Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 3/31/2012, By: Jay521
Info: Did Storm Peak Friday. Trail to Keyhole is dry from just above treeline to the Keyhole. Below that the snow is pretty solid in the early morning but softens up pretty quickly in early afternoon. Advise to get down early. Traction helpful below trees. Did not take snowshoes and didn‘t really need them, but that will likely change as temps continue to rise. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 3/25/2012, By: Cool Hand Luke
Info: The trail is boot-packed all the way to treeline. Snowshoes are not needed, but microspikes would be helpful. The Ledges have some snow in spots and there is a solid trail in the snowy areas. I found the Trough to be the most difficult area: mix of rock, snow and some ice. The ice is all avoidable and microspikes would be helpful. I never used my axe, but would recommend carrying one to be on the safe side. The Narrows and Homestretch are mostly snow-free and the few snow spots are avoidable. As of today the Homestretch did not have any run-off from the summit. Conditions are great right now, if the weather is nice camping at the Boulder Field is free until May 1st. Pictures are of the Homestretch and Meeker‘s couloirs 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 2/12/2012, By: kushrocks
Info: We attempted the Keyhole route yesterday with a 3:45am start, which was about an hour later than we had hoped. The icy roads and snow on the way the whole way up to the trailhead slowed us down even more. My car said the temperature was 5 degrees out when we started. The trail to start with was easy to find and was mostly boot packed except for the new snow of about 3 o 4 inches. As we approached tree line snowshoes were definitely needed. With the new snow the trail immediately disappeared so it was really helpful to have the GPS. From there we experienced steady winds around 10mph with intermediate gusts from 30 to 40mph that seemed to come out of nowhere. It snowed almost constantly from start to finish although it was almost all very light. As we followed the trail there were a few sections where there was some serious trail breaking with snow up to our waist even with snowshoes. About a mile below the boulder field almost everything was windblown at that point so we took off our snowshoes and ditched them below the boulder field. Winds were HOWLING through the keyhole. It had taken us about 6 hours just to get that far so we figured we would try to go past the Keyhole about a hundred yards to see if the winds died down. . We got to just below the trough when we noticed slabs of snow starting to slide as we tried to traverse them. We sank into our waist on a few of these sections and noticed how easily the snow broke away and slid down the mountain. Looking up we saw that the slopes looked very unstable and anywhere from 35 to 45 degrees. We also figured with that with the conditions at our pace it would take us probably another 4 hours to summit from where we were and with the conditions we being what they were we decided to call it a day. I am no avalanche expert but what we saw just before the trough was pretty frightening. I would not recommend this route until the avalanche danger decreases. Also do not follow our "shortcut" down from tree line. We ended up postholing with snowshoes in waist deep powder for about 1/2 a mile. To give you an idea of the conditions it took us 13.25 hours to go only 11.36 miles and only 4196ft of elevation gain. Even if there were no avalanche conditions with the deep snow and winds if we would have continued it would have been about a 20 hour day. Either way it was still a fun day with two good hiking buddies and as always a really good learning experience. Thanks Jameseroni (James) and Dchild10 (Ryan) for a fun trip. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 1/11/2012, By: Iman86
Info: Climbed the Keyhole route yesterday. Trail below treeline is very packed down. Went up and over Lady Washington and then to Keyhole. Going was pretty fast...boulder hopping to avoid snow. Past keyhole there was plenty of snow on the route, but manageable. I wore microspikes the whole time, an axe is 100% necessary. Targets are relatively easy to spot. The narrows were easy with a few traverses of snow slopes. The sketchiest part was the last bit of the home stretch...powder snow covering slippery rock. PM me for any more details. -Iman 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 11/28/2011, By: Carl
Info: No need for snowshoes anywhere on the keyhole route. Trail is packed snow from the TH and then mixed at treeline. From the keyhole, most of the route is mixed light snow and rock until the summit. Any ice was avoidable. We descended the keyhole but we had climbed the north face. Didn‘t see any ice on the north face. Only sections of substantial snow were below the start of the 5.4 pitch. Was able to locate 4 of the eye bolts. Climbed about 200 feet of the route roped up, although most of that was easy snow climbing with a few mixed moves. Mixed snow and rock above that. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 11/24/2011, By: Cool Hand Luke
Info: Trail is boot-packed all the way through, no real need for snowshoes. Two sections above treeline are a little tricky in the dark, but obvious in the daylight. I only made it to the Keyhole due to wind conditions, can‘t comment on the route from the ledges on. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/25/2011, By: colokeith
Info: Just a quick pic of Longs from the air last week. I am sure conditions are going to change drastically tonight, so this may not be of much help 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 10/16/2011, By: Snoda21
Info: Today we climbed up to the summit via the Loft and came down Keyhole. Through the Loft the snow was completely avoidable. On the diagonal portion towards the top the snow is built up and limits your options if you wish to avoid it. Very little around the base of palisade cliffs when descending loft and ascending home stretch. The most snow is on the west side between keyhole and base of trough, maybe 8" in blown spots, but boot pack is good. All in all, the little amount of snow up there is 95% avoidable, absolutely climbable in running shoes, and only slightly more difficult than climbing in summer. Warm cloths recommended however as the high was around 40 and very windy. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/1/2011, By: willeym22
Info: Summited today after a failed attempt two weeks ago. Things are looking pretty good. Almost no snow until after the Keyhole. Then really the only measurable snow was in the trough. Trough has pretty significant snow on the right side, but can be avoided by hiking left. Microspikes and trekking poles were very helpful for the descent. Some small pockets of snow have become pretty slick from the many people hiking and packing it down. The Narrows and Homestretch were completely free of snow. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/28/2011, By: lackerstef
Info: The route is clear of snow up until passing through the Keyhole. After that, there are very few patches of ice and snow UNTIL the Trough. The trough has a considerable amount of snowpack and ice which is manageable with MicroSpikes. The fourth picture I have attached shows The Narrows (dry). The Homestreach is also clear of snow. If there are any storms that pass through, I would approach Longs with an extreme willingness to turn around. I have also included a video taken from the Summit. I came across someone in the Boulder Field who turned around reporting lots of wind pass the Keyhole. That was not the case for me, so things change quickly up there. Again, proceed with caution and if you don‘t have some sort of traction (Crampons/microspikes), you may be flirting with a fall. Bring your helmet too! There was one other person heading toward the summit yesterday in shorts, no helmet, and duct-taped shoes passing through the keyhole at about 1:30/2:00pm- not advised. I state in my video you "could" be up there in shorts, but of course I would never actually attempt it. PM with any questions you may have about the route! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfcI-xiP6wE 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/25/2011, By: DoWork
Info: good to go until next storm.... tons of peeps up there today... 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/17/2011, By: -Rogowald-
Info: Unsuccessful attempt to summit this morning via keyhole route. Hike was easy up to boulder field. A few inches of snow throughout the boulder field with some verglas as well but still smooth sailing. I did not venture any further than the keyhole as it was very windy, poor visibility and also appeared to be very slick possibly requiring crampons, plus i was hiking solo so I hiked back down. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 9/17/2011, By: Monster5
Info: My party went up the Loft and descended the Keyhole today: Overall, everything was covered in hoar frost and verglas. Our visibility was limited to about 150 ft most of the time with fresh snow falling (accumulation above Granite Pass). The snow varied between 0-5 inches, but it was less a concern than the frost. I would strongly recommend ice axes, trekking poles, and at least micro-spikes. A couple people didn‘t use any gear on the Keyhole, but they were comfortable and experienced on that terrain. Come prepared - I think only my group and another pair made it up today (of about 30ish log entries). The Loft - extremely sketchy. The exit of the Loft couloir is covered in thin ice and we had to pull some interesting moves to get up. We reached a point where it was absolutely unsafe to descend and we banked on being able to meet up with the Keyhole route (no mother hens, please). Rest of the route required a couple awkward downclimbs, but we were able to meet up with the KH without too many problems. Used sgladbach‘s advice for finding Clark‘s Arrow (search forum) and it worked perfectly. The Keyhole - fairly good. Light snow and ice, but plenty of holds/kick-steps to utilize. Hoar frost covers most of the rocks and requires careful footing. The bulls-eyes are still easy to follow, as well as the boot-track. The crux exit at the top of the Trough was icy and requires a bit of finesse (we slid down, but it looks like some people climbed up on the left). Narrows and Ledges were frosted, but standard enough. Homestretch is icy - follow the drifted snow in one of the left weaknesses (look for foot-steps). I would recommend micro-spikes for the Homestretch. An axe was handy in the Trough. See "Longs Peak Season Over" thread for picture link 

Route: 
Posted On: 9/12/2011, By: rickinco123
Info: The cables pitch was iced over in spots with verglas making this 5.4 a scary lead towards the exit of the pitch. The scrambling above had hard snow and some verglas due to recent snow. We made our way without crampons but had to go very slowly and carefully. Micro-spikes would probably be great if you don‘t want to lug along crampons. Trip report to follow in a few days. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/9/2011, By: gallihand
Info: Current as of the morning, some clouds came in on top as we descended the boulder fields. Some snow in the Trough but not enough to hinder progress. Mild ice in the Narrows and Homestretch but easy to avoid.