Longs Peak
Kiener’s, Colorado’s most classic mountaineering route is what was described by others as we summitted Long Peak in mid-august. Kiener’s ascends the dramatic east face of Longs Peaks, involving snow climbing, ledge traverses, technical roped pitches, and classic scrambles above the sheer diamond face.
Ben and I started from the trail head at 2:30AM, and were able to snag the last parking spot (see there are lots of crazy people that do this.) We made good time up the trail, passing other parties that would be taking the standard keyhole route up to the top. I had forgotten my headlamp in the Blazer, so I navigated the trail by bright moonlight, making the hike all the more memorable. Within 2 hrs, we were above the treeline making our way to Chasm Lake. With a bright moon, clear skies, and perfect temps, we were at the base of the diamond right at daybreak. Here we sat, ate and drank watching the sun rise over Kansas. Now with enough light, we donned our crampons, mountain axes, and harnesses.
Our 1st steep ascent led us up Lambs Slide, a 45 degree snow couloir/glacier. We roped up for good measure and Ben placed a couple ice screws for protection. (Exciting things that happened on the slope: Ben dropped a biner which almost hit another party, loose rock fall hit me and I caught a rock stopping it from taking out another party). After some time we finally made it to the Broadway ledges, letting the other party go by. We removed out crampons, and scrambled off rope along the ledge above the Broadway slab. The exposure was pretty thrilling, being about 1000 ft off the deck.
We roped up for securities sake around the boulder traverse, which was a large protruding boulder on the ledge that one has to hug around, while being suspended above the slab. It all was very awkward with large fully stacked packs. From here we scrambled more along the ledge and below the Notch (all large normally snow couloir). Here we finally roped up on a large picnic block and Ben led the first 1st pitch out and up some easy scrambling in broken chimneys with one 5.4 move. I followed suit leading the next pitch far out right to the edge of the diamond and then up. Again there was a 5.4 move, but it was made interesting with large packs, and using standard hiking boots. We pitched out one more rope length, making sure we got to a good ledge to pack away all the technical equipment.
Now in the middle of the broken rocks below the peak, we were ultimately committed. This part held some of the best rock scrambling. Reaching and climbing with fully packs, we ascended a sustained and thrilling set of broken steps to the diamond steps. We met one group which just came off of the casual route. At the diamond step (the very to edge at the flat diamond wall), we peered out and saw the vast emptiness. To get around the step, we had to do one easy reachy moved, on large exposed block. It was very cool.
We then scrambled some more to the top, and we greeted by pack of other hikers the came up the standard keyhole route. I took some pictures; we made some new friends and then decided to descend the cable’s route to rap down to the boulder field quicker. The Rap was kind of clustered as we tried to pair up and share ropes with the other team we met. They seemed to be losing their minds, and weather was starting to look bad. After wasting probably 1 hr trying to get down, we both were on the ground and sprinting through the boulder field. National Park Rescue ended up watching us the whole time back we had fluorescent shirts on and were sprinting across the mountain side. They greeted us at the campsite in the boulder field, and commended us on a fast movement.
Here we refilled our water, after having not drank anything for over 3 hrs and prepare for the terrible, awful descent down the standard trail. I ended up being eaten by mosquitos and losing all control of my stabilizer muscles. I ended up not being able to walk a straight line or maintain control the last half of the descent.
In total we were on the trail for 16 hrs. and travel around 16 miles (I think?).
- 3 hrs and 45 mins to the base in the morning
- 5-6 hrs of messing around on the face.
- 5 hrs. of grueling descent.
I think this might be the gnarliest adventure yet. Sooo awesome!
“Diamond in the Morning” picture is ridiculous. Nice work.
“forgot my headlamp” – amateur 😛 – nice work man im jealous of your mountain climbing steez and will be working to one up you 😀
@Jason Thanks, yea the light in the morning was crazy, especially with the clear skys.
@Dave Rookie mistake, hardly :P,, real mountain men use the light of the stars and moon and call forth upon their animal friends to navigate at night.