Death on Colorado’s Longs Peak
Over the weekend the popular Colorado 14, 000 foot mountain, Longs Peak, saw the first death of 2016. According to rangers at Rocky Mountain National Park, the victim was a 61 year old man from Greeley, Colorado. He was on a section called The Narrows when he slipped on ice and fell approximately 100 to 150 […]
Going Through a Cave to Reach Longs Peak Summit
It is not often you go through a cave to reach a mountain summit. But I recently did just that on Longs Peak. I guess I have to say Longs Peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park is my favorite 14er given I have climbed on it over 125 times reaching the summit on 33 […]
Climbing a Classic: Longs Peak
Longs Peak standing at 14, 259 feet/4346m is the highest mountain in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. It is my base for training. There are over 100 routes on Longs, most on the extremely technical Diamond, which is one of the premier rock climbing faces in the world. However two routes dominate most of the […]
Finding Clark's Arrow on Longs Peak
Sometimes it is the little thing. I have climbed on Longs Peak perhaps 70 times in all kinds of weather by multiple routes. But one small goal has eluded me for years. You see, way back in the early days of Rocky Mountain National Park, an enterprising ranger named John Clark decided to help out his fellow climbers by painting an arrow directing climbers to the saddle between Longs Peak and Mt Meeker. The area is a rock filled gully and can be very confusing so some type of semi-permanent sign would have been useful. Of course today that would be illegal and considered graffiti!
Breaking Trail at 14K on Longs Peak
Climbing Colorado 14ers in the winter is always a crap shoot. If the winds don’t get you, then the deep snow will. Recently I met up with a group assembled from the web community 14ers.com to climb the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Longs Peak at 14, 256′. The plan was to meet […]
My Favorite Colorado 14er
There are 58 Colorado peaks over 14, and 000′, order so to pick one as your favorite is tough. I have climbed 51 of them so this may be a tad premature but here I go anyway. For years, I told anyone who asked that Longs Peak was my favorite. It had everything a mountain […]
Ptarmigans – Nature's Perfect Camouflage
I love to climb or more specifically to be out in nature. This past week, I took a long climb to almost 13, 000′ on Longs Peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a rare winter day with mild temps in the high teens and virtually no wind – unheard of for Longs […]
Longs Peak Diamond Climb – video
If you have explored my site, you know that Longs Peak is one of my favorite climbs. In under two hours, I can be on the trail at 9400′ and reach the summit at 14,256′ in a few hours on a good day. It has all types of routes from simple walkups to world-class technical […]