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Having only four hours of sleep the night before, I knew this was going to
be quite an undertaking for one day. Leaving for Longs Peak around 5:00 am,
I arrived at the Longs Peak trail at 7:00 a.m. The Keyhole Route is 15 miles roundtrip and close to 5,000 feet of elevation gain. The trail itself
was easy, slowly climbing up through the trees for the first few miles. There
were virtually no people on the trail until I caught up to a few parties who
started earlier. After hiking above treeline, Longs Peak itself comes into
view to the south (see photo on the right). The view is quite expansive and
neary all of the remaining "trail" is visible from this point. This trail
meanders along the north of Longs Peak and cuts south to the 'Boulder Field'.
The benefit this route achieves is to avoid the difficulties of the face by
circling aroud the backside of the face, thus allowing class three climbing versus technical terrain. |
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The boulder field is easy enough, with little elevation gain left before the
keyhole. Longs Peak is quite impressive from this vantage point; a towering
rock face that looks unapproachable. The boulder field starts at around
12,600', so already more than 3,000 feet of elevation and 6 miles are completed.
Many people choose to hike up to this point to camp and take on the peak the
next day. There were a lot of tents set up here, along with people returning
from the climb. This was just the beginning of the overwhelming traffic to be
experienced this day. After routefinding my way through the campsites and
continuing for a few hundred yards, the approach to the keyhole became a talus
scramble (more or less Class 2+) to the top. On the left is a view of the
keyhole from the boulder field. |
| Reaching the keyhole at 10:30, I was feeling pretty good about my chances
for bagging Longs. Upon reaching the top, however, the terrain had changed
dramatically. The top of the keyhole itself is pretty narrow, and from here
the route to 'The Trough' is more narrow, crossing a series of ledges with
occassional exposure. The general route is well-marked with yellow and red
targets spray-painted on rocks. This is the beginning of many class 3
sections to be encountered. The trough is really a huge couloir that gains
about 600 feet of elevation, topping out at the ridge (13,850'). This
couloir is steep in sections and somewhat loose, but is not too difficult.
At the top, an awkward move must be made to reach the ridge through a narrow
and exposed section, and becomes more awkward with the lines of people backed
up to pass through it in both directions. |
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More ledges await after finishing the trough. There is some exposure here
as well. I was really beginning to wonder how 'long' Longs Peak really was.
The foot traffic was unrelenting all the way to the Homestretch, and it
didn't end there. It had taken five hours just to get to the 'Homestretch'.
From guides I had read, I had expected the Homestretch to be an easy finish.
This turned out to not be that case. This section is time-consuming and steep.
I can imagine it would be a nightmare with rain or ice on this huge slab.
On the left you can see the continuous pitch upwards towards the summit.
I was really ready to finish this climb, but the traffic ahead of me was
thwarting my efforts. Thankfully, the rock here is very solid, so rockfall
danger was pretty minimal. |
