Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
Does anyone know what the weather forecast was for that day? Did the deteriorating conditions come as a surprise?
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
I was watching the weather all week (was also attempting to summit on Friday 9/16 but departed down from the keyhole at 630am).
It depended which source you looked at.
For the morning it was pretty consistent - clear and increasing winds. But for the afternoon...
Mountain forecast had rain as likely for 11K and below but clear for the summit. I found that quite odd.
The official RMNP page has a different weather source for Longs (https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... yoyx3bMJaR) who was calling for increasing winds and rain/snow as likely in the afternoon at the summit (different than MF).
I think it caught some people off guard. We talked to groups on the way down who mentioned a "break" in the weather. From everything I read, conditions were only going to get worse in the afternoon. It was part of the reason we turned around - faced with high winds at the keyhole at 6am we quickly realized our gloves and boots weren't warm enough for what were clearly freezing conditions. The winds at the keyhole were way worse than what I had seen in the forecasts for the summit. Recognize that is often the case, but looking over the ledges we could see clouds/fog being blown at them from the west at the same speed.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
I camped in the park Friday night and had checked weather for peaks to hike Saturday morning (did Mt. Chiquita). As wolfpeak said, it was supposed to deteriorate almost everywhere in the park by afternoon but still just small amounts of rain/snow forecasted. When I got to my campsite, things looked a lot worse than I would have expected in the mountains. I heard a lot of people talking about being caught out in bad weather unexpectedly Friday.
Saturday morning we got rain, snow and small hail on the the way up, which was definitely not in the forecasts by weather.gov, mountain-forecast.com, or opensummit.
So the forecast wasn't great, but I think the reality was eve worse than the forecast.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
I’m becoming more and more certain I was the last to see him alive. I passed him at the top of the Trough. He was heading up and I down; the heavy winds turned into snowy ice shortly after we split and I never saw anyone else until past the Boulder field.
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/peaksta ... cnum=24369
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
What time was this?JeffPurdy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:41 pmI’m becoming more and more certain I was the last to see him alive. I passed him at the top of the Trough. He was heading up and I down; the heavy winds turned into snowy ice shortly after we split and I never saw anyone else until past the Boulder field.
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/peaksta ... cnum=24369
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
The one time I did the Keyhole route I somehow missed a bullseye on the descent at the ledges and wound up inadvertently going high looking for the next one, only to notice it WAY below me. I wonder if it was the same spot.CaptainSuburbia wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:23 am From the Estes Park Trail Gazette:
...
The man’s body was located approximately 80 feet above The Ledges by park visitors
Regardless, it's truly heartbreaking to hear. RIP to the climber and condolences to his loved ones.
"But in every walk with Nature, one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
Kinda wondering if they starting climbing up to the False Keyhole. I did that my first time down, then tried to descend to the east. This is actually doable, but when conditions are less than ideal, it's pretty sketchy.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
That was my first thought as well. When I did keyhole ridge I was shocked how close the ledges really were. Maybe 150-200 feet below the false keyhole, with class 3-4 terrain between. Easy mistake to make.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
The 1st time I did the Keyhole I also turned to soon and got to high on the return route and was way above the bullseye. I had good weather and I still made the mistake, it is a very easy mistake to make. It all looks the same in that area.jaymz wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:58 pm The one time I did the Keyhole route I somehow missed a bullseye on the descent at the ledges and wound up inadvertently going high looking for the next one, only to notice it WAY below me. I wonder if it was the same spot.
Regardless, it's truly heartbreaking to hear. RIP to the climber and condolences to his loved ones.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
Don't they have a sign warning climbers not to descend there? Not maligning the deceased, but I distinctly recall there being a sign at the False Keyhole warning climbers of the problem. I haven't been up there in years, however, maybe it was taken down?climbingcue wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:17 amThe 1st time I did the Keyhole I also turned to soon and got to high on the return route and was way above the bullseye. I had good weather and I still made the mistake, it is a very easy mistake to make. It all looks the same in that area.jaymz wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:58 pm The one time I did the Keyhole route I somehow missed a bullseye on the descent at the ledges and wound up inadvertently going high looking for the next one, only to notice it WAY below me. I wonder if it was the same spot.
Regardless, it's truly heartbreaking to hear. RIP to the climber and condolences to his loved ones.
-Tom
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
edited
Last edited by martintravis on Sun Feb 19, 2023 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Incident at Longs Peak Today (9/17/2022)
TomPierce wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:18 amDon't they have a sign warning climbers not to descend there? Not maligning the deceased, but I distinctly recall there being a sign at the False Keyhole warning climbers of the problem. I haven't been up there in years, however, maybe it was taken down?climbingcue wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:17 amThe 1st time I did the Keyhole I also turned to soon and got to high on the return route and was way above the bullseye. I had good weather and I still made the mistake, it is a very easy mistake to make. It all looks the same in that area.jaymz wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:58 pm The one time I did the Keyhole route I somehow missed a bullseye on the descent at the ledges and wound up inadvertently going high looking for the next one, only to notice it WAY below me. I wonder if it was the same spot.
Regardless, it's truly heartbreaking to hear. RIP to the climber and condolences to his loved ones.
-Tom
I've only seen pictures of the tiny red sign so not speaking from experience, but it seems like it would be easy to miss if you get off route because you can only see it from below, not above. Additionally would be difficult if visibility was obscured as it was on Friday and Saturday.
The coroners report will be key to understanding how this played out, but the location below the false keyhole makes me wonder if it was in fact a fall and not exposure.