Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/23/2023, By: Eagle Eye
Info: For yesterday (Sunday10/22) the Keyhole Route had both great trail conditions AND great weather. Wind didn't factor in: it was just a little windy around the keyhole feature/shelter. In my opinion microspikes were necessary to safely ascend/descend the Trough, though not needed elsewhere. The majority has snow and powder on & between rocks and then under that, ice on climbers right. At the crux people mostly took the climbers left side detour (a couple of small shelf areas) Otherwise dry conditions (Ledges/Narrows/Homestretch) Also a "person off route" type rescue happened without incident. The person was above the route near the false keyhole on the Keyhole Ridge. 

Route: Clarks Arrow
Posted On: 10/21/2023, By: _coloradical
Info: I approached Clark's Arrow after doing Mt. Meeker via Iron Gates. The entire route is clear and good to go. I descended down the standard route and the trough is the only spot of concern. Microspikes is all you need right now, but ice is starting to form near the western side of the trough. Boulderfield has a small section of snow, otherwise it's clear. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/22/2023, By: grnmnthkr
Info: Trail conditions were great from the trailhead to the summit. Only time micro spikes were needed were in Trough if you felt like going through the ice/snow. I managed to ascend/decend the Trough without going into the snow. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/19/2023, By: bangerth
Info: I'll file this for Longs Peak, even though I only hiked Storm Peak right next to it, given that I suspect that that's where people interested in the area will look. In any case, no snow to speak of all the way to the Keyhole. There is snow on the North Face (with the Cables Route) and on the mountains to the west, around Glacier Gorge. I can't speak to anything beyond the Keyhole, but there hasn't been any new snow since the last trip report, so see no reason why any of that would have changed. I came and went from the north (the Glacier Gorge Trailhead in RMNP) and along the trail, there are short stretches of wind drifted snow covering the trail. But it's always dry left or right, and keeping your feet dry is not a problem. I suspect that it is the same way on the standard trail from the ranger station to the Boulder Field. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/15/2023, By: spear
Info: Great fall conditions today. Trail is mostly dry with some packed snow through the boulder field. Traction needed after passing through the keyhole. A few drifts up to knee deep. Microspikes are sufficient for the snow and ice on third class rock in the trough. After exiting the trough, spikes can be removed. The sun has melted out the narrows and the homestretch for easy climbing. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 10/10/2023, By: amlynczak
Info: Completed the Longs Grand Slam on Monday, Oct. 9. Microspikes absolutely necessary on the exit ramps in the Loft couloir - the ramps are completely ice covered in places and made this exit tricky. Exit gully from Pagoda back to the Ledges also has snow in places and some traction could be helpful here as well. 

Route: Loft Route
Posted On: 10/7/2023, By: Logan5280
Info: Ascended loft to Meeker, traversed to "Meeker Ridge", returned to the loft, climbed SE Longs, returned to loft, continued to Longs, then descended the Keyhole. The loft couloir is mostly dry until the last 500-1000ish feet, which have some snow and ice accumulation, which made the exit ramp pretty tricky, and required microspikes. The loft couloir proper is an ice climb right now near the top, but the scramble exit ramps are anything from punchy snow to dust on ice to just straight up facets. Loft to Meeker was mostly easy snowy talus hopping. Meeker to "Meeker Ridge" has some exposed scrambling, which was complicated by the snow on the north aspect of the ridge. The south aspect was dry but had harder moves, so I stuck to the north side on the way out, and the south side on the return. No major beta necessary, just caution on the snowy ledges. After returning to the loft, I missed the turn for clark's arrow, and just kept climbing up the palisade ridge, not knowing that was a lost cause, until I reached SE Longs (all dry on east aspect). I returned back to the loft and eventually found the descent into Keplinger's (lower than expected). After some caution on the down-climb gully, it was pretty much dry (minus a few avoidable snow/ice patches) to the top of Longs, with very warm temps and low wind. The Homestretch is dry, and the narrows have some ice in places, but it's avoidable. The trough has packed snow in the top half, and I was glad to have spikes (especially for the initial tricky down climb moves near the top). Snow on the ledges was not an issue. Overall, great day, and I really enjoyed the sunrise near the top of the loft. Just be cautious with route finding on the loft route in general. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/7/2023, By: Ubuntay
Info: Did a speed run today, with just my trail runners and no traction. Only place that is slightly tricky is the trough, but I was able to ascend and descend without getting my feet wet at all. Hard to say the difficulty, perhaps easy class 4 if youre trying to keep it dry. Im a regular on the flatirons in boulder so it was no sweat for me. Ymmv. Home stretch is bone dry. 10/8, 10/9, and 10/10 will probably be the last three days to do the keyhole without traction this year. Were expecting snow Tuesday night and Wednesday (today is Saturday) 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/8/2023, By: eastcoastski93
Info: Great conditions on the Keyhole route. There is some sneaky ice on the ledges which can be easily avoided. Climbers right in the trough is snow filled and icy - can be avoided. The homestretch was mostly dry. Careful of the sneaky ice in the shadows! Traction not 100% necessary but I was glad I had it. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 10/1/2023, By: caesarsalad
Info: Snow free except for the upper half of the Trough, which can be avoided if you're careful and pick a good route. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/28/2023, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Perfect day for a perfect Colorado climb. Trough is holding snow on climber's right (going up). Warm weather is causing melt/freeze action and some ice (see pics). Easy to avoid most of it by staying to climber's left going up, but the top portion you can't avoid the snow/ice. Spikes are helpful, we used them. A lot of people were not and one person did slip and fall and cut themselves. The move out of the trough is tricky with the snow/ice, but doable. A tiny bit water on narrows and homestretch, but avoidable. Otherwise summer conditions for the rest of the route. There is snow on the north face, chasm view and cables. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/27/2023, By: Androzs
Info: Conditions were almost perfect. The weather couldn't have been better. There was only snow and ice on the last third of the trough. I would recommend using micro spikes to make it easy, but most people, including my climbing partner did not have them. All the other sections of the route were clear of snow and ice. There was probably 10 or less people on the route all day. I would imagine it will stay this way for the rest of the week. Now is the time! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/25/2023, By: papashangu
Info: Summited 9/25. No snow/ice worth mentioning except the trough. There, it can be avoided but at the top that requires some good scrambles. Spikes def helpful, esp coming down, but I wouldn't say a must- I saw at least 5 people climb down the trough without them. There is water a the way to the boulder field- it's iced over in places there but also running. The state-of-the-art privvies don't stock tp! 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: sean23
Info: Successfully summited today. The route is dry until the Trough. You can manage without spikes for the first half of the Trough, but from the midway up, they're a must. We saw numerous spikeless hikers taking wide, and dangerous looking, detours to avoid the ice and snow. With spikes, the footing is good. The only difficulty we had was ascending out of the Trough onto the Narrows and, even more so, descending back into it. The Narrows and Homestretch were snow and ice free. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 9/22/2023, By: eastmanerine
Info: Beautiful climb up to the keyhole today. Nice and clear. Started at 2:30am and had plenty of time, not a lot of traffic on the way up. Took a picture of the Ledges for this community but going farther wasnt in the cards for us due to fatigue/altitude sickness. We heard reports of snow at the top of the trough from others who passed us on the way down but seemed the other 8-10 people in front of/behind us summited. Triple check NPS, forecast, webcam, 14ers.com, before heading out.