Our hiking group was returning to Longs Peak for the first time in... well, more years than we should admit. We chose to do the Loft Route for a slight change of scenery after a couple ascents of the Keyhole route over the years.
We arrived to a half-empty trailhead parking lot at 3:00AM. A nearly full moon negated the need for headlamps and the first couple miles of the hike were steady. By about 4:30 we arrived at the Chasm Lake Junction and had a bite while taking in a spectacular night sky. We were pretty much alone at Chasm Lake as the sun started to rise, making for spectacular views of the Diamond. What a treat!
The obvious path disappears at about Chasm lake as you head to the left / south of Ships Prow. From here you sit at an elevation of about 11,800, staring straight up a steep and rocky couloir that doesn't relent until about 13,400. We were pretty happy to be wearing helmets through the top of this section. While it can be a slog, the views of Meeker and the south face of Longs make it worth the effort. It's also worth noting the solitude here - there were probably hundreds of people on the Keyhole route but we had the Loft Couloir to ourselves.
The dark patch in the center of the picture is a wet section - just below this you exit the couloir to the left on a fairl well-defined herd path. It involves a bit of exposure but nothing serious. After a couple hundred more feet of elevation gain you top out at the southeast corner of the Loft, a massive and flat expanse in the saddle between Meekers and Longs. Our crew took a nice deliberate pace up the couloir; stopping frequently to take pictures and get some air. The mile or so from Chasm lake to the loft took us about 90 minutes. A determined group could probably knock 30 minutes off that time.
From here we took a quick side trip up Meeker. The route is pretty obvious; the first 2/3rds following a well-established herd path and the last 1/3 just being a scramble for the highest point on the ridge. We were up and down in about 45 minutes.
We headed across the loft in search of the somewhat-elusive down climb at Clarks' Arrow. Despite a wealth of information from here and other sources we started down a chute that was just a bit too far west - at just slightly too low an elevation. Luckily our mistake became evident quickly and we exited back to the Loft. About a hundred yards further up the ridge, maybe 30 feet higher in elevation, we found the cairn marking the actual descent. Once you see it, it's hard to imagine how you missed it the first time. Alas, we missed it the first time!
The down climb into the couloir involves a couple exposed Class IV moves that require some concentration and steady movements - just hard enough for us to question whether we were on the correct route! But we were indeed on the proper route, evinced by the faded circle / arrow at the bottom courtesy of Mr Clark(?). Total elevation loss seems to be about 180 feet.
The route parallels the Palisades as you climb up Keplinger's Couloir. IMPORTANT NOTE: the Loft route does not go to the saddle seen in the picture above. At about the point where this picture was taken, it turns left towards the Homestretch.
As we progressed up the Couloir, magnificent views helped us offset the rocky, slow-moving uphill terrain. Again, a happy place to be wearing a helmet. At about 13,750 a left turn takes you across to the Homestretch, clearly visible by this time. We found the route across to be straightforward class III terrain, gaining perhaps a couple hundred feet over a tenth of a mile.
The Homestretch was less challenging than I remembered. The exposure is real but it is pretty straightforward and the slope isn't as steep as it appears in pictures. We arrived on the summit about 10:00AM, a bit later than expected. Absolutely perfect weather allowed us to enjoy the summit for a bit before heading down the Keyhole Route. At the base of the trough we passed a couple groups of people heading up the mountain, seemingly oblivious to the storm clouds and brief period of lightning. An uneventful few miles and a couple stops for water later we arrived back at the trailhead.
As a means of comparison between the two non-technical routes, from my perspective: I found the Loft route to be somewhat more physically challenging than the Keyhole, due entirely to the seemingly-endless uphill travel on rock slides. Of course adding Meeker also adds some effort. Physicality aside, route finding on the Loft can be tricky; careful attention is required and the consequences of compounding mistakes can be more serious. On the other hand, route finding on the Keyhole route is made easy by the bullseyes.
Minor challenges aside, it was an epic day in the mountains.
