GB4 Mountaineering - Longs Peak (North Face)

Longs Peak

Date: 11-7-09

Climbers: George Barnes and Joey Luther

Route: North Face II, Class 5.4

RT distance: ~14 miles

RT time: 14 hours

Elevation gain: 4,850 feet

Trip Report:

A trip up Longs Peak seemed like a good way to welcome Joey back to Colorado. It had been over a year and a half since either of us had been up Longs, so I was pretty stoked for the trip (so much so that waking up at 2:45AM wasn't bad!).

With our successful November ascent I have now climbed the north face route in every season of the year, for a total of 6 ascents of the route. Our mid-autumn trip was unique in a few ways. Most noticeable was that the sun never hit the north face, so we spent all day climbing on what felt like the dark side of the moon. On Saturday there was a thin layer of ice and snow on the route's rock pitch, which necessitated crampons. The ice wasn't thick enough to climb with ice tools, but I did find a few good dry tool placements. The snow wasn't really deep enough to be helpful (axe belays hit rock after only a few inches), so we ended up doing a short roped pitch to reach the first eye bolt.

We had the entire route and peak to ourselves. Surprisingly, no one had signed the summit register for almost 3 weeks before our visit. The NOAA forecast called for 60mph winds, which we probably experienced at times, although the weather was generally great. Joey took THIS (17MB mov) video of me approaching the start of the route, note the clouds moving overhead.

Beta...

No need for slow shoes, there's a good trail to treeline, and then the rocks are pretty well wind scoured
No one has yet put the track in for the winter short cut from the lightning bridge
No real need for ice tools, I used one just because I brought it
Route was comfortably protected with nuts and a few cams to 1"