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Keyboard of the Winds

From Glacier Gorge
Difficulty Class 4 
Risk FactorsExposure:
Rockfall Potential: Moderate  
Route-Finding:   
Commitment:   
 
Start9,265 feet
Summit13,307 feet
Total Gain5,800 feet
RT Length13.8 miles
Authorkrishcane
Last UpdatedAug 2013
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Trailhead

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Route

Start from the Glacier Gorge trailhead at 9,265 feet. A quarter mile from the TH, just after crossing Chaos Creek, the trail merges with the Glacier Creek Trail - go right ( 2). Immediately thereafter the trail splits again, as the Glacier Creek trail ascends to Bear Lake to the right. Go left. ( 3).

The goal is now the Loch-Mills Junction (also called Glacier Junction or Mills Junction in some cases), which is about 1.9 miles more up the main trail following signs for Mills Lake. However, an easy-to-miss unmarked cutoff trail cuts off 0.5 miles and avoids the heavy traffic of Alberta Falls. Find the cutoff trail by proceeding a bit over a tenth of a mile after the main trail separates from the Glacier Creek Trail, counting two small bridges, and then looking for the first huge slab of bedrock adjacent to the main trail ( 4). The slab bedrock area on the right side of the trail is roughly the size of a house, and the main trail actually crosses the edge of the rock. At this point, look for a distinctive split rock on your right, a few feet high. The cutoff trail ascends from behind that rock. If the cutoff is missed, the main trail can lead to the same place. The following distances assume that the cutoff trail was taken.

The cutoff trail leads back to the main trail just a few hundred feet from the Loch-Mills Junction. Go right to turn right to reach the junction at 1.7 miles from the trailhead and 9825 feet ( 5). Here the trail splits three ways, with options to Mills Lake and Black Lake, Loch Vale and Sky Pond, and Lake Haiyaha. Go left toward Mills Lake and Black Lake.

Cross Vale Brook on a bridge almost immediately, and continue. The trail occasionally turns to trackless bedrock ( 6) for a few hundred feet before resuming. Simply continue the heading when this happens and the trail becomes evident on the other side. Cross Glacier Creek on another bridge at 1.9 miles, and then reach the eastern edge of Mills Lake at 2.3 miles and 9950 feet ( 7).

The trail continues along the southern shore of elongated Mills Lake for about 0.4 miles before entering the forest again, periodically using on elevated boards through marsh areas ( 8). Pass by Jewel Lake on the right and continue on through a large section of forest destroyed by a microburst in November 2011. The trail here undulates over roots and bedrock slabs, making for an occasional loss of clarity, but roughly tracks Glacier Creek up toward Black Lake.

At 3.1 miles and 10,200 feet, pass the turnoff to the Glacier Gorge campground ( 9). Continue left to ascend to Black Lake, 1.2 miles away now per the sign. Reach Ribbon Falls right at the outlet of Black Lake at 4.2 miles and 10,550 feet ( 10). Ascend the left side of Ribbon Falls and travel across rocks to reach Black Lake at 4.3 miles and 10,600 feet ( 11).

Take the trail south of Black Lake, ascending a few hundred feet before the trail turns to rock ( 12) and then back to trail ( 13). The trail turns west and crosses the outlet stream from Green Lake. Take a long step or a short jump over the river ( 14) and then turn left, ascending a gully in the rock ( 15). The clear trail ends.

From here, survey the route across the glacial shelf to the Pagoda-Keyboard couloir ( 16). Chain together slabs of bedrock and paths crushed into the brush to get past the marshy outflows from Green Lake. There are cairns, but they indicate multiple pathways. Look back periodically to get a clear sense of landmarks for the return, as it would be easy to get disoriented in the maze and end up trudging through brush and water to get back to the trail.

Reach grassy tundra just past 5 miles from the trailhead and continue toward the visible couloir ( 17). Observe the cliffs and steep slabs guarding the couloir, and plan to maneuver around them in a giant S-turn up the slope. Enter the couloir at 5.5 miles and 11,850 feet to begin a difficult Class 2 trudge up 1200 vertical feet of steep, loose, shifting scree and dirt. Rocks are likely to be dislodged here ( 18).

Reach the top of the couloir at 6.1 miles and 13,075 feet. Immediately to the left are the two lowest towers of the seven-tower system of Keyboard of the Winds ( 19). The closest one is Sievers Tower, and the next is Jackpot Tower. Both are advanced technical climbs from the front, but can be scrambled up easily from the back. Beyond those are technical towers Mrs. Stubbs, Mr. Stubbs, and the Dark Tower, which is connected to the cliff band that is the technical crux of the route both ascending and descending. Above the cliff band are two more towers as part of the Keyboard of the Winds.

Since the collection of towers that comprises Keyboard descends from the top of the Trough on Longs Peak, the technical summit of the Keyboard formation could be debatable. There are no geological survey markers in the area, but it makes some sense to designate the top of Tower 1, the highest tower in the highly visible silhouette of the Keyboard formation, as the technical summit, even though a rock spire on the ridge connecting to the Trough of Longs is a few feet higher just a hundred feet to the south. 20 gives an overview of the upper formations and the dark cliff band that challenges the ascent.

Scramble across Class 3 rock to reach the base of the dark cliff band. With excellent routefinding, it may be possible to negotiate the cliffs as a purely Class 3 scramble, but this route requires one or two Class 4 moves to negotiate. Observe the cliffs and locate the weakness in the center of the top that will yield access to the upper slopes. Observe the line that water was carved through the cliffs below that point, and approach the base of the cliffs where the water channels emerge. 21 shows the view of the approach to the base of the cliffs. To keep the approach at Class 3 or low-end Class 4, follow ramps to the right and then back to the left.

Look for a slot flush up against the cliff wall, probably with a waterfall coming down it. Approach and enter the slot, and with one or two unexposed Class 4 moves, climb up ( 22). Turn right from there and ascend the rest of the gully as easy Class 3, looking for the ascent outlet on the right of the upper part of the gully.

At the top of the gully, stop and make navigational observations. Mark a waypoint if you have a GPS. It is very difficult to find this gully while ascending from above ( 27), and all the other notches in the top of the cliff band are Class 5.

Once confident that the gully can be found on the return, observe the rest of the route ( 23). Approach the base of the Keyboard's Tower 1. To avoid Class 5, turn right at the base of the tower ( 24) and take a ramp to gain another ramp that will return to the tower as moderately exposed Class 3 ( 25). Climb the tower to achieve the technical summit of Keyboard of the Winds, still as a Class 3 scramble, but with much more serious exposure ( 26).

The stone blocks just to the south, slightly higher than the top of Tower 1, are probably best regarded as part of Longs Peak. Climbing them requires some high Class 4 or low Class 5 moves with serious to extreme exposure.

Descend from the tower and find the gully entrance to descend the cliff band. If having trouble, there are two possible visual references to assist. The entrance is located at the point that the cliff band upper edge changes pitch from almost-flat to falling away to the south. The entrance to the descent gully is also roughly on a line from the summit of Tower 1 to the highest point of the curve of Pagoda's dramatic east facing cliff face. There are a few cairns at the top of the gully ( 28), though there are also a few cairns further north on the cliff band closer to the Dark Tower, which will not lead to access to the gully.

Once the gully is found, return via the same route as the approach. Once at the bottom of the Pagoda-Keyboard couloir, pick your line carefully across the glacial shelf ( 29) to find the trail descending to Black Lake with a minimum of water and foliage.

Notes

None
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29

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