Great day on Longs

We climbed Longs Peak yesterday. We spent Friday night at Kendra's family's cabin in Glen Haven, a couple miles outside Estes Park. Brad and Matthew guzzled down a "lucky" beer and then four of us tried to catch few hours of sleep in the bunk house, which was initially a hilarious experience as Brad and Matthew were a little nervous the top bunks Kendra and I were sleeping in would crash down on them in the middle of the night.

We woke up at 3am dressed in our hiking gear, grabbed our packs and headed for the Longs trail head. The parking lot was already packed. We circled back and parked on the side of the road leading to the ranger station. Joel was waiting for us at the trail head. He signed the log for our party of 5 and we headed up the trail a bit after 4am.

The first part of the trail wasn't too bad. Finding your footing in the dark wasn't too difficult, but attempting to eat a sandwich while gaining elevation and losing oxygen is harder than it seems it should be.

We'd been hiking for about 20 minutes when two of Joel's friends caught up to us. We continued on and reached tree line just as the sun was peeking above the mountains. From that point to the boulder field the trail was nicely groomed and the meadow was beautiful. It would have been nice to stop and take it all in, but the crazy mountain goats I was hiking with were focused on moving toward the summit. Some of the steps up in this section of trail were higher than my knees. At that point I swore to myself I would start lifting weights again. My lungs were really starting to feel the elevation. Joel suggested having some more food. I pulled out the half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich I was unable to finish earlier. Seriously, it's ridiculous to try and eat and hike at the same time, I was finally able to wash my sandwich down with a bit of water just as we entered the boulder field.

The first 3/4 of the boulder field was not too bad. It was fun to find a path across the rocks and you can hear water running below the boulders. I read a lot about Longs in the weeks before our hike and no one mentioned the last 1/4 of the boulder field. The final ascent to the Key Hole was a little more technical than I had expected and I was feeling pretty tired as I made the climb to the top. Looking through the Key Hole is incredible and the reward is well worth the effort, but at that point, I decided I was at my summit for the day. Joel said I was 90 percent of the way to the summit, which is true in terms of distance, but I had done my research, I knew I had expended as much effort in the six miles to the Key Hole as would take to get me the remaining 1 1/2 miles up the mountain. If it was just a matter of physical energy, I probably would have gone on, but I knew there would be a large fear factor involved and I didn't have the confidence I could take both.

I watched Matthew, Kendra, Brad and Joel head off along the ledges. I stood at the top of the Key Hole for a long time. Eventually I worked my way down and sat next to the little stone house that is a monument to Agnes Vaille who died during a winter ascent in the 1920's.

I had a fantastic time taking in the sun, mountains and talking to other hikers. I made my way down the boulder field around 11:30 am and the summit crew arrived around 12:30pm. I could tell Matthew was whipped when I spotted him in the boulder field. Both he and Brad said if they had known what was in store they would definitely have contemplated staying behind with me.

Apparently all the trip reports on 14ers.com are pretty accurate. The ledges and even the narrows are not that bad, but the trough is a killer and the boulder at the top of the trough, known as "the crux" of the climb is pretty difficult. I think they all felt pretty accomplished to make it to the top and back down in one piece.