14ers.com • Trip Report - Grand Slam With a Radical Addition

Peak(s):	Longs Peak - 14,255 feet Meeker, Mt - 13,911 feet Pagoda Mtn - 13,497 feet Storm Pk B - 13,326 feet Lady Washington, Mt - 13,281 feet Battle Mountain - 12044
Date Posted:	08/28/2017
Date Climbed:	08/26/2017
Author:	michaelgrundy
Additional Members:	rohit

Grand Slam With a Radical Addition

It has been quite a long time (close to two years) since I stood atop of a Colorado 14er. When I do get out to hike, I have been focused on the less crowded Centennial Peaks. When Rohit brought up doing Longs Peak again, I was a little hesitant. I have already hiked it five times using three different routes. I just wasn't interested in joining the masses on a Saturday morning. After a little discussion, we decided that we would attempt the Longs Peak Grand Slam and if we were feeling up to it, try for the Radical Slam.

Rohit and I decided to grab some sleep at the Lily Lake parking lot in a new truck bed tent that I built out of PVC pipe. It was quite comfortable and we were both able to snag about 3 hours of sleep before meeting a friend at the Longs Peak trailhead at 2 AM. The parking lot was full, go figure, so we had to park a little way down the road. We met Thomas, who was just going to do Longs Peak with us, at the trailhead and started down the trail around 2:10 AM. We were all able to keep a decent pace and by 3:30 AM we all at a little stream below Chasm Lake. I had decided to only take 1 liter of water to this point to keep weight lower, then treat 3 liters of water for the big push. While we were treating water, I snapped a few pictures of the stars.

We continued up the Loft along climbers right to avoid the loose scree. Before too long, we were out of the Loft and climbing up towards Mt Meeker.

Thomas took a break on the large flat saddle between Longs Peak and Mt Meeker while Rohit and I went up to the summit of Mt Meeker, just in time for sunrise!

Rohit on Mt Meeker's summit before sunrise.

After a few beautiful moments on top of Mt Meeker, we descended back down to the saddle and met back up with Thomas. We crossed the saddle and descended into Keplingers Couloir via Clarks Arrow.

After finding Clark's Arrow, we progressed up to where the route meets up with the Homestretch. At this point, we said our goodbyes to Thomas so that we could hurry along with our objectives for the day. Shortly after departing with Thomas, we topped out on Longs Peak. It was my sixth time on top of Longs Peak and still haven't grown tired of the views from the summit!

Rohit and I had a little food, snapped a few pictures, and then left the summit. We descended the Homestretch (with a brief reunion with Thomas along the way) with hundreds of our closest friends until we reached the sign indicating a right turn. We, of course, ignored the sign and continued descending, much to the confusion of the other hikers. This was the way to Pagoda Mountain.

Descending the Homestretch (Photo by Rohit)

After we had descended about 200 feet below the sign, we start to turn and head towards Keyboard of the Winds. The traverse went smoothly and we were soon standing atop of the cliff we were supposed to descend. Thanks to some previous research, we found ourselves in the perfect place to descend the cliff band.

Descending the cliff by Keyboard of the Winds

Descending the cliff by Keyboard of the Winds (Photo by Rohit)

We hiked past Keyboard of the Winds and in another thirty minutes we were standing on top of Pagoda Mountain. This was the first time I had seen this perspective of Longs Peak. Seeing the massive mountain from here made me appreciate the mountain all over again.

Looking at Longs Peak from Pagoda Mountain

Looking at the Keyhole from Pagoda Mountain

We quickly left the summit of Pagoda mountain and went back to Keyboard of the Winds. We found the gully between the first and second key and started making our way down. The downclimb was easy and we were soon traversing around several rock ridges. We met back up with the crowds of people at the bottom of the Trough and we continued along the Ledges until we were at the Keyhole.

Gully we down climbed at Keyboard of the Winds (Photo by Rohit)

Traversing to the Ledges. (Photo by Rohit)

We again departed with the crowds and moved along to Storm Peak. This is where the fatigue was starting to creep in to my legs. The last little bit of climbing up to the summit of Storm Peak was difficult for me, but I made it! Summit number 4 for the day. Not too bad! It was at this point that I ran out of water, so, the next goal was to find some. We left the summit of Storm Peak and descended into the Boulder Field where we started looking for water. We found a hole in the boulders that was large enough to gather water, so we sat and treated several liters.

After we replenished our hydration bladders, we started up Mt Lady Washington. At this point, it was a âmind over matter' game. My legs didn't want to continue, but my mind did. We slowly trudged up the summit and were greeted with spectacular views of the Diamond of Longs Peak. We had done it! All 5 summits of the Grand Slam were completed. I wanted to throw in the towel (no, not the Terrible Towel) and head to the truck but Rohit convinced me to give the Radical Slam a shot. I don't know why I let him talk me into this crap.

Mt Lady Washington Summit (Photo by Rohit)

Looking down the ridge towards Battle Mountain

We descended the north ridge of Mt Lady Washington towards Storm Pass. The descent of the ridge felt extremely long and by this time, my feet had started to hurt. We made surprisingly good time to Storm pass and within an hour of leaving the summit, we were standing on Battle Mountain!

After some very quick pictures, we went north along the gentle ridge to find a good place to descend towards Estes Cone. We could weave through the Limber Pine easily and were soon traveling through the forest. After checking the map a few times, we ended up on the Storm Pass trail around 200 yards away from the Estes Cone trail. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I had checked the time and we decided that we were out of time. I promised my wife that I would call her by 5 PM, and since there is not cell service in the area, I couldn't modify the plans. It was 2:30 PM and we still had to ascend Estes Cone, hike 2.5 miles to the Longs Peak trailhead, and drive out of the mountains into cell service. With how my legs felt, I knew we were not going to make it up another peak and back in time. We pulled the plug and headed for the truck.

Trail back to the Longs Peak ranger station.

After what felt like the longest two miles I have ever experienced, we met back up with the standard Longs Peak trail a mere half mile from the ranger station. The next half mile felt just as long as the previous two miles. Eventually, and to the gratitude of my legs, we made it back to the ranger station. We had been hiking for a "mere" 13 hours and gained somewhere close to 8,900 feet of elevation. Our legs were shot!

Thanks to my mother-in-law for helping me clean up some of the nighttime pictures!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

MtnHub	Nice job, guys! 08/29/2017 06:50 'Wobbly legs' -- yeah, I bet! I did 9000' once upon a time many years ago, so I know the feeling. But what a great feeling of accomplishment too, huh?! Thanks for sharing your trip!
mathguy	Wow! says it all. 08/29/2017 14:08 You guys did some darn fine route finding on that "little outing." I really enjoyed the great report and pics.
Jay521	Amazing. 08/29/2017 14:47 Just like Doug, I also did 9000' once upon a time. But it took me 2 days to do it! You guys rock.
blazintoes	Was up there 09/01/2017 05:37 day after you helping a timid friend finally get to the top after her 4th try. At 3am the parking lot was packed, had to park on the street and a sea of headlights began. We turned our headlamps off to find the star Lyra near the Big Dipper (personal meaning) and Whoa!!!

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