Longs Peak 2009

I've always wanted to do a fourteener (there are 53 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet in altitude) and specifically Longs Peak. I've never done either and after living in Colorado for over 20 years I figured there is no time like the present. My brother Jonathan has summit ed once and attempted Longs twice in the past two years. He was turned back because of weather on his first attempt.
Momentum for this trip has been building for two years for me and finally the day arrived when I would attempt my first fourteener.

Jonathan and I have been trying to train for this although I'd say we weren't quite prepared for what we would face (or at least I wasn't). We hiked bear peak to warm up two weeks prior which was a great workout and a good warm up. Anyway on to longs peak.

The first thing is that you have to start EARLY to be able to get on and off the top of the mountain before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. From my front door to the trail head it's about a little over an hour. So on this day I left my front door at 1:15AM, picked up Travis and then met Jonathan in Lyons and we all carpooled from there to the trail head. After about 15 minutes of making sure we had all of our stuff and gearing up we headed up the trail signing in the log book at 3:05AM. Starting elevation was 9,400 feet.

The trip is supposed to be 15 miles round trip and I felt mentally prepared for the journey. Everyone was in high spirits and there was a lot of talking and joking on the way up the initial trail through goblins forest.


Along the way we were immediately warned of the dangers of inclement weather on this hike/climb.


The hike was a steady climb uphill but nobody seemed to mind it much, we took breaks when needed and I was taking in a lot of water from my camelbak along the way. We passed the tree line about 11,500 feet and the ammount of stars you can see at night from this elevation is difficult to describe, I've never seem so many stars. We were able to identify some of the well known constellations as well as the milky way and some other things. I believe all of us saw at least one if not more shooting stars, it was truly amazing and a huge blessing to see Gods creation so clearly. Our first real break was at the place where the trail splits between chasm lake or heading to the summit. To that point we were about four miles up the trial heading to the summit. Our pace was brisk and steady to this point. We were also able to see the lights of Denver, Boulder, Estes from this elevation. Not long after that break and a little further up the trail we began to see the horizon lightening up, this was yet another amazing and beautiful sight to see.

Daybreak over the twin sisters.

A little while after day break we reached the bottom of the Boulder Field the boulder field marks a clear distinction between the end of the hiking section and the start of the climb up Longs peak. It was about 6:15AM when we got there and we decided it would be a good time to stop and take another break, eat some food and refill our water supplies. It was awesome seeing the sun hit the diamond face of Longs as we sat in the shade and prepped for the climbing section of our day. We had come 5 miles to this point in the hike.






After our break we headed up the Boulder field and towards the Keyhole. This section was pretty enjoyable as you climb up about car sized rocks and pick your way through towards the Keyhole. We did start slowing down not only due to climbing but also due to lack of oxygen but our pace was still steady.




Reaching the Keyhole was a great accomplishment in terms of reaching our end goal, spirits were still high and we stopped for a short break to take in the view. When you get to the top of this section the view is just amazing.

Travis

Jonathan


Me

After taking some time to take in the view we were off on a horizontal traverse called "The Ledges" that connects the Keyhole to the "Trough" this was a nice break from the climbing but upon seeing the "Trough" you really start to wrap your mind around what exactly you've gotten yourself into. When you get to the base of the trough I believe you are just over 13,000 feet in elevation and the by the time you get to the end of the "Trough" I believe you are somewhere near 13,800 it's a 800 yards or so section that seems to go straight up. We started up the section and at this point we had our taskmaster Jonathan (who was in much better shape than Travis and I) mushing us onward and telling us to stop taking so many breaks. The air is very thin and catching your breath becomes tougher and tougher. This was by far the toughest part of the climb, it tests your want to and your endurance. A great challenge! After several breaks and much of this
we conquered the "Trough"! Here are a couple of pictures from the top of this section.




Now after conquering the "Trough" you are in a section called the "Narrows" it's pretty self explanatory and it didn't really bother me as much as some from whom I've heard but basically you walk along a ledge so to speak with I don't know 2-3k ft drops on your right. If you have problems with heights this section would get you bigtime. I actually rather enjoyed it. The pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

If you look closely you can see a few people walking along the "path".

After walking the traverse known as the "Narrows" you have only one section left to complete and that is called the "Homestretch" this is the most difficult of the climbing sections due to the steepness and altitude in which you are climbing. However I found it much easier than the "Trough" because you could actually see the top and also it's much shorter than the "Trough". Still you find yourself taking a break ever 20 feet or so on the way up.


We made it up! Each one getting there slightly before or after the others but we all three made it. The sense of accomplishment and the view was amazing! 14,255 ft and we climbed up 4,850 ft. We took about 5 minutes each to regain our breath before starting to take in the view. I wish I wasn't so tired at the top because I would have taken a lot more pictures but fatigue got the better of me and I didn't get a lot.



I did it!

Jonathan did it again!

Travis did it too but I somehow missed his solo picture.



After about an hour on the top mostly spent resting and eating lunch we started back down. I knew this would be toughest on my knee so I was a bit nervous but off we went. The "Homestretch" was challenging but we managed and then across the "Narrows" to the "Trough" and again the "Trough" just kicked my butt, this section took us a long time to get down and it was mostly on hands and knees or hands and feet or hands and butt and feet but we finally got down and across the "Ledges" and through the "Keyhole" and down the "Boulder Field". We stopped here for a much needed break and to again refill our waters. This is where I made a mistake in thinking that if I made it to this point the hike portion back down would be no problem. I was wrong!


The 5 miles down from there was extremely grueling, we had used up the majority of our energy on the way up and down the climbing sections and now we were totally spent. 5 miles of one foot in front of the other and down, down, down, down, just lit into our quads to say the least. I felt like my toes were all bruised from jamming into my shoes and it just didn't end. I don't know if my feet have ever felt that badly before. But we trudged on. Nobody talked much, Travis appeared a little dehydrated and was struggling. But we soldiered on.


Near the bottom we took a short break here.


Eventually we made it back to the car and I can tell you that it seeing that car was one of the most welcome sights I've ever seen. All three of us were completely exhausted and ready to be done. We did the whole up and down 15 miles in just over 13 hours. We were all glad to be done, here are some pictures of what shape we were in at the end.

Travis puts on his game face for a "I did it" pic.

me..... not so much.

Jonathan is ready for a nap.

All in all it was an awesome experience and an amazing day. I couldn't have picked better climbing partners and I'm very glad that we were able to do this. It's certainly sparked my interest in fourteeners and I intend to do others. Incidentally I looked and Longs Peak is one of the toughest of the 53 fourteeners in the state so I plan to do an easier one next time. What a great day!