Peak(s): Longs Peak
Location: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
Date: August 12, 2018
Start time: 2:13 am
Summit: 10:41 am
End: 7:33 pm
Planning
The planning for this hike really started with the lack of planning when attempting to summit Longs last year in mid-September. Erick attempted to summit in shorts without the appropriate clothing packed and I didn’t even own the right clothing to take on mother nature that day. 60 mph winds coming over the keyhole and a -20 wind-chill was no match for us. Although we were able to take in some sweet views and cloud development like I had never seen prior or since. This attempt was, by and large, the same hike 11 months later with improved pack lists and perfect weather.
Preparation
Preparation for this hike really got underway and going hot and heavy on April 3rd when I had surgery on my left hip for a labral tear and femoral cam head hip impingement. This surgery to date has left me significantly weaker and in much worse shape athletically than I was prior. My left leg is roughly half as strong as my right and before the surgery I was playing hockey multiple times a week to provide some solid conditioning, Since surgery, I have played once. I have been exercising but the climb back to pre-surgery strength and athletic levels is still a long ways off. The week before the hike I was on travel for work and after landing in Colorado I started on a caloric overload diet based on blueberry poptarts enriched with Cool Ranch Doritos. I don’t think this correlates at all to my record slow pace. Needless to say, I wasn’t helping myself make this hike any easier on myself.
The Hike
Starting in the dark at the parking lot we played a game of cat and mouse with another group before hitting the tree line alternating breaks and clothing layer switches. Below the tree line there is a slight but continuous elevation gain that continues once in the tundra until you get to boulder field around 12,400ft.
This is the first section of the hike that might provide a challenge, until this point there are no real obstacles or challenges just continuous elevation gain. Boulder field itself is relatively easy compared to what lays ahead. Once the sun is out as it’s mainly hoping from one large boulder to another toward the iconic keyhole.
There is a designated water source ahead of the privies at the start of the boulder field. There were also a number of streams flowing through the boulder field. Some you could hear below the boulders and not reach, playing hard to get, as well as a few that were flowing and easily accessible, especially near the boulder field wilderness campsites. We refilled here on the way back.
The real fun begins after the keyhole once you’re on the western side of the mountain. This section and the narrows were the scariest part of the hike to me with a sharp drop off and minimal width to pass on the trail. There was some decent traffic going both ways on the way up which brings some fun coordination with strangers.
Next up is the trough, a fairly steep slope with a number of small unstable rocks. Most people tended on this day to work up the right side. Here we ran into a park ranger, Phil, hiking up, on duty, with likely a 55liter pack full of emergency things. Our buddy Phil was hauling and has been trying to get to a summit pace of sub 3 hours, even if I was acclimated, Phil and I will never be in the same league. He is a boss and was a super nice guy. Once you get to the top of the trough there is the narrows and then a short steep elevation gain race to the top. This is where I saw one of the classic sights of Longs – an older gentleman in jeans, sketchers, and a bottle of water like that you would get out of a vending machine. This is a sight you see more on Longs then you would expect/hope based on its difficulty. Based on this mountaints non-isolated location it happens. On a day with perfect weather you can get away with it, as I witnessed. Regardless, it’s a bold move especially with how unpredictable the weather can be.
Once up the final stretch we made it, summiting this mean motor scooter on our second try 11 month after our first tango with Longs. It was unreal, I was so pumped to not only make getting through the sketchiness of the narrows and will my unprepared self to the top, but also knocking down my first 14er four months after hip surgery.
At the top there is a lot of space to share with all the fellow winners of the day. We spent some time taking in the views and catching our breath. The one thing I found odd at the top was the number of bugs. A lot more flies then I would have expect at that elevation. This is only the half way point. The real fun for me began here. It starts with going down the home stretch which is much more of scary/awesome view facing outwards. I took most of this like an elementary school student at recess in love with the slide, sliding down on my ass. Huge shout out to my hiking pants, after all the sliding I was expecting them to be ripped and have a few embarrassing placed holes, but they are still in mint condition!
The next big event is heading back down the trough, this was an extremely slow go nursing my left leg out of fear, approaching all the necessary loose rock footings like a scardey cat. This was also my first bout with the Elevation God’s, my heartbeat continued to race even when not moving or moving slower than your grandma and I picked up a massive headache. Going down the trough took me an hour and a half to two hours. Not exactly an athletic triumph or something I am proud of.
Back onto the way to the keyhold I spotted Erick patiently waiting for me in what appeared to be a Zen-like state. Once caught up, to where he had been sitting for possibly two hours, I took a break. I broke out the inhaler and two Advil. Something I should have done much sooner. We then took off after the keyhole at a snail’s pace. Shortly after this is where Erick claims to have lost one of his Nalgene bottles falling out of his pack and down the mountain. Between us girl scouts, from my view, it looked like he threw that brand new bottle he bought the day before down the mountain out of anger. Way to leave no trace!
We finally made it back to “easy” hiking, crossing over the keyhole, this is where we ran into a local pro informing me that people can die to elevation sickness and that you should take ten days to acclimate. Passing through the boulder field we resupplied our water. Reconnected with Phil and our local elevation pro who had consulted with Phil and adjusted his claim on altitude sickness. Phil and our local pro had taken a fellow hiker who was having troubles under their wing. Our fellow hiker who had fallen ill had flown in the night before and had nothing with him but a bottle of water. I gave him a buffalo snack from my pack and we said our goodbyes. The rest of the hike down was fairly smooth sailing and an awesome view to take in, if you’re following the guidelines of hiking a 14er, all of this hiking is performed in the dark on the way up so while it is an out and back trail, on the way back its like you’re seeing something for the first time, or 11 months later in our case.
Lessons Learned
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- Pack multiple layers you can easily take on, off, and change out as needed: for the upper layers I had a underarmour t-shirt, Patagonia Capilene Midweight Long Underwear Crew Top, Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket, Frogg Toggs Ultra-Lite2 Rain coat.
- My high caloric diet based on blueberry pop tarts and Cool Ranch Doritos was probably not my best move, I never eat like this on a normal day. and should not have changed it up with useless calories for no real reason. Dont change things up on game day.
- While I think that 10 days to get acclimated a little much, I wish I was in better condition before starting this hike.
- Sunscreen early and often! Many fellow trail buddies felt the need to inform me about my lobster red neck, I actually applied SPF50 multiple times to my forarms, face, and neck. Unfortunaitly I forgot about my triceps. While covered by my shirt while standing, they are exposed when boldering and got really burnt.
- Our original plan was to backpack back up the same trail to the goblin forest wilderness site. After 17 hours of fun and driving into estest park for dinner neither of us wanted anything to do with this, so we grabbed the cheapest, dirtiest, room we could find, got showers and a good night sleep. Thankfully for us, we were able to bare witness to likely the strongest fastened ceiling fan in the entire state of Colorado!
Last modified: August 22, 2018
