Peak Condition Update | Longs Peak

Peak:	Longs Peak
Route:	The Notch
Range:	Front
Posted By:	JohnnyDangerous
Date of Info:	10/19/2014
Date Posted:	10/20/2014

Details
The Notch in October is a pretty interesting route, and more challenging than anything I have done to date. Most of my photos from technical sections are either blurry from water and sweat or I didn't take any because the climbing was fantastic. The hike up to the base of Lamb's Slide has some unconsolidated snow, but overall wasn't very bad. We geared up at the base of Lamb's Slide, and found it to be in very good condition. There was some sinking in the snow, but overall it was very good quality to the Broadway exit. Broadway was much, much easier than I thought it would be. With snow all the way across, we were able to traverse above the "step around move" to the base of the Notch without roping up. The beginning of the Notch had the worse snow of the entire route. It was deep sugar, and made for a tough 100 vertical feet. Past this bad snow though, the fun began. The notch couloir itself is in pretty awesome shape right now. It is a mixture of 60 degree neve, WI 2+, alpine ice, and contained 3 rock/ice steps to surmount. We roped up for 2 short sections, and in hindsight should have roped the whole thing, but the climbing was so great we soloed most of it. Once at the dogleg right the ice mixture subsided, and it was back to snow and rock. This required 2 short roped pitches up to the base of the final 5.4 pitch. First, let me say that this is not 5.4 in these conditions. We had made great time all day by soloing most of the route, but in these conditions, the final pitch took us 2.5 hours. I would grade it M4 as some of the upper ice was crap, and we had to dry tool across a slab. From here, the slabs to the summit ridge were dry and it was class 3 all the way up. We made the summit at 4:15, and descended the North Face. Overall, it was a fun, very long day in the mountains. I would recommend this route to anyone looking for a challenging mixed route up Long's this fall.

Details

The Notch in October is a pretty interesting route, and more challenging than anything I have done to date. Most of my photos from technical sections are either blurry from water and sweat or I didn't take any because the climbing was fantastic.

The hike up to the base of Lamb's Slide has some unconsolidated snow, but overall wasn't very bad. We geared up at the base of Lamb's Slide, and found it to be in very good condition. There was some sinking in the snow, but overall it was very good quality to the Broadway exit.

Broadway was much, much easier than I thought it would be. With snow all the way across, we were able to traverse above the "step around move" to the base of the Notch without roping up.

The beginning of the Notch had the worse snow of the entire route. It was deep sugar, and made for a tough 100 vertical feet. Past this bad snow though, the fun began.

The notch couloir itself is in pretty awesome shape right now. It is a mixture of 60 degree neve, WI 2+, alpine ice, and contained 3 rock/ice steps to surmount. We roped up for 2 short sections, and in hindsight should have roped the whole thing, but the climbing was so great we soloed most of it. Once at the dogleg right the ice mixture subsided, and it was back to snow and rock. This required 2 short roped pitches up to the base of the final 5.4 pitch.

First, let me say that this is not 5.4 in these conditions. We had made great time all day by soloing most of the route, but in these conditions, the final pitch took us 2.5 hours. I would grade it M4 as some of the upper ice was crap, and we had to dry tool across a slab.

From here, the slabs to the summit ridge were dry and it was class 3 all the way up. We made the summit at 4:15, and descended the North Face.

Overall, it was a fun, very long day in the mountains. I would recommend this route to anyone looking for a challenging mixed route up Long's this fall.

Comments or Questions

Dave B

Awesome beta!
10/20/2014 10:05pm

Don't see a lot of early season reports on the Notch, looks spicy!

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