Longs Route Choice

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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dcduck
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Longs Route Choice

Post by dcduck »

I'm looking for some advice on what route to choose on Longs Peak for a solo climb on 5/26. I haven't seen any trip reports recently and plan to treat this as a winter climb based on the average snowpack that I've seen from previous TRs. A few questions I was hoping to get some advice one:

1. When rappelling from the Beaver, can you make it all the way down to the Notch with a 60M rope? Everything I've read says you can, but everyone that used a 70M rope says they're glad they brought it without explanation. Just trying to get a sense of whether I'll need to come off the rope a little early and downclimb and what that looks like.

2. For this time of year, should I expect enough snow on the north face that I can solo it without facing much mixed climbing? Recognizing that this is also a question of experience, I'm confident in my abilities on snow but am trying to only ascent via the North Face if the snow is in decent shape.

My initial plan was to ascend via the Loft route, rap the Beaver, come up the Home Stretch, and descend the North Face. I know finding the top eye bolt will be difficult in that situation, but would be fine downclimbing if there's good snow. Since time is a factor, I wanted to see if there's any info out there on going straight up and down the North Face instead during this part of the season.

Thanks to any and all on this.
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Alpinefroggy
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by Alpinefroggy »

Howdy,


1) The rap off the Beaver has an initial downclimb to get to the typical rap anchor. I was told (I have not done it) that it is class 4 and feels really sketchy. The group I know of that did it, set up an initial rappel to get to that ledge and then did the rap off the Beaver. Thats all I know.

2) I did cables last June and it was a mixed climb but it was an easy mixed climb. The eyebolts were exposed but our largest carabiners wouldn't clip to the bolts so they were slinged. Then, when we rappelled we didn't actually use the top eyebolt as our rappel anchor. There was a large boulder that we tied some cordellette around and our barrel knotted combined 2x30 m rope was more than enough to get to the bottom of the technical pitch. The climb up was only 5.4 and I felt like I could solo it even in boots and crampons. Then, the the top and climbers left traverse was in great snow and was easy, though it felt really airy.

this other group I mention did the same route you are discussing and with our discussion we both mutually agreed that up and down Cables was much faster and probably the cleaner route overall.

For context we weren't doddling, and it took my group 16 hrs in a group of 6 to do up and down cables. And the other group which was larger. Well that was even longer.

So I would say it sort of depends on what you are comfortable doing solo in terms of technicality.
dcduck
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by dcduck »

Very helpful. I figure if I get to the cables route and don’t feel comfortable, I can always bail to the keyhole route. I appreciate it.
pbakwin
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by pbakwin »

It seems odd to carry a rope all the way up there just to rap off the Beaver. Doing Clarks Arrow would be easier. Also, on the NF if you can find the standard DC you can find the bolts. And almost for sure there will be tracks in the snow showing you where to go. If you have a rope you can simply rap off, but yes you can downclimb. It will be mixed for sure. We were there 2 weeks ago and it was much more rock than snow on the technical pitch of the NF. Did Loft-Clarks and down the NF, rapping the tech part (we had young, strong people to carry 2 skinny 30m). But I have DC'ed it many times in similar conditions. Generally drier than normal for this time of year. When the NF is fully snow covered it is excellent, but unfortunately it was not.
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dcduck
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by dcduck »

Super helpful - especially on the conditions. Thanks!
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jfm3
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by jfm3 »

You could also climb the Trough Couloir through Glacier Gorge. I made an attempt on May 14 (turned around at 12,600') and just posted a conditions report. It will not be as exciting as the routes on the east/north sides of the mountain, but it would probably be more straightforward.
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Mark Curtis
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by Mark Curtis »

Clark's Arrow is a blast! Not as tedious as the approach to the Keyhole. Challenging terrain, but not crazy. Routefinding is fun....but also challenging at times.
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dcduck
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by dcduck »

I found some GPS coordinates to the top of the North Face rappel bolt, so I'm thinking the Loft to Clark's Arrow and then down the NF. Thanks!
pbakwin
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Re: Longs Route Choice

Post by pbakwin »

Finding the Clarks Arrow route off the Loft isn't too hard. The best tip is to stay at the altitude of the Loft as you walk west - don't go up or down. Eventually you will see a big cairn at the top of the right downclimb gulley.
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