Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/5/2016, By: cmacd309
Info: Slept at the boulderfield Saturday night. Winds were extreme; around 2am one of my tent stakes actually came undone (the sandy soil doesn't act as the best base for tent stakes). We experienced rain, sleet and snow throughout the night.

Summited the next morning. Left camp @6:30am and arrived back at 10:15am. Winds were fairly high, and most of the route had some snow accumulation. Weather was highly variable; at times the sun was out, and 5 minutes later it would be sleeting. The final pitch / stretch was super slippery, and continued to get snowed / sleeted on as the morning carried on.

Overall, the hike was doable as we were able to summit, but the route was pretty slick in multiple places rendering some parts of the hike fairly unsafe. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 9/4/2016, By: zdero1
Info: Summer conditions- no snow on trail...for now! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/3/2016, By: femtosecond15
Info: We took the standard Keyhole route and started at 1:30am. There were still some spots at the parking lot. It took us 3:20 hours to get to the Keyhole and we are not the fastest hikers. Since it was still totally dark, we had to wait an hour at the shelter (together with 6 other hikers) near the Keyhole before continuing our hike. There were only a handful of people up there at that time. We did not encounter any snow or icy conditions whatsoever. Actually great hiking conditions! We reached the summit at 7:10am, maybe 30 min after sunrise. There was some fog but otherwise great views. So if you're wondering if it's still possible to hike Longs without facing hazardous winter conditions the answer as of today is absolutely yes! But as you probably know, this can change quickly so check the weather forecasts. 

Route: Loft up and Keyhole down
Posted On: 8/28/2016, By: cochsman
Info: Left the trail head at 2am and the parking lot was almost full. We took the Loft route up which was fantastic although it wasn't light until we hit the Loft and thus we didn't get to take in the amazing scenery. The exit ramp out of the gully was easy to find despite the lack of light. The way across the Loft was also relatively easy with keen cairn spotting. Again, with keen cairn spotting, it was easy to hook up with the Homestretch with mostly 3rd, if not a couple 4th class moves. We had the entire Loft route to ourselves until we reached the Homestretch and met up with a ton of people. Spent 6 minutes on the summit and started back via Keyhole. A ton of traffic impeded our way around the summit to the top of the trough, where again we had to wait on a ton of people. Looked like some fresh snow going down the trough but it wasn't too slick. Once we reached the Keyhole the hoard lessened and it was smooth sailing home. There was a lot of small ice patches on the Homestretch and from the summit around and down the trough but traction is not necessary. Fourteener #32 in the books and the last of the season for us. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/21/2016, By: dogballs
Info: Route is still in excellent summer condition. Keyhole was reached in 3hr20min, top of the Trough was reached at 4hr07min and the summit at 4hr28min. Round trip took 7hr29min. Definitely a fun route if you don't mind the long approach. The line of headlamps before sunrise looked like cars on I-70 on a prime ski weekend. Trail is easy to follow and well marked with signs. Parking lot fills up quickly and early. It was full by 2 a.m. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/18/2016, By: lordhelmut
Info: I had been hearing of trash on trails through newspapers and threads on this site on the 14ers. But I didn't ever really think about the severity of it. Did Keyhole yesterday with some co-workers. Great weather, solid day, not too crowded (relatively speaking), can't really complain too much. I would like to make a small observation though. In the Trough alone, there were 5 piles - FIVE separate piles - of human feces. I know this cause there was TP strewn next to it, with absolutely no effort to hide it or go at least a few feet off the main trail. There was another pile between the Trough and Keyhole, also in middle of trail and then one of the latrines at the Boulderfield campground was caked in fecal spray and inoperable.

I'm not preaching LNT, seems like its not even worth it at this point with regards to the 14ers. It's just disturbing that homosapiens that frequent these mountains are behaving more primal than the animals that live in them.

Anyways, careful where you step! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/14/2016, By: jfm3
Info: Great day on the mountain. Completely dry from the parking lot to the Keyhole, and almost completely dry from the Keyhole to the summit. There was one small section of running water/ice about halfway up the Trough and 2 or 3 small ice patches on the lower part of the Homestretch. I was up and down the Keyhole-summit section by 9 am, so these may have melted off when the sun was higher. Also, there was absolutely no wind at all the whole day(!). A rarity in the Front Range for sure. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/2/2016, By: Flyingfish
Info: No snow on the whole route. The narrows was a little wet but nothing unsafe. Only the lower portion of the trough is loose rock. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 8/1/2016, By: rruss
Info: Summer conditions, route was completely dry and free of snow.

Started from Longs Ranger Station at 2:15 am, reached the summit at 7:15 am, spent about 20 minutes looking around, then started the hike back, got to the car at 12:50 pm.

Parking lot was almost full at 2 am. Passed a lot of people on the way up to the boulder field, had the route to ourselves past the Keyhole (5:30 am). Coming down from the summit we ran into a lot of people and getting around them took a bit of time in the more technical sections though it was manageable. Would recommend trying to summit around 7 am to avoid crowds. Altogether it was a great hike and not overlay crowded. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/26/2016, By: ewiggans
Info: Beautiful day! Route is dry
Minor choss/scree in the trough but manageable.

Trailhead at 2 AM
Boulderfield at 6 AM
Keyhole 7 AM
Summit at 9 AM
Return to Trailhead by 3 PM

Not a TON of people, but the majority of them were greens from out-of-state never hiked or climbed a mountain. 

Route: North Face/Cables
Posted On: 7/25/2016, By: bmcqueen
Info: Just a tiny bit of water still on the cables route. No ice though. Vast majority of it is dry. 

Route: Northwest Couloir
Posted On: 7/24/2016, By: vandy
Info: The route is in prime condition with all of the warm weather. There is water running down the crux below the cave, but that seems to always be the case. As advertised, there is quite a bit of loose rock in the couloir, so be careful for the sake of those below on the Ledges. If we get some cool nights soon, verglas would be a concern. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/20/2016, By: Talmadge
Info: Took Keyhole route up and down. Very light traffic today. Parking lot only had about 15 cars at 3:15 am when we arrived and was half full when we returned. Very overcast all the way up to the Keyhole with light rain along the way in places. Blue sky on the opposite side of the keyhole with a few clouds which was a welcomed relief. Trail is free of snow/ice all the way up. Absolutely gorgeous day on an awesome mountain. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/11/2016, By: Alan Arnette
Info: Took Keyhole up and Loft down. Keyhole route completely dry including Trough, Ledges, Narrows and Homestretch (normal running water and small patches of snow in shadows) but Loft still has significant snow in the Couloir proper - can be avoided completely by staying on the rocks to the climber's right on the descent. Hope this is helpful. 

Route: Kiener's Route
Posted On: 7/12/2016, By: Zeffe
Info: Kiener's is in good shape. Lamb's slide was very firm snow when we ascended it at about 7AM. I would not recommend going up Lamb's slide without an ice axe and crampons (or at least spikes) but I'm sure some of you crazies will do it anyway. Broadway Ledge is free of snow, including where the Notch Col intersects the ledge. The footing is loose rocks in that location and also right where you enter Broadway off of Lamb's slide.

As far as the rock pitches, everything is dry except for in the depths of the big chimney which marks the end of the first technical pitch for most parties. (Beta: Hang a climber's right through a notch at the end of this chimney.)

The Cables descent was wet but it didn't not present any issues - we rapped 3 times to get as low as possible. You could also downclimb this but with big packs and fatigue we opted for the raps.