Longs Peak
The Ascent – Part I?
Introduction
With summer classes over, there was a short break before the fall semester started. A perfect opportunity to squeeze one last trip before things picked back up. After much thinking on what kind of crazy adventure we wanted to tackle, my friends and I decided to go on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) to try and climb a mountain by the name of Longs Peak through its popular Keyhole route.
Let me give you a quick introduction about Longs so you can have an idea about what we were going to tackle – mind you with no previous climbing experience. Straight from the NPS website:
“In the summertime, when conditions allow, thousands climb to Longs' summit via the Keyhole Route. The Keyhole Route is not a hike. It is a climb that crosses enormous sheer vertical rock faces, often with falling rocks, requiring scrambling, where an unroped fall would likely be fatal. The route has narrow ledges, loose rock, and steep cliffs.
For most of the year, climbing Longs Peak is in winter conditions, which requires winter mountaineering experience and the knowledge and use of specialized equipment. Disregard for the mountain environment any time of year has meant danger, injury and even death.
The Keyhole Route can experience winter-like conditions at any time, requiring greater skill and judgment. Be prepared to turn back during sudden, drastic weather changes.”
Scary? Um… heck yes! The description alone plus my irrational fear of heights made this an extremely difficult decision for me. A big part of me did not want to attempt this because I thought I would be scared and would not finish, but after much thinking and researching, I decided that the best way to tackle your fears was to confront them. And talk about my first confrontation… a 14er in the heart of Colorado.
Before the hike
We arrived at Denver after a 17-hour drive from West Lafayette at around 11:00 am MST. After lunch and some city exploration, we headed to the Longs Peak campground.
The campground area for Longs Peak was not too far and we quickly found ourselves approaching it. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful reddish gold that was kissing the peaks of the many mountains that surrounded us – a wonderful sight. We were scanning the horizon for Longs when after a turn, we spotted it – a towering and imposing mountain that stood out from the rest. There was no mistake, the mountain that was in front of us had to be Longs and for the first time in the trip I felt my stomach turn, seeing it in person made me nervous, but I knew I could not back down.
Observatory for Longs. Taken a day before the attempt to climb it.
We got to the crowded campground shortly after sunset and much to our surprise a family was just leaving. Securing a site so close to the trailhead was a blessing because it meant we did not need to wake up extra early to drive to the trailhead and attempt to find parking (it gets pretty crowded even at 2 am!).
Once we set up the tent and cooked dinner, we talked about our plans for the next day. We decided on doing a short hike in RMNP with some elevation gain to try to get acclimated to the height before our attempt and once that was decided we went to bed.
Following a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, we set out to the park to find the trail we wanted to do our ‘practice run’ on. The name currently escapes my mind, but there were some beautiful lakes that surrounded the hike and the elevation gain was not too bad, but the trail was enough to show me how out of shape I was as after just 40 minutes, I was breathing heavy and overall feeling tired.
We spent most of the day in the trail, exploring all the nooks and crannies that it had to offer and after we had lunch we decided to head back and rest at the campsite.
A lake we found during our 'training' hike.
Back at the campground, we went over our plan, packed our gear and set a wake-up time for 2:00 am. There was a need to wake up this early as we needed to summit before noon so that we could be off the top before evening thunderstorms could have the chance to form – a great danger at those altitudes. Because of this, we went to sleep close to 7:00 pm but I was so nervous that I didn’t fall asleep until 9:00 pm thinking about the climb.
The Trail
We were woken up by the sounds of our alarms going off in unison. It was already 2:00 am and time to hit the trail. We quickly got changed, grabbed our packs and started preparing breakfast. I had a terrible headache and felt very light-headed – I think this was my body’s last attempt at questioning my decision. But, I took some ibuprofen and carried on.
Once we got done we breakfast, we cleaned up and all that was left was to start hiking. As we left the campground we could see the road leading to the trailhead starting to get clogged by cars all looking for a spot to park. Seeing this, and not wanting to get stuck behind groups of people at the start of the trailhead we decided to hurry up. We approached the trailhead shortly after 3:00 am and this signified the start of the real adventure, we looked at each other and with an air of confidence, started the trail.
Goal # 1 was reaching boulder field. Boulder field, as the name suggests is a field of boulders that cover a side of the mountain right before the keyhole entrance, the field is located roughly 6 miles after the trailhead and sits at an altitude of around 13.3k feet.
From the get-go the trail challenged us. It was constantly uphill, and not many parts of it were flat, this caused us to go slower than we had anticipated. But, we kept going taking short breaks every 30 minutes.
Eventually, 2.2 miles into the trail at an altitude of almost 11000 ft we made it past the tree-line where we saw a sign warning of the dangers of clearing the tree-line (mainly thunder and lack of protection as there were no more trees). Boulder field was closer, but we still needed to cover some ground.
It was still dark when we left the last few trees behind and the trail was only illuminated by faint moonlight and our headlamps, it was still very early. We tried walking faster and after what seemed hours in the dark we reached the Chasm Lake junction.
We decided to take a break at the junction and thankfully for me, there was an outhouse not too far from the junction – all that breakfast I had earlier needed to go… ASAP. Using the outhouse was not fun as the smell was very strong, but when nature calls… you cannot let it leave a message after the tone… (hahahahaha, sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
After my short experience in the outhouse (I was in and out in record time!), we decided to take our first long break. Much to our surprise, the sun started coming up! We checked our watch and it was almost 6:00 am, we were super late.
Taking a short break after sunrise. I was pretty tired at this point.
With all the walking and talking we were doing we did not realize how slow we were actually going, if we wanted a shot at this we really needed to move! After watching the sun come up and a quick phone shot later, we were back on the trail. This time, with about 2.6 miles left we started back on the trail moving fast and trying to minimize our break time.
Sunrise in the middle of the trail.
Boulder Field & Keyhole
Although only a couple of miles, the constant elevation gain caused us to stop more often than we wanted and about 2 hours later, we reached boulder field and I was already very drained from walking in the sun and combined with the elevation, I didn’t know if I could push any further. Before attempting boulder field, there was a warning sign that reiterated the dangers that lied ahead and stressed that if you were not ready you should turn back. When I read that sign, my stomach turned a bit again, I was already very tired and the sign was not encouraging.
Nonetheless, my friends told me to push ahead, they were tired too but willing to go the extra mile. I decided that I had not come this far and stop right before the keyhole, so off I went too with them.
To get to the keyhole entrance, one has to climb over many rocks in the boulder field. This was particularly draining for me and I had to stop for breaks after every 2-3 steps. I was not in good shape, and it took me almost an hour and a half to get to the keyhole entrance. The view from there was amazing but I had given it my all to get there. I didn’t have much energy left and told my friends to go on without me. Although they tried to convince me to come, I knew that I just was not going to make it, that it was not my day.
Somewhere in the middle of Boulder Field.
After reassuring them that I would be okay and I would wait for them at the shelter, they carried on without me. I felt horrible – not only had I failed to make it to the top, I also didn’t know how I was going to get back down with how tired I was. I stayed at the top of the entrance for a few minutes after my friends left for the summit, contemplating the view and thinking about the decisions that led me to that moment.
I slowly backed down the way I came and went to a shelter near the top of the keyhole entrance, ready for a nap and to wait for my friends. As I slowly closed my eyes, all I could think of was about how much I had failed… I woke up about an hour later, the weather was starting to turn and the clouds were getting darker. I checked my watch and it was already noon, prime time for afternoon thunderstorms, I was worried at the time for my friends as they had not come back down yet, but I kept thinking that they would be back soon.
Another hour went by, and I really started worrying. Had something happened to them? Were they stuck somewhere? Did they need help? There was no way of knowing, only time would help answer those questions. After the two and a half hour mark of me being in the shelter, I heard familiar voices close by and soon enough my friends popped in.
I was excited to finally see them and hear about the summit but when I asked about it I was met with disappointed faces. “We didn’t make it” one of them said. I could not believe it! I asked them what had happened and they told me they had made it about halfway to the summit when they got too tired to keep climbing. They tried to make one last push, but did not have the energy to keep going, so they decided to turn back. A smart decision seeing how a storm was rapidly forming. I told them to save the story for later, we needed to hurry back down or we’d be trapped by the rain near the top of the mountain.
Headed Home
Although I was still tired, I realized we really needed to get back down. One of my friends said he’d go ahead of us to try and get everything ready as he still had more energy left. My other friend and I would stay behind and try to get back down as fast as we could (we were both tired). Halfway down boulder field we started hearing thunder and knew then that we really needed to go faster… I think it took us about 15 minutes to get down – don’t ask me how I did it, but I think I was practically flying through the rocks. Trust me, the sound of thunder at that altitude is enough motivation.
Taken just before attempting Boulder Field. I didn't know what I was about to go through!
Once we were in flat ground, it got easier, but we still weren’t in the clear. We were still high up and the storm was picking up. We walked back the familiar trail, this time under a gloomy and rainy sky and after 2 hours of walking we cleared the bad weather. My friend and I looked at each other and without saying anything stopped for a break. We hadn’t had one since coming down from Boulder field and we were very exhausted. I told him that if we were to make it down we needed to rest for some time. I suggested a nap, which he agreed to and we dozed off for 20 minutes (terrible idea, but we were drained…). Our timer woke us up and we begrudgingly started back down. I had not realized it at the time, but both of us were out of water at this point and still had about 3 hours of walking to do.
It was the longest 3 hours of my life… with no water, legs barely working and an empty stomach, I still to this day do not know how both of us made it back. Yet somehow, we did and moments later met up with our other friend who had just gotten done packing everything.
As we got on the car, I couldn’t help but take one last look at the mountain that I gave my all to, yet was still not good enough. A fierce opponent, that I swore I would tackle another day, in better shape and better weather. But for today, I was happy to just be back in flat ground.
Looking back, I should have not attempted Boulder Field, I was very exhausted at the time and things could have gotten worse in just minutes, I was terribly foolish back then. I do not recommend anyone to do what I did that day, but rather to listen to your body and learn that sometimes there are setbacks that push our goals further, but not entirely out of reach.
To be continued...
Photos and video credit, because I was too tired to even remember to take pictures: Yumin Gao