Longs Peak

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/28/2014, By: BagginPeaks
Info: Made a journey up the Loft route and descended the Keyhole on Sunday (7/27). Of course, all the campgrounds nearby were full when I arrived Saturday afternoon, so I drove a few miles south of the TH and turned left on CO-82 (Cabin Creek Rd.) and drove a few miles out and found some dispersed camping. Guns and hooligans on four-wheelers -- not a peaceful night.

Getting to the base of the Loft ramp and climbing the initial ramp is easy.. Towards the top where it cliffs out is where the fun begins. According to the description on this site there is a class 3 set of ledges that will take you to the top. Well I found many ledges, but ended up free soloing some 5th class rock with about 50 feet of air below my feet and it got a little intense. Snow at the top of the ramp is not an issue. Once on the loft the difficulties are not over. I did not see Clark's Arrow when making my down climb/traverse but then I did not look hard for it. The route finding is fairly easy to get over to Keplinger's couloir and eventually to the base of the homestretch. Tons of amazing scrambling is to be had in that area and it can be as difficult as you make it. I chose to climb some 4th class rock leading up to the homestretch and bypassed most of the herds of people on the homestretch by climbing some exhillerating 4th class lines up to the right side of the homestretch. The only issues on the route are some areas where water is seeping out making the rock slippery. mostly can be avoided.

I chose to descend the Keyhole route for two reasons, one that I had never been on that route, and two because I definitely did not want to down climb those cliffs at the top of the Loft couloir. Maybe it was a mistake because as I learned the trail from the Keyhole to the TH is much much longer and more tiresome than the trail from the base of the Loft couloir to the TH. Oh well, the Narrows section of the route was pretty epic and it was worth it. I got a full tour of the mountain! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/25/2014, By: PC12Pilot
Info: Keyhole Route is completely free of snow. Biggest weather challenge was layering correctly. Ultimately ending up in t-shirt and shorts. Only (standard summer) suggestion is START EARLY. We summited at 8:15am in absolute blue and by the trailhead at 2:00pm the peak was enshrouded in dark gray and the rain started. Have fun! 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/20/2014, By: NateD
Info: Loft route is free of snow other than the short snow field approaching Chasm Lake. No special equipment required.

The reports re damage to the area around Clark's Arrow (http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43840) seemed to me to be somewhat exaggerated. I found the major landmarks to be intact, and most of the info in prior trip reports regarding this part of the route should still be applicable. In any case, it's still a relatively straightforward class 3 down climb. 

Route: Lamb's Slide to Loft/upper Keplinger
Posted On: 7/20/2014, By: AlexeyD
Info: 1) Approach: The NPS-described "treacherous snowfield" on the Chasm Lake trail is indeed there, and not an exaggeration. While very short (less than 100 feet), the snow crossing is a tiny (6 inches or so) foot ledge, frozen solid in the predawn hours, on a steep slope with a nasty runout, and a slip would make for a really unfortunate start to your day. Don't be lazy, and get out your axe and traction! Microspikes are a good way to make this crossing both safe and fast.

If this is your first time, going around the right side of Chasm Lake will almost certainly take longer than you expect, especially in the dark. If you look carefully, you'll find something of a use trail to help you find the easiest way.

2) Lamb's Slide: We started climbing around 5:45 AM. Conditions varied from step kickable-snow to very firm, thick, icy crust. The icier sections required some care, but it never really gets very steep, and we didn't feel the need for a belay. Confident snow/ice climbers should be OK with an alpine axe and crampons; some may want a second tool. I'd estimate the average angle at around 35 degrees, with the steeper parts around 40. The continuous snow ends where Lamb's Slide meets the Flying Dutchman. From there you have a choice of either crossing another snowfield above the Dutchman, or going around and below it on loose, but easy talus, to the final 100 or so feet of 2nd/easy 3rd class to the Loft.

3) The Loft to Keplinger's: Part of the slope leading to the location of the former Clark's Arrow has seen recent rockfall activity (likely the same that caused the Arrow's demise). Accidentally entering one of the recently-created rockfall chutes, I dislodged a microwave-sized boulder that came within an inch of crushing my foot. If you stay to descender's right (as my wife did, wisely) you avoid the need to go into the chutes, and thus avoid the worst of the choss.

The Clark's Arrow traverse is still reasonably well-cairned. If you don't see the cairns, just head towards the base of the prominent buttress on descender's right: the route skirts just under the buttress. Take care to keep following the cairns across the boulder-strewn slope, and don't be tempted to ascend too soon: we made this mistake and ended up several hundred feet above the actual route. The "chimney downclimb" didn't feel too difficult (just a couple of third-class moves). The Keplinger Couloir is straightforward and mostly pretty solid if you stay on the big blocks. There are some wet sections, and also a bit of ice just below the junction with the Homestretch on the Keyhole; this ice can easily be avoided if care is taken.

4) Descent: We descended the Keyhole. As expected, there were 100s of people on it, so I'll leave it to someone else to describe the conditions there. In summary, this is a great option for a big mountaineering adventure on Longs, taking you on a full circumnavigation of the mountain, with great variety of terrain, views, and difficulty. No technical gear except for snow climbing equipment, and a helmet, should be necessary. Enjoy! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/14/2014, By: WillRobnett
Info: To bring a helmet or not to bring a helmet... that is the question. Bring a helmet!
I didn't walk on snow. Crampons and axe would have been extra weight. Didn't have a drop on water in the pack until treeline - good water sources are available up to there to filter. Above treeline you'll see a few little streams. Overall good hike. If you see the weather move in come back another day! Descending from the summit would be pretty crappy if it's raining! At 9am yesterday some water was on the homestretch. (Last part before the summit) I was fine to down climb as a rock climber, but most people were on their first 14er and have never rock climbed. Stay out of the water on angled rock!!!! Can't stress that enough!! Have fun climbing!!

Also, I've attached the lower topo from 14ers.com and put red dots where solid water sources would be found. At 10,600 feet there's a stream crossing and just below 11,000 feet you'll see a stream coming down from Jim's Grove 30 feet to your right. Jim's grove has tons of standing water and tons of bushes if bushwhacking is your thing... The boulder field has another stream crossing as the second map shows, but it's very little water and by 11,000 feet I needed a drink of water anyway. Hope this helps! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/14/2014, By: Nate_Williams
Info: Summer conditions on keyhole 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/9/2014, By: marcstrawser
Info: No gear needed for full ascent/descent on Keyhole route. Snow/ice melted in trough enough to avoid without going off-route. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/8/2014, By: martinleroux
Info: Apparently Clark's Arrow was swept away in the floods last September.

More info here: http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43840 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 7/5/2014, By: Stevo68
Info: Solo trip to longs started at 12:45, back at 9:00 went through the keyhole lots of black ice due to my 5:30 summit time. The route can almost be done without winter gear, just more scrambling on the left side.i used my crampons anyway only for the top section of the trough. Not to mention the ever so slightest snow dusting on the summit 

Route: Lamb's Slide
Posted On: 7/3/2014, By: ash-ish
Info: We started at the base of Lamb's Slide around 7:45 AM. The snow was not soft at all. We had good cramponing all the way up. We were climbing along the climber's left in the couloir. There were some sections of hard snow/ice, but overall awesome couloir climbing conditions. The couloir was in shade for the most part. We topped out at 10:00 AM. The snow slope from the top of Lamb's to the loft was not too soft. We descended down the ramp and loft couloir. Finding the ramp wasn't too difficult. There are three snow patches at the top of loft forming a triangle - from there you can follow the cairns to the ramp. The ramp begins at the lowest of the three grassy ledges. Crossing the big boulder on the ramp was tricky - some snow/ice around and below it. I crossed fromm the front and jumped on the snow. My partner crossed from behind icy section. From there we had to do some exposed class 3/class 4 down climbing to avoid snow in the couloir. overall a great day. Contrary to what people are saying we found the snow to be not too soft in couloirs till about 10:00 AM. I had to down climb a small section of the snow in loft couloir to avoid exposed class 4 in my mountaineering boots, and the snow was not too soft. Overall a great day. The Dutchman may not be in shape. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 7/1/2014, By: KTC88
Info: I climbed Longs and Meeker using the Loft route for the ascent and the Keyhole route for the descent. While I had crampons and an ax, I used neither for the ascent. You still have to cross a couple of sketchy snow gullies near Chasm Lake, but most people are just using trekking poles. The rest of the snow you have to cross is very low angle and just short patches between rocks. I was able to climb on dry rocks left of the Loft couloir all the way up to the exit ramp. When you link up with the Homestretch section, just stay to climbers right of the snow/ice and you can climb all the way to the summit on dry rock.

I decided to descend via the Keyhole route and regretted it - more for its tediousness, than the conditions (the Loft is a lot more fun). While there are still many sections of snow and ice, you can avoid most of it by careful scrambling. I wore my crampons for only a 20 foot section of the Trough. It's probably still a good idea to bring an ax and crampons for the near future. 

Route: Kieners
Posted On: 6/28/2014, By: Dave B
Info: Trail is completely dry with two very small snow patches near treeline. We did the entire approach to lambslide and the descent from below the N. Face in trail runners.

Lambslide was a little soft at 6am given no recent freezes. We did not use crampons on broadway as the snow is almost entirely avoidable (excepting the short down climb). The step around is dry.

Snow at the base of the notch was very soft at 8:00 and Kieners chimneys were wet and muddy - a snorkle would be useful. Snow on upper Kieners was too soft to travel on by 10:00 but easy enough to avoid with rock scrambling to climbers right.

Snow was very soft on the descent of the north face and the cables route is a river. 

Route: Kiener's
Posted On: 6/27/2014, By: stevevets689
Info: THIS REPORT IS NOT FOR THE STANDARD ROUTE!

Trail is completely clear (minus a couple drifts near treeline) up until after Chasm junction, then there were a couple snowfields to cross before Chasm lake. Snow was firm in the morning and slick. You may still find some solid snow/ice around the north side of Chasm lake, but we did some boulder hopping part of the way around. Lamb's Slide was in great shape. Broadway had a couple sections of snow which we protected, though if you are very comfortable with snow there are good steps. You can walk right across the bottom of the Notch couloir, completely dry within 10/20 feet of the cliff edge. The crux chimneys were mostly dry with one very wet section to get out onto the upper slopes. Upper slopes do have snow, but we skirted around the left side on mostly class 3, some class 4 rock. Diamond step completely dry.

For descent, North Face has a large snowfield to cross before the slabs. We used axes/crampons. There were a couple icy sections and an uncontroled slide would send you over the Diamond or the slabs. The rappels were very wet. Hike out sucks, as always. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 6/23/2014, By: thebeave7
Info: Went up the Keyhole Route on Saturday 6/21. Snow is a non-factor up to the Keyhole, then you can easily scramble to the False Keyhole without gear. After the False Keyhole there is some steep and icy snow with major consequence if one falls, I used crampons/ice axe through this section, though good steps do exist and two others made it through without gear.

The Trough is mostly snow with quite a bit of ice forming on the slabs to the climbers left. Crampons and ice axe required for the snow in the AM as it stayed hard until at least 9:30am. The step at the top of the Trough is melting out and is mostly a rock scramble unfortunately, snow doesn't help much anymore.
The Narrows are 80% snow free and most of it could be avoided EXCEPT for one 5ft patch of ice and another 30ft of hard snow/ice, I wore crampons all the way across the traverse.
The Homestretch is mostly covered in snow/ice and again used crampons/ice axe all the way.
Narrows might be clear in the next few weeks, but the Trough and Homestretch will probably be technical at least into July from my experience. See photos for exact conditions. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 6/22/2014, By: markanolan
Info: Went up via the Loft route and back down the Keyhole. The snow on the Couloirs is still pretty great and held firm throughout a sunny morning. On the ledges, its a bit dicer, but good boot pack to follow. Crampons, ice ax, and helmet a must! This is a steep route, so be safe. Not a climb for beginners (considering all the issues people have had on Longs already this year). Coming around the beaver (SE Longs) really keep an eye out for the cairns. The class 3-4 scrambling is virtually free of ice and snow, but has some loose rock, so take precaution.

Connecting back up with Keplingers Couloir, the snow was still pretty good. On the homestretch, really try to get a good firm hold with the ice ax, especially coming down when the snow gets soft. Its a bit lighter up there.