Death on Long’s Peak proves a harrowing reminder

[paully]

But I can name 10 (North/South Maroon, Capitol, Pyramid, Wilson/El Diente, Little Bear, Crestones, Eolus... to name a few) that are far deadlier.

By what criteria? Longs has killed far more people than any of those other peaks listed. Why are those mountains deadlier than Longs? Even by percentages, I would bet that they most of them are not.

Some dangers on Longs:

1. Overall, probably the coldest, windiest, and stormiest 14er. It probably has the worst icing conditions as well.

2. Big crowds = more risk.

3. The standard route stays high for a long time and there isn't anywhere to bail off high on the mountain (same danger is present on some of the other ones on your list).

4. The smooth rock slabs are easy when dry, harder when wet or icy, more so than some of the other ones on the list.

5. The standard route is easy enough that almost anyone in reasonable shape, regardless of experience can climb it, but hard enough that it's easy to get in trouble.

6. The descent back down to timberline takes longer than any of the others on the list, with the possible exception of Capitol.

Of course the other ones have some of those dangers too, but I don't think I'd call them deadlier.

I'm basing it solely on my own experience, and on my assumption of what statistics will show. Longs has killed more people by percentage? Surely not... I don't read about fatalaties on Longs every year, but I do read about them roughly once per year on mountains like Little Bear, Maroon Bells, Crestones... even though the difference in number of annual climbers between Longs and these peaks is on the order of MAGNITUDES (i.e. 10s to 100s). I disagree that the crowds greatly increase the danger, there are not many areas of rockfall danger on Longs, having the extra people may be annoying but ultimately makes it a safer mountain to climb. You may be right on some of your points, I'm sure you are... but the only stat that matters would be number of fatalaties or accidents per climb attempts. These other mountains have Longs beat in that regard, there is no doubt. The fact that more novices climb Longs and therefore make it prone to accidents… doesn’t make Longs more deadly. It makes it a mountain that more people get in over their heads on because they made a bad choice. So maybe it’s dangerous in the sense that it’s visible from the plains and calls out to city-folk like a beacon… but it’s not more deadly than these other peaks in its own right. Keep in mind also that a HUGE number of mountain fatalities are a result of someone getting off-route… a thing that doesn’t tend to happen on Longs, especially the Keyhole route. Anyway, this is just my opinion.

[opticstalk]

If I was to start over again I would hike Longs first again. The first time I hiked Longs was in a group we were told to start at 3-4 AM. That was what we did, I summited before 8:30AM so, we started too early. Keyhole route I would not do again I much prefer the loft no follow the leader up and down.

To each his own I guess.

[speth]

Longs was my first 14er. There were a lot of people. It was tiring, and I was tired. I didn't fall down. No sunburns. I saw a guy with Five-Fingers in the Trough. People were drinking champagne on the summit. I took a nap. I guarded ChrisinAZ from college students while he took a nap in the hut at the Keyhole. Got to see several bottles of Aquafina fall into Wild Basin. All in all, it was a pretty good Saturday.

[Scott P]

I'm basing it solely on my own experience, and on my assumption of what statistics will show.

I respectfully disagree (and I do mean respectfully; I hold nothing against you or your opinion).

Statistics wise, Long Peak actually has had well over 1/3 of entire total of mountaineering deaths in the entire state of Colorado. I can put the exact statistics together in a spreadsheet when I have time. I compiled them as far as I could find back in early 2008 through the year 2006, but update it through the year 2012 and part of 2013 when I get time. I thought someone at listsofjohn was doing it as well (anyone know what happened to that project). This is by number of ascents only; I don't know where to get reasonable ascent numbers from each peak. What we could do though is to compare the total number of deaths that have occurred on each peak vs the total summit logs on either 14ers.com or Summitpost. It was give us a ratio we could use, even though it isn't a true ratio of deaths vs total successful ascents.

I disagree that the crowds greatly increase the danger, there are not many areas of rockfall danger on Longs, having the extra people may be annoying but ultimately makes it a safer mountain to climb

The Trough actually has rockfall danger. Waiting in line to pass places like the Narrows can also cause problems. I disagree that big crowds make the climb safer. So does Gerry Roach (see his book).

These other mountains have Longs beat in that regard, there is no doubt.

It would be hard to obtain and prove the deaths to ascent ratio for the Colorado 14ers, since so many people climb them and it's hard to get an accurate number of the number of people on each peak, but by looking at the numbers on total number of deaths, I would say that there is doubt.

The fact that more novices climb Longs and therefore make it prone to accidents… doesn’t make Longs more deadly.

Actually it does. Most of the world's most deadly mountains are deadly for exactly that reason. The biggest killers in the mountaineering world aren't Cerro Torre, Ogre, Changabang, etc, most of the biggest killers are mountains like Mont Blanc, Elbrus, and Aconcagua, though on the latter at least deaths have dropped significantly. The killer mountains in the US are Denali, Mt Washington, Hood, Rainier, and Longs and the reason why so many people have died is often because they attract novices and due to the fact that they are underestimated. The word "deadly" means that people die on them.

By death rates, some of the harder climbs are indeed the deadliest. From what I can gather, currently the mountains with the highest death ratios in the world are Kawa Korpo followed by Gongga Shan (Minya Konka). Yes, those mountains are deadly when it comes to ratios, even though that many people haven't been killed on them.

It makes it a mountain that more people get in over their heads on because they made a bad choice. So maybe it’s dangerous in the sense that it’s visible from the plains and calls out to city-folk like a beacon…

Yes; that's one of the reasons why it has taken 60 lives.

but it’s not more deadly than these other peaks in its own right.

Perhaps you mean more technical or more risky for an comparably experienced person, then deadly. More deadly means more have died.

Aconcagua is one of the least technical mountains of it's elevation in the world, but before very recent years (deaths have dropped much in recent years), it actually had one of the highest death rates in the Andes. This is mostly because more novices attempted and underestimated it, as well as people would go up to fast because it was "too easy".

Anyway, it should also be mentioned that in recent years, even the deadliest year on the 14ers has about a 0.00002 ratio of deaths to successful ascents, assuming the total estimates made on total ascents of 14ers in a year are reasonably accurate. Overall, the chances are in your favor that mountain climbing on peaks such as the 14ers will prolong rather than shorten your life.

[MountainHiker]

5. The standard route is easy enough that almost anyone in reasonable shape, regardless of experience can climb it, but hard enough that it's easy to get in trouble.

Yes, definitely agree.

Many of us have been amazed for years how many people attempt Longs for their first fourteener. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. The fact many people do fine, and now consider it a good first fourteener, doesn’t change how unforgiving Longs can be.

Fact is a lot of people discover they get altitude sickness when they drive up from Denver and hike a fourteener. Should they discover that on Grays or Longs? Fact is more novices than not underestimate what can happen with the weather. Should they learn those lessons on Longs or Sherman?

Another fact is a lot of people start Longs but don’t summit. They get to the Keyhole and realize they are physically and mentally spent. The wind blasting them in the face often helps their decision to turn around. That long hike in has probably saved dozens of lives. There will always be “I did fine” stories online. But what I hear is inexperience.

Some people are naturally good climbers and naturally strong climbers. Even if you are ready for Longs a lot can happen on any fourteener. It’s best you have those first minor bumps in the path on the easier ones. Rushing the learning curve can be fatal, even if most get away with it, most times. The mountains take the experienced also. The experienced tend to be taken on harder routes. Longs has a disproportionate number of inexperienced. That is an undeniable factor in the death rate. Experience isn’t just how technically capable a climber you are. After three decades I’m still gaining experience which shapes my decision making.

[iholdthepain]

Longs is the deadliest 14er in CO by the numbers alone, but it is also attempted by the most climbers BY FAR... Either way, it's a dangerous mountain and requires respect and complete attention... It was my first 14er (2 years ago on July 4) because it was my first real mountain obsession... With a decent fitness level, good research, and preparation it is a great introduction to the 14ers!

I suggest starting early (1-2am) on a full moon night.

[tlongpine]

"Deadliness" is a quantitative measure of how many people have died on the mountain.

"Dangerousness" is a qualitative measure of objective risk.

Example: Mt. Hood(~130 deaths) is deadlier than K2(~80 deaths), but K2 is inarguably more dangerous. The deadliness of Mt. Hood, like Longs, is a factor of volume.

I know your counter-argument: "...but K2 kills 20% of the people who try to climb it. 10,000+ people try to climb Mt Hood each year, but only 130 have died. Isn't it obvious that K2 is deadlier?"

No, but it has a higher death rate.

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[flyingmagpie]

Longs was my first 14er. I climbed it when I was 19, a student at CSU, in 1969. The cables were still in place. The standard route at the time was to go up the cables, summit, then descend the Keyhole route. The standard route was a big loop, and climbers ascending did not have to watch out for climbers descending, and vice versa. I climbed it in the summer. I am sure I was wearing the standard student outfit at the time, Levi's and a cotton t-shirt. I probably carried a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and an army surplus rain poncho and canteen, maybe a light jacket. Ten essentials? I didn't know there was such a thing. I didn't carry a map, and I had no idea where I was going. I climbed with friends, and we didn't start early. We were lucky it turned out to be a fine day. A few sprinkles of rain late in the afternoon, right as we got back down to treeline.

My second time climbing Longs, about 30 years later, was a mistake. I had set out to hike to Chasm Lake. It was spring, with a lot of snow remaining. I had spent a good portion of that 30 years as a runner, and I was in good shape. Once again I got a late start. A younger woman and an older gentleman (I presumed he was her father) were coming up the lower trail behind me fast. Competitive, I told myself I wouldn't let them pass me. I sped up and they sped up behind me. It became kind of an undeclared race, with maintaining self-esteem as the prize. When I got to Jim's Grove Junction, Jim Detterline and a group of young people were resting there on the trail. I think somebody had even taken a jacket off, and thrown it over the trail junction sign to dry. I said hello to Jim, whom I recognized, and in doing so missed the turn to Chasm. The young woman and her father followed me for a few hundred yards, then realized their mistake and turned around. I pressed on, crossed a big snowfield, and soon came to Granite Pass. I climbed some grassy switchbacks, and the next thing I knew, I was at the Boulder Field. "What the heck," I told myself. Might as well go for it. The cables had been removed in 1973. The standard route now was the Keyhole route, I knew. There was little snow in the Boulder Field, just the snowy silhouette of the Dove above it. The ledges were icy. The trough was filled with snow, and it made me worry a little bit. I noticed most people descending were carrying either ice axes or trekking poles. I asked another climber about that, and he pointed out a couple of skinny fir saplings someone had used for make-do trekking poles, then stuck into the snow and abandoned at the bottom of the trough for someone else to use. Who could ask for more? So, having no real idea what I was doing, I started up the trough with my make-shift poles. Clouds were moving in. Not storm clouds, but a kind of fog. On the home stretch, I watched a pillar of cloud dance by me and head for the summit. By the time I reached the summit, I was in thick cloud. No thunder, no rain, just dampness. I had completed my second ascent, this time in technical conditions! At about this time I ran out of water. On my descent of the homestretch, I slipped on slick rock, fell on my butt, and one of my empty water bottles bounced out of my pack and down the slope, disappearing. The rest of my descent was uneventful, except that when I reached the Boulder Field again, I was so thirsty I got down on my hands and knees and drank from a big pool of melted snow water. I filled my one remaining half-liter bottle from the pool too, so I would have something to drink on the long hike out.

Longs may not be very forgiving, and can be deadly, but at the same time can be a great teacher even for an underserving student! I realize now how lucky I was on those first two climbs that, even though I didn't realize it at the time, marked the beginning of my long journey to climb the 14ers.

[Hungry Jack]

I just saw the press release stating that Nahon's death was ruled an accident by the coroner. Unless my phone browser fooled me on the timing of the press release, it seems odd that this determination would require several months.

[jchapell]

I just saw the press release stating that Nahon's death was ruled an accident by the coroner. Unless my phone browser fooled me on the timing of the press release, it seems odd that this determination would require several months.

Yes, it was in the St. Louis papers this weekend (Nahon was from Missouri). I was curious about the same thing.