PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING LOFT ROUTE

General Timing info:
Started at 3:30am
Chasm Lake at 5:30
Summit at 10:30
Car at 3:30

If you are like me and you were thinking Loft Route would be similar difficulty to Keyhole, please read this and understand it is much harder.

For context and background, I hiked with a team of 3 others with a broad range of experience. One of our group is a climber, but has not done many 14ers past the entry summits. One of our team has done over 30 this summer. Me personally, Keyhole on Longs in 2024 was my first 14er, I did none in 2025, then started '26 with Cross Coulior, Lindsey, and a couple ascents of Kelso ridge. For perspective, our team was planning to Camp at Capitol Lake Saturday night (8/22) and summit Capitol on Sunday (8/23) but weather pushed us to plan B.

If you are an experienced climber, the Loft route is very doable, there are definitely harder ways to get up Longs - this post is for the person looking at 2 class-3 routes on the same mountain, with similar distance and elevation, at the same trailhead, thinking they must be similar difficulty.

Personally, I would say Keyhole is a relatively easy 3 from a technical perspective, just a long hike that is largely completed by under-prepared people. Loft on the other hand is definitely one I would classify as a difficult 3, getting closer to class 4. The technicality, while occasionally reaching 4, is largely class 3 moves and exposure, but the commitment level is breaching into class 4. You could very easily get caught in bad weather on this route and be 2+ hours from safety. Once you top out on the Loft Couloir and head to Keplingers, you are committing.

Another difficulty is that there are very limited photos and descriptions for the route. I wish I had taken route photos, but I can give what I think are some helpful clarities:
- Broadly, once you leave Chasm lake, you are heading up Loft coulior to the Saddle between Longs and Meeker, where you will then downclimb to get to the other side of the Palisades (the large cliffs that can be seen from the homestretch).
- When you get to the saddle, you will traverse across it some distance, but should not gain much elevation. Finding Clarks Arrow from the route photos is pretty critical, and not particularly easy. We climbed too much and overshot it. We realized we would be cliffed out and were probably off course before we were able to locate the arrow down below us. The Saddle sits about 13,450 and we climbed up to 13,550. Without an exact number I would say the arrow sits pretty even to the saddle altitude and doesn't take much climb to reach, maybe 20 feet or so.
- After the arrow, you are entering a gully and down-climbing all the way to about 13,300 (My OnX track shows a low-point of 13,290, and before we started up Kelinger I remember asserting we had 900 feet to go. Be sure to study the gully-exit photos carefully. You don't want to overshoot it, but it is also farther down than we were expecting. I added a photo of me on the exit.
- Once you Exit the Gully you have about 500-600 feet of climbing before you meet up with the homestretch. I would say the gully bottom is the most dangerous place to be if weather were to roll in, because you either have to climb out of the gully (150-200ft), across the saddle, and back down loft, or you have to climb up Keplingers to the Homestretch, then take the Keyhole route probably over a mile to reach the lightning shelter on the other side of the keyhole. Nothing quick either way.

All in all this is a fun route and a cool alt to Keyhole with much less traffic (we only saw 3 or 4 other groups between Chasm Lake and the Homestretch) - but it would be very easy to underestimate, especially if you had already done Keyhole. We started at 3am and finished at 3:30pm, and I wouldn't say were are particularly slow (albeit not trail running).There were a couple short naps, as no one had slept lol. Not looking to scare anyone away from this route, just make sure you know what you're signing up for, and don't waste time getting to the summit.