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This
mountain deserves another story! Pictures help but a story explains
the facts. If you are a hiker or a mountaineer, Longs Peak is a must
and the Keyhole Route is a good, exciting 14,000' climb. This
mountain is as much mental challenge as it is physical. The positive
and negative battles go on all day. As Mike Donahue quoted in his
book, "The Longs Peak Experience," rational decisions and
good judgment comes from looking at the situation through the
positive eye.
For
me Longs Peak training started July 3, 2005, in Pa. at 2000'
elevation and finished with a warm up climb up to Chasm Lake, Longs
Peak on August 31st. On my way up to Chasm Lake, Lisa Foster and her
partner from California joined me. Lisa is a guide and was on the
VHS tape from the television series, "A Walk in the Park"
with Nick Molle and Jim Detterline Ph.D., National Park ranger. They
were going to climb the diamond. I was just looking forward to
getting to the lake and back. The round trip was eight miles and
took six hours. It felt great! The answer at that elevation was
Pace! Pace! Pace! The next few days I went on short hikes with my
wife, Ruth, and daughter, Kristin. My partner was coming from
California on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. The best weather day to go to the
summit was looking like Tuesday, Sept.06.
Tuesday,
Sept.06, 2005, we signed in at the ranger station at 3:15 am. No
clouds! No wind! It was a great early morning! The temperature was
50 degrees. We were lucky dogs! We could see the stars and lights
from the different cities and towns. At the Battle Mountain junction
our headlamps' batteries died out. We had extra batteries, but we
used our spare headlamp. On this day we would only see about twenty
other hikers on the entire trip. Also, what would be important to us
on this day was the attention to small details and the planning of
potential problems that could happen. For first time Longs Peak
climbers, it is important because the mountain is big and dangerous!
There
was one guy with a stopwatch that was on his own agenda. We saw him
at Granite Pass taking a straight line to the Boulder Field. He had
to be mentally challenged because he could not read the signs
"no short cuts". It took us 5 ˝ hours to get to the
Boulder Field. At that point, I was a little tired in the climb but
I felt good. Matt looked like he was just warming up. As I stared to
climb the Boulder Field my right hamstring locked up. The cramp was
bad! I stretched out the cramp. I went to put my good left leg up
and that hamstring cramped up as bad. Now I was worried! The hard
climbing was starting and both hamstrings were locking up. I was not
going to turn around but was not sure what I could do. I told Matt
about my problem. I'm still not sure why I had these major hamstring
cramps. It could have been low salt or potassium. Or, I was wearing
spandex shorts, which may have restricted blood flow, but in my five
10 - 15 mile hikes this summer I had no cramping issues at all.
Maybe I should have been eating bananas. I was using both my
Mountain Smith poles until we got to the Boulder Field. Hiking poles
do help out especially coming down.
I
crawled up the Boulder Field using only my upper body. Once I got up
to the Keyhole, the hamstring had loosened up. Through the Keyhole
onto the Ledges is very inspirational. It also turned into rock
scrambling mountaineering. This is more than just a hike in the
park. At this point we were counting backwards from 100 to check our
mental alertness. Matt and I mentally were doing well. It had taken
six hours to get to this point. On this side of the mountain the
hiking became serious with potential serious exposure to wind and
ice. We also found out it's important to stay on the marked trail.
It
is so easy to walk too fast on the Ledges. The right pace on the
Ledges is incredibly slow. The "rest step" to control my
breathing did help. To do the rest step, you move your foot slowly
forward then stop. Don't move your other foot. Take a free breath.
Whew …extra oxygen…what a relief. Now move the other foot
forward. Stop again. Move foot, stop, breath, is the pattern I used
a lot going up the Trough. The only thing we didn't like about the
Ledges was it took us down towards the Trough. At this point in the
climb, we only wanted to go up.
Picture
below is Matt at the top of ledges coming down towards me at about
13,000 feet.
The
Trough was the hardest for us. Loose rocks and the hard long 800'
climb to the top of the Trough were almost too much. Talking to
each other and breaking the Trough into sections from each
"bull's eye marker" helped us get to the top. Matt
looked to be in good shape but physically I was breaking down. My
triceps in both arms were cramping up, but both legs were feeling
OK. There was no wind but we did see some clouds building up far
in the western mountain range. At the top of the Trough was this
ten to fifteen foot rock slab that leads onto the Narrows. For me,
this was the crux of the climb! Once I got to the top of this I
knew I would make it to the top. This rock slab was not easy! It
looked to be about a sixty-degree angle with a large crack for
your left foot and small two-inch toe holds for your right foot.
Also, having Matt behind me to help out if I needed it did not
hurt. Going from the top of the rock slab to the Narrows was an
eye-opening event. Wow! If you did not think this was a serious
hike up to this point you will once you make that left turn onto
the Narrows.
Crossing
the Narrows was not bad at all. I was so focused on my hands and
feet placement, I did not even see the shear drop off. It was only
when I looked back at other hikers crossing the Narrows that I
became very impressed with what we had just done. What a mountain!
The last major transition was around the last corner of the
Narrows looking up at Homestretch. There was a small rock area
about four feet high and three feet wide that you had to pull
yourself up and over. As Matt found out, it was a head knocker.
Going
up Homestretch was fun. At this point I was very tired but my mind
was so anxious to get to the top that the distance and the
remaining 500-foot height seemed easy. At this point good hiking
shoes and a dry surface was important! We met some guys coming
down, and they gave us encouragement to get to the top. For the
first time, about halfway up Homestretch, I felt very light. I was
not dizzy, not sick to my stomach, and no headaches. I felt like I
was floating. I think they call it "exposure". The
feeling of air you get beneath your feet at a high elevation. I
was counting backward again to check the brain. The brain was in
good shape. If Homestretch was windy, wet, or icy, it would have
been hard and tricky. No wind, no rain, we were lucky dogs. Matt
got to the top first.
The top of
Longs Peak! What a great mountain to climb! It took us seven hours
and we had the mountaintop to our selves. For fifteen minutes, we
were the only ones on top. I called Kristin on my cell phone to tell
her and Ruthie we were on top of Longs Peak. Two people from
Kentucky joined us soon after. The picture below was Matt and I.
Matt was holding me up on the summit.
Matt
was hungry and was eating smoked salmon. I was not hungry at all. I
was forcing myself to drink and eat hammer gel. From the summit
pictures you can see thundershowers building and rolling in. This
was not a good sign. We then signed the register. We wanted to stay
longer on top but because of the clouds, we started to come down at
11:30 am. I was just happy to be on top of Longs Peak. For five
years I had a Longs Peak poster in my office thinking and dreaming
about this day.
Going
back down Homestretch was not easy. It looked a lot steeper going
down than coming up. The Narrows was easy but the rock slab on the
top of the Trough was hard. At the rock slab I got my last cramp of
the day in the arch of my left foot. Talk about a pain in the foot.
Wow! The thundershowers were getting very near. This made the
Trough, Ledges, and back to the Keyhole pace much faster with a
sense of urgency. We did stop to look around and saw the stone
formation called the "hearse" just below the Narrows. We
had some rain showers with some lighting as we were going down the
Boulder Field. The rain turned into snow showers and the wind
started to pick up.
At
the Boulder Field camp area, we stopped and ate some solid food and
drank a lot of fluids. I really needed that. I should have eaten
some of Matt's smoked salmon on the summit. He had a lot of energy
and was on fire going down! It was about 1:00 PM and the top of
Longs Peak to the Keyhole was in clouds. I could not believe how
fast they moved in. I had used my GPS and marked several waypoints
from the Keyhole on up to the summit just in case the clouds rolled
in. I was also using the GBP to check the elevation. I lost my cell
phone in the Boulder Field when I was putting my wind jacket on
during the snowstorm. Two days later, someone found it and brought
it back to the ranger station. Thank you very much!
As
we got to Granite Pass the food, hammer gel, and water was kicking
in. As we got down below Chasm Lake Junction near the tree line I
was feeling pretty good so Matt took my picture. You can see Mt.
Lady Washington to the right of me with Longs Peak in the clouds
behind me. I just felt so good making it to the top of Longs Peak.
It
took us a total of 13 hours. When we got back to the ranger station
Ruthie and Kristin were waiting for us. They were a great sight to
see! It was 5:00 PM. I was never so tired in my life. Boy did that
hot tub feel really good and the steak supper with the family was
great that night. Will we do it again? Yes! We may try it in
September 2007. The next time we try Longs Peak I will take two
gallons of water and eat a lot more early into the climb. We will
hope for a clear sky, no wind, and a positive attitude.
For
the next four days the summit of Longs Peak was in the clouds with
high winds. Two days after our summit a man fell twenty feet down
the Trough. He was diabetic with a broken leg and spent two days and
nights with two rangers on the summit. It was too windy for a
helicopter rescue. On the third day the rangers lowered him down the
North face to the Boulder Field and carried him out. He was OK! |
