Very best Mother's Day spent summiting Longs Peak with my son. This was my first Colorado "winter" 14er summit and my son's first 14er. We are doing Aconcagua together in January and this trip was supposed to be a little bonding time with me and for him to learn to use the crampons for his first time. We got so much more than what we bargained for thanks to the 3 feet+ of snow that fell a day or two before we arrived. My son and I were both wearing La Sportiva Aequillibrium Speed GTX and they worked out great. Totally water tight in taking us through the slush, snow and standing water at the bottom, but plenty warn at the top. We started at 11am from the Long Peak parking lot. From the ranger station to past Goblin's Forest was sloppy with a mix of snow and a bit of mud/muck. The snow gradually got deeper as we got closer to the Jim's Grove cut off with some significant post holing where it became hard to follow the trail. We did not wear microspikes coming up and having put those on might have made it easier in places, but traction was not that tricky. We put our snowshoes on just after crossing the bridge into Jim's Grove. There was a decent amount of snow and navigation of low brush covered somewhat in snow, (guessing we kept getting off trail) but all in all a good choice. The snowshoes were a must ascending the Granite Pass next to Mount Lady Washington. Easy walk in snow shoes to Boulder Camp, but we took a straight line approach the trail was completely covered. We were one of only two permitted camping sites so basically had the place to ourselves. Arrived at camp about 3:30 or so give or take. So warm we were in t-shirts and almost cloudless sky. Easy camp set up, but tons of snow so spent some time stomping out campsite and gathering rocks. Note that the summer bathrooms are completely closed, locked and filled with snow, so don't expect to use these for a while. Temps dropped pretty rapidly as the sun went down and easy sleeping until the snow started around 12:30 am for another 6 inches or so. Woke up to winter wonderland and a cloudless sky. Got started at 7am to let things warm up a bit, thinking we'd have all day for the adventure ... and we ended up using every bit of that. Easy walk in the snow shoes to short distance from the key hole where we ditched them. We could have taken them further, but wanted to not extend out trip back to retrieve if we came down the North Face. No issues up to the key hole with enough rocks poking through to hop along. However, coming through the key hole on the other side was another story. The scramble on the first set of ledges was a little spicy, but very manageable with crampons we put on at the key hole. Descending from the ledges and transferring to the trough was the first sign that this was not going to be any ordinary day. This was a post hole trudge, sometimes up to our hips, of heavy wet snow. This was a break your own trail day. Absolutely no sign of any trail anywhere ... nothing broken. The trough was where the real fun began. The post holing would have continued all the way up, had our fearless guide had a shovel and proceeded to shovel a path for the two of us the ENTIRE vertical length of the trough. I guess the good news here is that there was no rock scrambling :). The final steep pitch of the trough rewarded us with a look down at what we had accomplished in what probably took close to 2 hours ... maybe more ... from the time of traverse. We caught our breath at the top after what had been a serious (and unexpected) effort. The Narrows were ice and snow covered. The three of us were roped together. I did not look down (heights don't bother me) but there was a lot to focus on. My son was roped behind me which I am thankful for because I would have been very distracted if I'd had to watch him navigate this. I'm still sort of processing this piece as it was probably a bit beyond on the risk level, but I was so distracted by trying to focus on my feet to think about what would have happened if my 165 lb son slipped behind me as I really had no way of securing myself and likely would have been pulled off with him if the guide slipped as well. But I digress. That is not what happened and honestly it was not that scary while we were up there. The Home Stretch was the LONGEST home stretch ever as it was basically a repeat of the trough with post holing and shoveling, just steeper. After a celebration at the top, which of course we had to ourselves because we are the only dumbasses (the other guy (Brendan) camping at the Boulder Field stuck with us up until the Narrows and then wisely turned back on the move that required us to anchor. (We saw him back at camp and he made it to his tent safely). After some discussion we decided to go down the North Face, in part because the thought of going back the way we came sounded pretty punishing. So we chose to come down the North Face. This was a pretty simple walk in the snow zigzagging a path between the rock formations sticking out. I circled our path in the attached photo. About half way down we rappelled from one of the cable rods about 150 feet. The rappel was a nice break, but carefully making my way down to loop the rope around the rod on what was mostly exposed rock with just a little snow to stick the crampon into was decidedly not fun for my sklll level. I was basically shitting my pants, but at this point I was pretty much all in. So let's go. I turned around face to the mountain, ice axe in hand and look for the spots where the snow was gathering. Let me say it again. Not a fan of this. At all. Then I had to watch my son do the same thing while hanging off the wall. From the rappel down was easy walk and a little glissade. We went to retrieve our snow shoes from under the key hole and then back to back up camp. Camp to Camp time was probably a little over 5 hours. Spent an hour or so packing up camp. Walk back was the same as walk in, but I was expected a little more melt in 24 hours. The post holing still there around the bridge at Jim's Grove. We took some "short cuts" on the 2.5 mile trail back to the trailhead which I am questioning how short they actually were given how exhausted I was. Staying on the path which had basically melted out toward the bottom would have been easier. We arrived back at the car at 6:23 pm. This was one for the record books ... for sure won't forget Longs. Or Mother's Day 2026.