18 replies to this topic

[retlod]

My college buddy Jed only had a few days of vacation to spare this summer, so when I called him to see if he wanted to go hiking in September, I had to make the proposal sound appealing. Jed has always been a biggest/best kind of guy, so I tempted him with a hike up Long's Peak. He bit, and the plans quickly fell into place. The plan was to do a 2-day hike and stay overnight at the Boulderfield.

We woke up on my birthday, September 7, to mostly cloudy skies, picked up our backcountry pass, and had a nice breakfast in Estes. We ended up hitting the trail at about 10AM and hiked to Chasm junction under cloudy skies. We made great time compared to how slow we thought we were going to hike, gaining about 1000 vertical feet an hour.

About 1/4 mile past Chasm Junction, dark gray clouds rolled over Storm Pass, opened up, and pelted us with dime-size hail. We took shelter behind a big rock and held a Z-Lite over our heads to keep the nasty hail off. There was lightning, too, which was striking things below us like Estes Cone and the Twin Sisters. The storm eventualy passed, leaving about 3 inches of hail and graupel on the trail. This stuff proved to be much easier to hike on than the trail itself, as it smoothed over all the little bumps and rocks.

[retlod]

We made it to the BF by about 3 PM and set up camp. I was surprised by how small the tent sites up there were. We had reserved a one-tent site...HA! More like a one-person-tent site! Luckily, there was an empty 2-tent site that my tent actually fit in.



Jed started feeling sick as soon as we had made camp, so I made him lie down, drink a Nalgene full of water, and take some Vitamin I. That helped. We snarfed down some freeze-dried chicken and mashed potatoes and went to bed. That night it snowed a bit, but the route up to the Keyhole was still clear by morning.

We woke up at 7 to mostly clear skies, snapped some shots of the Diamond and the Keyhole and hit the "trail."





I kept one cautious eye on the weather as we climbed up to the Keyhole, and noticed the clouds starting to roll in again, this time from the East, up and over the Diamond.

[retlod]

After reaching the Keyhole, we had about 5 minutes to enjoy the views of Glacier Gorge before low clouds appeared and obscured the abyss below us. Some groups were already starting to turn back and I had a bad feeling about the climb, but we thought we'd give it a go since all it was was cloudy.

By the time we got halfway across the Ledges, it started to snow lightly. We continued cautiously, but were halted halfway up the Trough by increasing snow and ice buildup. We were both in otherwise great shape. Neither of us was feeling the altitude terribly much and we were both prepared for the temps. We turned around at 13,400 ft and gingerly slid back to the Keyhole, passing a ranger who was helping hikers off the mountain. The small section on the Ledges where there are two metal posts was, quite frankly, terrifying given how icy the rock was. One slip there would've been quite costly.



Walking back down from the Keyhole to camp took us an hour. By then we were in a mild blizzard. That's me on the left.



We quickly packed up and headed down. It snowed or rained the entire trip back to the car, but we made it back without getting seriously hurt.

I learned a couple of things on this trip:

1. Trust your bad feelings.
2. Always upsize your Boulderfield site.
3. WE COULD HAVE MADE IT if the weather had been fair.

Though I'm a little disappointed that we didn't tag the summit, we both still had a good time and we'll both be back!

[kylekadekallie]

Sorry you did not make it to the top. I am glad you had a great time. Thank you for the report and pics.

Edited by kylekadekallie, 13 September 2006 - 09:05 PM.

[weatherbe]

Awesome report and pics! Thanks for sharing!

Weather

[John]

Great report!

[foxfire]

Thanks for the great report and pix! Fox

[BukElgle]

Great report and photos! Thanks for posting them. Long's will be there for your
next attempt - you made the right decision...

Rick

[druwdowns]

Great report and photos!  Thanks for posting them.  Long's will be there for your
next attempt - you made the right decision...

Rick 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totally agree with Rick. Wise decision to wait for another day. You have provided a great example of how fast things can change late in the Longs hiking season.

~Druw~

[GLENNinPA]

I would have definitely turned back, the mountain's not going anywhere.

Nice report and cool photos.

[becky]

Thanks for your report and pics! After being in the park a couple weeks ago and having to change plans due to weather, I know how disappointing that can be. But after a few days, that has made my appetite for doing those hikes stronger, hence the "planning the next trip while I'm still in the park" syndrome!

Glad that you and your friend made it down safely!

Becky

[Weasel]

Great report and photos. I'm glad you made the right call and are still here to tell us about it. That sounded pretty treacherous.

[dennis]

A person doesn't have to bag the summit to make memories. I've been turned back by the weather before on Longs but I still have good memories of the hike. I would still get a kick out of getting to the Keyhole and enjoying that great view. I look at a hike like I do life, the important part is the trip itself. Thanks for the pics and report. Dennis

[bpv_UW]

Nice report and photos, retlod. Sounds like a cool (and somewhat harrowing) experience to be on the mountain in that weather. Hopefully it'll hold up for you next time.

-Brandon

[BigAl]

Sorry to hear about your run-in with the infamous Long's Peak weather! Thankfully you didn't have to spend the night in the middle of a storm.

Your TR is bringing back some (bad ) memories from early March this year...



Nasty weather on Long's TR