Longs Peak Trip Report 09/06/2016

Peak(s):	Longs Peak - 14,259 feet
Date Posted:	09/06/2016
Date Climbed:	09/05/2016
Author:	pbakwin

Mary's Ledges
Longs Peak: Mary's Ledges (plus bonus material!) The Longs Peak Project (LPP) grinds on. Kendrick & I have now climbed Longs by a different route every month this year (I actually started Dec. 2015). We're getting close to the end, but still have some potentially difficult (w.r.t. conditions) fall climbs ahead. Taking a tip from what Bill Wright and Charlie Nuttelman did last year, we zeroed in on Mary's Ledges on the North Face for our September ascent. We wanted to get it done as early in the month as possible for obvious reasons - weather can go to heck at any time. Labor Day weekend was looking good, and the forecast for Sunday was excellent: 20% chance of showers, moderate wind. We didn't see any reason for a super early start, so left the TH a little after 7AM. It was overcast and drizzling as we walked up the climber's trail, but soon the Sun came out... then it went away again and by the time we reached the Boulderfield it was raining, then snowing and there was a stiff and cold wind roaring over Storm Peak and Keyhole Ridge. We hunkered down under a rock for about an hour, but unfortunately didn't have enough extra clothing to keep warm any longer and eventually decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow. Kendrick's photo montage of Sunday's rainy outing Monday's forecast was sunny with "near gale" winds. Having been knocked down by wind in the Boulderfield back in February we took this seriously. But, we also knew that the N Face is generally protected from the strongest winds - if we could get though the Boulderfield & if we could keep our hands warm enough on the climb we should be OK. In fact the wind was quite strong as we crossed the Boulderfield, but nothing like what we experienced back in Feb. There isn't a lot of info available on this route. Bill Wright's route description on mountainproject.com is general, as it the description in Rossiter's RMNP guide. Hopefully I can provide some more detail that will be useful. The mountainproject.com page has a good picture giving an overview of the route. We did an ascending traverse of the south side of the Boulderfield to reach the base of the left side of the lower buttress (darker rock) shown in the photo. From there we ascended an obvious 3rd Class gully to the top of the buttress. From the high point of the buttress, Kendrick led basically straight up for a long pitch (165'? questionable whether a 50m rope would reach) with several 5.6 moves. Charlie's photo of Bill leading shows this initial pitch. Kendrick crossed the first leftward-trending dihedral/gully that you can see in the photo, and eventually got into the second leftward-trending dihedral/gully. He then followed this up to almost the highest point of rock that you see above Bill, and established a belay on a good though small ledge. We encountered about 3 old pins on this pitch, giving confidence in the route. The wind was still strong, and the temperatures quite chilly, so climbing ungloved was a bit challenging. High Over Boulderfield Kendrick led a second long pitch which turned out to be basically 4th Class to maybe 5.EZ. We then coiled the rope and huffed up the remaining 3rd Class slopes to the summit. Somewhere in there the wind had died down and it was now very pleasant in the Sun, and we relaxed a while chatting about different routes with an RMNP ranger. It was still early and now quite pleasant temperature, so we decided to take a look at the Southwest Ridge route, which we're thinking about doing as our October ascent. Bill & Charlie also did this route in October, and encountered cold, snowy conditions. We did a quick descent of the Homestretch & across the Narrows to the top of the Trough and the start of the route. We traversed a little north and scrambled up an easy (in these warm, dry conditions) 5th Class gully for about 100', then stepped to the right over a block to a good belay ledge at the base of a steep handcrack section. We roped up here. After the 12' handcrack (5.6?) the difficulty eased considerably, though there was some breathtaking exposure. After a nice pitch we again coiled the rope and were quickly back on the summit, where we met a couple guys coming up after a climb of Pervertical on the Diamond. Descent of the Cables has become routine - this was my 9th this year. The crux pitch was a bit icy, but no more so than when I did it on August 13 after climbing Alexanders Chimney with Buzz. The hike out is also staring to become tedious, but who's to complain when we have this world class alpine playground in our back yard! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mary's Ledges

Longs Peak: Mary's Ledges (plus bonus material!)

The Longs Peak Project (LPP) grinds on. Kendrick & I have now climbed Longs by a different route every month this year (I actually started Dec. 2015). We're getting close to the end, but still have some potentially difficult (w.r.t. conditions) fall climbs ahead.

Taking a tip from what Bill Wright and Charlie Nuttelman did last year, we zeroed in on Mary's Ledges on the North Face for our September ascent. We wanted to get it done as early in the month as possible for obvious reasons - weather can go to heck at any time. Labor Day weekend was looking good, and the forecast for Sunday was excellent: 20% chance of showers, moderate wind. We didn't see any reason for a super early start, so left the TH a little after 7AM. It was overcast and drizzling as we walked up the climber's trail, but soon the Sun came out... then it went away again and by the time we reached the Boulderfield it was raining, then snowing and there was a stiff and cold wind roaring over Storm Peak and Keyhole Ridge. We hunkered down under a rock for about an hour, but unfortunately didn't have enough extra clothing to keep warm any longer and eventually decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow.

Kendrick's photo montage of Sunday's rainy outing

Monday's forecast was sunny with "near gale" winds. Having been knocked down by wind in the Boulderfield back in February we took this seriously. But, we also knew that the N Face is generally protected from the strongest winds - if we could get though the Boulderfield & if we could keep our hands warm enough on the climb we should be OK. In fact the wind was quite strong as we crossed the Boulderfield, but nothing like what we experienced back in Feb.

There isn't a lot of info available on this route. Bill Wright's route description on mountainproject.com is general, as it the description in Rossiter's RMNP guide. Hopefully I can provide some more detail that will be useful. The mountainproject.com page has a good picture giving an overview of the route. We did an ascending traverse of the south side of the Boulderfield to reach the base of the left side of the lower buttress (darker rock) shown in the photo. From there we ascended an obvious 3rd Class gully to the top of the buttress. From the high point of the buttress, Kendrick led basically straight up for a long pitch (165'? questionable whether a 50m rope would reach) with several 5.6 moves. Charlie's photo of Bill leading shows this initial pitch. Kendrick crossed the first leftward-trending dihedral/gully that you can see in the photo, and eventually got into the second leftward-trending dihedral/gully. He then followed this up to almost the highest point of rock that you see above Bill, and established a belay on a good though small ledge. We encountered about 3 old pins on this pitch, giving confidence in the route. The wind was still strong, and the temperatures quite chilly, so climbing ungloved was a bit challenging.

Kendrick led a second long pitch which turned out to be basically 4th Class to maybe 5.EZ. We then coiled the rope and huffed up the remaining 3rd Class slopes to the summit. Somewhere in there the wind had died down and it was now very pleasant in the Sun, and we relaxed a while chatting about different routes with an RMNP ranger.

It was still early and now quite pleasant temperature, so we decided to take a look at the Southwest Ridge route, which we're thinking about doing as our October ascent. Bill & Charlie also did this route in October, and encountered cold, snowy conditions.

We did a quick descent of the Homestretch & across the Narrows to the top of the Trough and the start of the route. We traversed a little north and scrambled up an easy (in these warm, dry conditions) 5th Class gully for about 100', then stepped to the right over a block to a good belay ledge at the base of a steep handcrack section. We roped up here. After the 12' handcrack (5.6?) the difficulty eased considerably, though there was some breathtaking exposure. After a nice pitch we again coiled the rope and were quickly back on the summit, where we met a couple guys coming up after a climb of Pervertical on the Diamond.

Descent of the Cables has become routine - this was my 9th this year. The crux pitch was a bit icy, but no more so than when I did it on August 13 after climbing Alexanders Chimney with Buzz. The hike out is also staring to become tedious, but who's to complain when we have this world class alpine playground in our back yard!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Brian C

Neat!
9/9/2016 5:28pm

I've always wondered about that route. Good luck on the rest of the project!

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