Download Agreement, Release, and Acknowledgement of Risk:
You (the person requesting this file download) fully understand mountain climbing ("Activity") involves risks and dangers of serious bodily injury, including permanent disability, paralysis, and death ("Risks") and you fully accept and assume all such risks and all responsibility for losses, costs, and damages you incur as a result of your participation in this Activity.
You acknowledge that information in the file you have chosen to download may not be accurate and may contain errors. You agree to assume all risks when using this information and agree to release and discharge 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. and the author(s) of such information (collectively, the "Released Parties").
You hereby discharge the Released Parties from all damages, actions, claims and liabilities of any nature, specifically including, but not limited to, damages, actions, claims and liabilities arising from or related to the negligence of the Released Parties. You further agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. and each of the other Released Parties from and against any loss, damage, liability and expense, including costs and attorney fees, incurred by 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. or any of the other Released Parties as a result of you using information provided on the 14ers.com or 14ers Inc. websites.
You have read this agreement, fully understand its terms and intend it to be a complete and unconditional release of all liability to the greatest extent allowed by law and agree that if any portion of this agreement is held to be invalid the balance, notwithstanding, shall continue in full force and effect.
By clicking "OK" you agree to these terms. If you DO NOT agree, click "Cancel"...
Peaks: Meeker, Longs, Pagoda, and Storm (Front Range) Date Climbed: Sunday July 29, 2007 Group: Solo Route: Loft to Meeker, Clarks Arrow to Longs, Longs to Pagoda, Trough to Keyhole to Storm and out
With my hiking partner marmotman on a vacation in Yellowstone, I found myself sitting in Boulder, bored and anxious to do some hiking. I was flipping through the Longs Peak section of Roach's book and noticed the "Longs Grand Slam" which collects Longs and its four surrounding thirteeners. I have always wanted to summit Longs via the Loft route and I figured I could get some thirteeners along the way. I left Boulder at 3:00am on Sunday and arrived at the Longs Peak Ranger Station at 3:45, the parking lot was completely full as expected, I parked along the road and left the trailhead at 4:00am. The trail to the Chasm Lake turnoff was heavily populated, I passed probably fifty people along the three mile hike to the turnoff. I headed towards Chasm Lake and reached the bottom of the Loft couloir after maybe a half mile or so, once off the Keyhole route the crowds completely disappeared. About halfway up the couloir the terrain turned to rock and steepened, I found the exit ledge pretty easily, traversed southeast (left), and switched back across the second ledge to gain the Loft.
Sunrise from the first ledge traverse near the Loft
The Loft couloir and Ships Prow from the exit ledge
There wasn't any noticeable exposure on either of these ledges, there is a large cairn marking the switchback where the route cuts north to bypass the cliffs just below the Loft. Once across the second ledge, the Loft is another hundred yards away.
The second ledge from the switchback
From the Loft I began the ascent of Mt. Meeker's northwest slope, summiting at 6:30am. On the summit I ran into Wes Bradshaw, a member of 14ers.com We exchanged some route information and headed for Longs.
Mt. Meeker Summit
Longs from Meeker's summit
After descending from the Loft, I looked for Clarks Arrow for a few minutes (to no avail) and began the ascent up Keplinger's Couloir (or maybe one couloir over I'm not really sure). After about a thousand feet of elevation the route cuts west (left) and joins the Keyhole route at the base of the homestretch.
The route from the Clarks Arrow area
There were about forty people on the narrows and homestretch, I had almost forgotten I was on Longs Peak until rejoining the Keyhole route.
The homestretch
I summited Longs at 8:00am and spent ten minutes taking in the views.
Mt. Meeker and the Loft from Longs Summit
After taking some pics I headed down the homestretch and said goodbye to the Keyhole route again. The route to Pagoda Mountain leaves the Keyhole route at the bottom of the homestretch and traverses below the narrows towards the Keyboard of the Winds.
Pagoda Mountian
Although impossible to see from the homestretch, there is a one hundred foot cliff blocking easy passage to the Longs/Pagoda saddle. I never really found any good information about traversing to Pagoda from Longs so I was a little suprised to come across this cliff. After searching around a bit there still did not seem to be a good way down so I dedided to downclimb to a ledge I could see about ten feet below me. I ended up getting into some terrain I was pretty uncomfortable on and had to traverse across some exposed ledges to another downclimb. I repeated this several times and somehow found my way to the bottom. From the Longs/Pagoda saddle it was about a twenty minute hike to the summit of Pagoda. After looking at the cliff from Pagoda I was able to find a much easier return route which ascends a gulley to the top of the cliff band.
Longs from Pagoda's summit and my descent route
A closer look at the cliff band, my descent route is in red, my ascent route in blue
The Keyhole and Storm Peak from Pagoda's summit
From Pagoda's summit I descended back to the saddle and ascended back to the bottom of the narrows. Not seeing a good way to regain the Keyhole route I decided to climb up the narrows, finding a fairly easy Class IV route to the top. Once on the narrows, I descended the trough and traversed to the Keyhole, at which point I noticed that the weather was beginning to turn ugly. I quickly ascended Storm Peak from the Keyhole and took a look at the weather again, large thunderheads were gaining strength on the other side of Mt. Lady Washington and the summit of Longs was quickly engulfed in clouds.
Longs from Storm's Summit
. . . ten minutes later
At this point I abandoned the idea of going for Lady Washington, it just didn't seem worth the risk and I was very happy with what I had already accomplished. I descended to the Chasm Lake turnoff and took another look at Longs which was barely visable through the clouds.
Longs Peak from the Chasm Lake turnoff
The thunder heads continued to build while I descended underneath the treeline. It was crazy to think that there were still maybe a hundred people on Longs Peak, there were even some still heading up when I left the boulder field. I arrived at the trailhead at 1:00pm, making the trip in nine hours. This was a really cool hike although grueling at times, the best part was getting multiple views of Longs from every side as I worked my way around the mountain. After this hike I feel very familiar with the Longs Peak area.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Excellent time! Hope I can even come close to it for just Meeker and Longs.
You don't say anything about the much-discussed difficulty in finding the correct route down off the Loft and over to the Homestretch. Is it really obvious, discussion notwithstanding??
your a nut, you've been sweeping through these multi-mtn days like its a part time job and making some mindbending times in the process. I assume you'll finish off your bender with a humboldt/kc/peak/needle combo in a day, have fun with that one.
I too always wonder about all those people around Longs in the late afternoon, maybe some people are immune to lightning.
And your pictures are sick, thanks for the TR, have a good one.
Read this for the first time sitting here in New Jersey. I can‘t wait to back in the hills after looking at this. I have considered doing Longs again this summer by the Loft route and this report clinches it for me. Thinking of doing it early enough to still have some snow though.
Caution: The information contained in this report may not be accurate and should not be the only resource used in preparation for your climb. Failure to have the necessary experience, physical conditioning, supplies or equipment can result in injury or death. 14ers.com and the author(s) of this report provide no warranties, either express or implied, that the information provided is accurate or reliable. By using the information provided, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless 14ers.com and the report author(s) with respect to any claims and demands against them, including any attorney fees and expenses. Please read the 14ers.com Safety and Disclaimer pages for more information.
Please respect private property: 14ers.com supports the rights of private landowners to determine how and by whom their land will be used. In Colorado, it is your responsibility to determine if land is private and to obtain the appropriate permission before entering the property.