I've been wanting to solo Kieners for a while but this route has intimidated me for years for some reason. Maybe previous trip reports, or a slightly epic ascent of it last winter have caused me hesitation. But last Sunday, I figured I'd give it a shot.

What a fantastic way to climb Longs! It was sunny, windless, easy solid climbing, and nobody on route. I think I even had the entire East face to myself which seemed strange for a Sunday. In some ways this route somehow seemed easier than the loft or even the keyhole, though I know that can't be true. But it was certainly far more enjoyable, so I figured I would share my beta to spread the love for this route.

For trail runners, most of the approach to chasm lake junction is a fairly pleasant, easy grade. I have a pair of Topos with Vibram rubber which handled all the climbing/running perfectly. The intent of this report is more for beta, so I'll try to keep it to the point.

Once you make your way along the right side of chasm lake and you're almost at the base of the diamond, you're going to start heading towards the lambslide. Since I was in trail runners with no axes or crampons, I opted to scramble up the rock band on the left side which was perhaps a bit loose at times but acceptable 4th class. Just be careful to not kick rocks down if there are any parties below you. Crampons and /or axe would be a slick way to go though; just straight up the couloir.

The entrance to Broadway ledge is quite obvious. The lambslide starts to narrow a bit after a 1000ish feet of climbing and you must cross the snow here. I grabbed a couple of spikes of rock as makeshift tools to cross the 100 ft. or so of snow. Soft snow made for relatively easy passage here, but I had micro spikes just in case.

From here you're just walking the catwalk. It's easy walking, and scree scrambling, but with tremendous exposure. At no point did I feel unsafe as there was always something to grab on to as you carefully move across this ledge towards the Notch Couloir.

You then cross under the Notch Couloir, the huge snow-filled gully after which it becomes obvious you must go up as it cliffs out after this point. The second gully to the right of the notch is a pleasant little scramble. Grab a couple of locker 5.4 hand jams in a cozy chimney and send the crux. Felt quite secure and safe here with relatively minor exposure. From here it seems to be kind of a choose your own adventure as you work your way up and right toward the diamond step.

The diamond step is a series of 10-ft ledges that you scramble up onto. After surmounting the first ledge traverse right about 80 ft. and you will gain the ridge and scramble easily to the summit. When I climbed this, I had been cruising along in warm, pleasant sunshine, no wind and no crowds. When I got to the summit, the winds were ferocious, the wind chill was probably below freezing, and the keyhole descent was dark, crowded, and kind of miserable. Glad I didn't go up that way at least. I didn't have a GPX track to follow, but feel free to follow mine if it works. Anyway, super fun route! Hope this report can help others to try it for themselves.