Long's Peak Snow Climb, Colorado 14er
11/12/98
Author:
Mike Sullivan
Participants:
Mike Sullivan, Andy Grieder
I sometimes snicker a little when I think of the Keyhole Route
on Long's Peak. As the easiest way up one of Colorado's most popular summits,
it gets trampled by hundreds of hikers every Saturday in summer. (Yeah,
I freely admit that I've somehow turned into an alpine snob.) But
I've also thought that - just maybe - this cattle trail might be a cool
route in the off-season. Soooo... I talked Andy into trying it as
a training climb on a recent Thursday in November, shortly after a good
snowfall. The trailhead parking lot had one other car when we pulled up
at 7 AM. Good sign...
We stowed crampons and ice axe in each of our packs and set out on foot.
The trail had been broken by 2 or 3 sets of tracks in the days since the
snow fell, so travel was relatively easy up to tree line. From there, we
picked our way between scoured rocks, windslab, and a few deep drifts of
perfect posthole snow. Nearly all traces of any human passing were gone
by the time we reached the Keyhole. It was wonderful - Long's Peak was
a true wilderness, and we had it all to ourselves. The route from the Keyhole
to the summit was quite fun and challenging. Most trail markers were obliterated
by snowdrifts, and there was plenty of rime ice and slabby snow covering
the route. Additional challenges were provided by a riproaring wind, which
scoured the western flanks of the mountain. We topped out about 1 PM, giddy
with the feeling of winter solitude on this well-trodden peak.
Then - much to our amazement - a lone figure soon wandered up to our
summit from the other direction! He introduced himself as Jim Detterline,
the Long's Peak climbing ranger. He had rope-soloed up the North Face,
and told us it was the 126th time he'd climbed the peak. He was a blast
to talk to, telling us stories about climbing pioneers like Zumwalt, the
Stettners, and Kor, and giving us info on dozens of different routes and
variations. He then invited us to rap down the rope he had left fixed on
the North Face. We gladly agreed, since it would save us well over an hour
of contouring around on the windy side of the peak. He showed us a great
shortcut route down the upper face, which zigzagged to our right as we
descended to the rappels, coming almost to the brink of the Diamond at
one place.
The rest of the afternoon was a walking tour, as Jim showed us several
more shortcuts and gave us one history tidbit after another. We finished
the descent by headlamp, making it back out to the lot around 6:30. We
happily concluded that even a "cattle trail" can make for a really
great climbing outing - it's just all in the timing.
