Today we climb to the top of Long’s Peak via the Keyhole route. At 14255 ft this will be the highest I’ve ever climbed. Sleeping at Boulderfield had not been too much of a problem we were blessed with good weather. I had been a bit cold during the night, but camping at 12760 ft tends to be a bit chilly even under the best of circumstances.

Unfortunately we hadn’t selected a very good campsite. Jen and I were camped right next to the path. This meant, at about 3:00 AM, we got a wake up call from somebody climbing Long’s Peak in a single day. Usually those folks leave the trailhead around 3:00 AM or so, but this guy decided to leave earlier. He was most definitely NOT quiet and proceeded to make lots of noise. Eventually the group camped on the other side of B and Andrew climbed out of their tents and this guy decided to have a conversation with them. I got to learn all about him, he left the TH @ midnight, he guessed that had been too early, had gotten this far and decided to wait until the sun rose before continuing on, and he was from Houston, TX. All great things, I just wished he hadn’t been talking about them @ 3:00 FRIGGIN AM while I was trying to sleep!!!

Jen actually almost ran into the guy in the dark. At some point she got up to go to the bathroom, but unfortunately the flashlight wouldn’t work for her when she tried to come back to the tent. As she picked her way cautiously through the boulderfield she came within a few feet of the guy. He said he had seen her, but was afraid to say anything because he thought he would have scarred her to death. As Jen approached camp I heard her calling out, but thought she was saying “Andy”, so I just rolled over and went back to resting (hey come on I was half asleep alright!). Actually, she was calling “Randy” because she was trying to find the tent in the dark! Ooops!

As the number of day hikers mounted so did the noise, and so about 6:30, having been awake for about the last 3 hours, we rolled out of the tent to a perfectly clear day. It looked like the summit bid was on. We ate a quick breakfast and readied ourselves for the climb. At some point I dropped my camera, I guess I was a little anxious for the day’s climb.

We started off, and Brian and Andrew quickly pulled away as we climbed up and over huge boulders to the Keyhole. It wasn’t a very tough climb, but it seemed like the field just kept going on and on. It certainly didn’t look that big from camp. Eventually we reached the Keyhole, passing the little shelter hut off to the side, and passed through the Keyhole to the other side of Long’s Peak. We were now on the west side.

There were a lot of people, but Jen and I had little trouble climbing at our own pace. At the Keyhole we chatted briefly we 2 guys and as we left one guy said “don’t worry about the homestretch, it’s a piece of cake”. I don’t think either of us really knew what he was saying, I know I thought “ok, sweet”.

We proceeded along the ledges. The way was marked with bullseyes and was very easy to follow. We were climbing along rock ledges most of the time. There were a couple of places the required some thought, but all in all, much easier than I had believed it would be.

As we reached the Trough though, the thoughts of “easy” quickly left my mind. Ahead of us was what looked like and avalanche chute, and we had to the climb up it, and it went up a long way. The rock was loose and you have to pay attention to falling rocks from those above you (and be careful not to kick any down on those below you). The bullseyes continued, but after awhile Jen and I just started picking our own paths. Whatever looked the easiest way up was the way we went.

This climb seemed to go on forever and my ankle began to throb intensely. About 15 minutes from the top of the trough I turned my ankle slightly and pain shot up my leg. I had to stop and rest. The pain didn’t subside, and I began to worry I wouldn’t make it to the top, my confidence was really shot. I also worried that if I continued to press it, I might make it to the top, but the best unable to make it down. The trip down promised to be much more difficult on the ankles that the climb up had been. Jen gave me a couple of words of encouragement, but I was very concerned now and seriously considered turning back. She decided to continue on without me and suggested I send word with the French gals, who were only a few minutes further down the trough and would be to me soon, if I decided to turn back.

When Ody and Lyne reached me, I decided to plunge on. The throbbing had let up a bit. I began scaling the trough again, and by the time we reached the top we had caught up to Jen.

The top of the trough was an interesting little section. You really had to plan how to get through and do a little rock climbing to achieve it. I took a slightly different path than the main one, and it worked out well for me. Ok, well, I got a little stuck about halfway through, but remembered some techniques Brian had taught me (or that I had learned watching him) while rock wall climbing back in Detroit. I was able to lean back and find good leverage behind me and propel myself up and over.

The next section, known as the narrows, was pretty easy. All except for the sheer drop off on your right. But the ledges were wide and I never felt in danger at any point. However at the end was a huge boulder you had to go up and over. As I approached I saw Jen there struggling. It was just too high for her to get her leg up on top. I was able to catch up and give a push in the butt which helped her clear it.

Then the homestretch came into view. It looked straight up. There were people from top to bottom of this 200 yard stretch of what looked like vertical rock face, piece of cake my ass. Now I understood what those guys were saying, they thought we KNEW what was coming and were telling us not to worry. Little did they know we had no IDEA what was coming, but believe me we both started worrying once we saw it!

At this point I went to take my first picture and found out I had broken my camera when I dropped it that morning. So here I was climbing this peak and I wasn’t going to have a single picture, I was so disappointed. It felt like it was just another thing going wrong this trip.

Jen though was having a bigger problem. She was freaked out by the homestretch and told me she didn’t think she could climb that portion. We looked at it for a while but it didn’t get any better. I wasn’t really sure what to say here, I wanted her to continue on, but she made it very clear she was very scared. I hated the idea of making her do something she didn’t want to do, especially if she were to become injured. The contrary thoughts pretty much paralyzed my thinking. So I decided to try and climb up and show her it could be done. I climbed up about 20 feet. But she wasn’t having it, and decided after really considering it, that maybe she should turn back. While I was saddened that she and I wouldn’t summit together, I respected her decision to only go as far as she felt comfortable.

I continued on alone. The climb actually turned out not to be that difficult. Yes, you had to pay attention to foot and hand placement, and sure one wrong slip and you would have gone down a long ways. But there were lots of hand and foots holds, and there was never a point where I was worried for my life. Eventually I crested the top. It felt awesome, especially since I had done this on my bad ankle. I wandered over and signed the register. Then I met up with Brian and Andrew who were hanging out with Ody and Lyne. They asked about Jen and I related that she had turned back at the homestretch.

The summit is a very large, flat area. While there were lots of people up top you could easily find your own little corner of the summit if you wanted to. Because it’s so large you don’t really have the feeling like you are a long way up in the air. I had to walk over to the edge and look down before I actually felt like I had climbed something high.

We soaked in the accomplishment of bagging our first 14’er. This was the highest point I’d ever climbed too and I wanted to just enjoy it. But Brian and Andrew, who had been there at least 20-25 minutes longer than I were anxious to get moving. We still had to make it back to the boulderfield, pack up camp, and make it back down to the trailhead. So begrudgingly I consented to heading down.

Climbing down the homestretch was, in my opinion, harder than climbing it. There were a few points where I had to go onto all fives, hands + feet + butt. About halfway down the homestretch I decided to partially unzip the full zip rain pants that I had been wearing. I zipped the top zipper down a little bit and it became stuck. I wasn’t really in the best place to need to be messing around with stuck zippers, I definitely didn’t need to knocked off balance, that would have had a really bad ending. So I forced the zipper up and then schoop ……. the zipper pulled all the way off the track. I found myself standing there with a zipping thingy in my hand. Thankfully my pants had Velcro at the top so they could be closed, but I noticed the teeth would pull apart and force the bottom zipper thingy down. If I weren’t careful the entire right leg would be unzipped. Did I mention I wasn’t wearing shorts? For some reason that morning I had just put on the undies and the rain pants. Did I mention these were brand new rain paints? Uggg.

As we began back across the narrows there was something I did not want to see. Apparently someone had gotten this far and needed to go #2. With little choice of where to go they just went right there on the 2 ft wide ledge. Anyone coming or going would have to step over top of it. Nice. I thought as I walked past it if they had only hung their butt over the ledge it would have dropped 1500 ft below and no one would have known.

I started to wonder what happened to Jen. I didn’t know if she would wait or head back to camp. We hustled down with the thought that we might be able to catch up to her and give her some company on the way down.

We didn’t catch her, but arrived at camp just a few minutes after she had. She recounted her climb back down and talked about a couple of gentleman who had walked with her. One was still sitting nearby resting. When he started to talk I immediately recognized his voice. Oh my god, it was 3 AM man!!!!! He was currently busy feeding the local marmot a chocolate bar, bemused in how it ran right up to him like a pet. I could nothing but shake my head in disbelief.

We ate lunch and then headed down to the trailhead. Before we left though I noticed a jacket sitting next to our tent. I thought I recognized the jacket as belong to one of Jen’s hiking partners, so we picked it up hoping to maybe see him later on down the trail.

Rain showers made their way into the area and by the time we reached the Chasm Lake turnoff it was sprinkling on and off. Andrew continued on while the rest of us rested. Brian headed off soon though as the rain grew stronger. My ankle was good at this point, it just throbbed, but there was no way I could keep up with those guys.

Jen and I took our time down the last half of the trail, trying to enjoy the walk. She seemed very content and happy with her decision to turn back and I was overjoyed that I had been able to summit, something I seriously thought I wouldn’t be able to do with my ankle. However, it was only because of the assistance of my group that I was able to make it. Carrying a portion of my gear and lending moral support along the way, they made it possible for me to summit.

Around 5:00 PM we reached the trailhead where we found mom waiting, camera in hand. We also found another of Jen’s hiking partners and he agreed that the jacket we had belonged to the guy we were thinking it did. But he was nowhere to be found. Jen took the jacket into the ranger station and left it with them. I wonder if he ever got his jacket back. I think I remember Jen telling me that he contacted her afterwards to tell her that he had indeed retrieved his jacket, but I’m not sure.

After going into Estes Park for dinner we went to camp at Glacier Basin. Finally this very long day had come to an end, and with it our stay in Rocky Mountain. Our final leg of this trip was in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

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