water in various spots from the Boulderfield all the way to the summit. The front (north) part of the Boulderfield has some wet spots. The climb to the Keyhole and the Ledges are dry. The Trough has some spots with running water- seemed like it was more to climber's right while ascending. There are 4-5 banks of snow in the Trough, all a few feet long and mostly covered with dirt/rocks. The Homestretch also has running water in spots all the way up. It's all avoidable, but consideration should be given for up/down traffic and who might need to be off the wet rock.

I was caught in a torrential hailstorm as I descended below Granite Pass. I went down Jim's Grove and was in hail up to my ankles in spots. The main trail below treeline was drenched too- lots of standing water and muddy/slick spots. Not sure how quickly it will dry out. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/20/2017, By: dwoodward13
Info: One small patch of snow on the trail up to the keyhole that's no big deal. Ledges are dry. Trough has some patchy snow/ice about midway up. It can be easily avoided to the left on solid rock or with some more careful route finding in the center. Narrows were dry. Homestretch has snow/ice on the last 50 feet or so but can be avoided with a line to climbers right. A lot of wet rock on the homestretch regardless of line, nothing too bad just need to pay attention to. Overall nothing bad just a few places with snow/ice that can be avoided by picking a good line.

Get out there any enjoy it!! 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/17/2017, By: maxz
Info: I arrived to the parking lot around 7:45 am, had to park about .5 mi below the trailhead. Left the car at 8 am, summitted at 1:50 pm, came back to the car at 7 pm. The weather cooperated superbly! Blue skies in the morning, the first cloud to block the sunlight was around 11 am. There were just a few snow patches I couldn't avoid. Crampons are strongly recommended. Although the snow was soft and I was able to make steps, there were a few crusty spots. One snow crossing was at the bottom of the Loft Couloir, one at the top (see the attached photos), and one at the top of Keplinger's Couloir, where you turn left (west) to meet the Homestretch. At 2 pm at the summit, I saw a developing thunderstorm over RMNP to the north and at Arapahoe peaks to the south. I was lucky to have no significant clouds to the west and I was the only person at the top. There were a couple more people who summitted after me, and the way back down Keyhole route was uneventful, other than the rain cloud from the north finally caught up with me sending just a few raindrops, but luckily without the thunderstorm. 

Route: Kiener's/North Face
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: thebeave7
Info: Kiener's is in wonderful shape right now. Lambs slide was soft at the bottom, but hard just before the Broadway exit, crampons and ice axe all the way. Broadway, the snow is all easily tiptoed around, so we didn't need to use the gear once on the ledge system. Some damp spots, but nothing heinous (lots of water source options).
Once you start the climbing after passing the Notch Couloir the rock is mostly dry with a few linger patches of snow that are easily dodged. The traverse onto the summit plateau is all clear as well.

North face has some lingering snow that we kicked across in just shoes (soft), but ice is showing through in some spots so take care on these. The downclimbing below the bolts is VERY wet, as in running waterfall. the friction was still pretty good, did the descent in sticky trail runners without issue. But if downclibing wet rock isn't your thing, bring a rope and rap this section. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: aislinnmcl
Info: Started at 3am and it took us 11 hours RT (summited by 9am). Route is almost entirely clear of snow except for the Trough and the Homestretch. You can avoid the snow in both areas by scrambling up the rocks next to them. We stuck to the snow in the Trough and used micro spikes and poles (no ice axes) and opted to scramble up the rock to the right of Homestretch because the snow was a little too crusty and steep - axe would've been useful here. We also wore helmets because some people have uncanny aim with rocks.