| Above: Longs in February during the trip Note: This Trip Report with pictures is in the Climbing Boulder Trips Albumn Looking at the massive pile of gear at my feet I wondered if it would all fit in my pack. I wouldn't find out until the next day when I got food, and my share of group gear. So into my Subaru went a sleeping Bag, pads, jackets, pots, snowshoes, poles, boots, ice axe, pickets, flukes, and other various items that took up my trunk and most of the back seat. I made the long drive up to Boulder and met Ben at his place. After finally getting miscellaneous items taken care of I went to sleep at his house, my packed gear beside me, ready for the coming day. The next morning came too soon as always; regardless I woke up and readied myself for the day. Myke swung by to pick us up with his own special mixed CD pumping out the techno. Ben and I added our stuffed packs along with Myke's own as well as a sled we brought for group gear. After meeting the rest of the crew (Steve, Max, Dave, and Brian) in Longmont we headed up towards the hills. Max and Dave had some car troubles so we went ahead while they went home and got a truck. Driving towards the trailhead I got my first-ever-intimate view of Mt. Meeker from the highway. As we got closer to the trailhead Longs revealing its great east face from behind Meeker and I got my first ever view of the peak. I had seen Longs hundreds of times before but was awe-struck as I viewed its granite faces and surroundings. Soon thereafter we arrived at the empty trailhead parking lot and got ready for the hike ahead of us. The weather was nice and I wore only my liner layers and a layer of fleece. Car three of three soon arrived and we were all soon shouldering out packs after getting all of the proper paper work done. All of us started up the trail without snowshoes with the exception of Max and Dave. The going proved to be easy over a hard packed trail in the sunny weather. We wandered up the treed trail taking a nice pace and enjoying the day. Layers soon came off as we started sweating in the sun. Ben was dragging the sled for most of the way in the trees, switching off with Myke occasionally. My first turn dragging the sled proved to be an exhausting time. The trail gradually grew steeper and massive chunks decided to stick to the sled bottom, creating extra resistance. The last part of that turn involved crossing a steep snow slope right before getting to a bridge and tree line. Ben gave me a break and took the sled up to tree line as I tried to recover as I followed him. Around tree line the trail became less defined and there were snowdrifts to go over. We all donned our snowshoes except Brian, who didn't have any on the trip and was doomed to post holing. Going along the path to the pass I started getting exhausted. I would only be able to trudge on short distances between breaks. Fortunately I wasn't alone and stayed in our spread-out group. I fell back and advanced my position multiple times until I got to a traverse of a snowfield while wearing the sled and got some extra energy. Ben took the sled and he and I went ahead and stopped at the pass. I took a long break behind a boulder and got up after Myke had arrived and left, following Ben. At that point I couldn't see Steve and Brian who were both postholing (I later found out Steve busted his snowshoe binding.) From the pass I could see the beginning of the Boulder field, a few switchbacks above where I was. I was exhausted again and Max and Dave caught up when I got to the Boulder field. I took off my snowshoes and started hiking the windswept Boulder field with Max and Dave. Off in the distance I could see Ben at the upper reaches of the Boulder field, a beacon of hope to weary hikers. After an eternity of hiking over boulders, trying to avoid post holing in the deposits of snow I was exhausted when I arrived at the tent that was already pitched. Getting to camp wasn't the end of my troubles as I thought it would be. I had to get my gear in the tent, unpack the stuff we needed, and help get some water going on the stove. I gradually started getting all my tasks done as the sun was starting to sink above our horizon. Dinner consisted of rice and beans we had cooked the night before, put in ziplock bags and now heated in hot water. Franklin Rhoda, member of the Hayden survey party sums it up best: "Our long continued exertions were at last crowned with success, and we had the pleasure of sitting down to a supper which tasted to us far better than the most costly meals of civilization, served up in the most expensive hotels." One of the bean baggies exploded however and the result left an infusion of rice, beans and tuna. Not wanting to dump out our precious water Ben dumped the infusion into one of his Nalgene bottles. Later that night after drinking some of the same Ben had second thoughts about the value of saving such a potent mixture. Nonetheless I finally got prepared for the long night and made it into the tent by 7:00 Pm. In our three-person tent Myke, Ben and I were thoroughly crowded in a mixture of clothes, sleeping bags, and bodies. I wore clean long undies and my fleece jacket inside my sleeping bag and liner ready for the climb the next day. Waking up long before the sun came up I felt the wall of the tent pushing against me and heard the sounds of wind outside. As the morning progressed I drifted in and out of sleep, as did the others. I was fully awake when Ben said " Good thing we took the boots inside, there's a snow drift in the vestibule." I leaned over and felt a soft wall of snow built up against the tent side. I opened the door a crack and looked in the vestibule; sure enough there was a snowdrift. I opened the top of the vestibule and a blast of snow and cold shot in and sprayed into the tent. I poked my head out and the outside world was a complete milky white with the exception of the surrounding rocks and tents. There was no question in the decision that we wouldn't be climbing that day. Not having anything better to than go outside and freeze my bum off I rolled back into the friendly cocoon of nylon and down. After the morning rolled along I realized I'd have to go outside at some point so dressed myself in every stitch of clothing I had and braved the elements. The wind howled, blowing snow into our faces but I was comfortable in my down jacket, shell layer, and Dachstein wool mitts. The stove was spitting out more water as we started collecting our gear to pack. Anything requiring dexterity forced me to remove my big ol' mitts and go to just my liner gloves which proved quite chilling. Just as there was no sense staying in the tent there was no sense in sitting around camp in the storm so we started packing all of our gear. Right before we left our little haven in the murky boulder field I took off my down jacket and stuffed it in my pack to prevent overheating. We all started hiking down and the sled was top-heavy and thus flipped over on every boulder which was quite frequent given we were in the boulder field (hence the name). After taking some of the snowshoes off the top it proved no further problem. Downwards we descended following a line of cairns down the iced up trail, slipping in spots. The going didn't prove to be exhausting as the previous day and we soon made it to the switch back leading to the pass. The winds funneled into the pass and threatened to knock me over during the magnificent gusts. By now the people who had snowshoes had them on as we traversed across the snow slope below the pass. Visibility was its worst here, below the strong snow laden winds. I was reduced to trying to make out the contrast of the person right in front of me and the incredibly white surroundings. I knew the slope was angled but could not make out the slope at my feet well enough to care. I stumbled, one snowshoe in front of the other until I could reach the next rock area to provide the references I so dearly needed. At times like this I sometimes wonder what I was doing up here in the clouds freezing my arse off while my friends were doing countless other sensible pursuits. To add some spice my right snowshoe came off and I awkwardly post-holed and snowshoed to a spot to put it back on. I had to take off both mitts to provide the iced up buckles and snaps some encouragement to work. My hands got cold again. My left snowshoe came off. We followed the bleak trail trying to find it through the treeless expanse. I gave up hope on the snowshoes and was carrying. The rest of the group stopped ahead at a large boulder. Behind the boulder was a small tent that I wasn't sure was real until I saw a person pop out of it. I put both shoes back on at the boulder and caught up with the group. I trudged on, with the snowshoes coming off again, the right followed by the left. Ben carried my snowshoes in his hands as I had been carrying them and my ski poles in either hand. Soon we saw the few flags marking the trail immediately above tree line and took our first break at the first stand of trees. I loaded the problematic snowshoes onto my pack and took over the sled duties. The wind relented in the trees and thus there was no more blowing snow. We breezed down the trail on the hard packed snow with a sense of gratitude and respect for what was above. As I walked the remaining couple miles, sled in tow, I knew I had just gained a valuable lesson in my mountaineering learning process. The swishing of nylon and crunch of snow under my boots all came into a greater focus in my state of heightened awareness. Although we'd bailed I was very content with the outcome, being able to spend time in the mountains and experience the power of nature's fury. To make sense of it all (besides the warm fertile base part :<) ): Arctic beauty and desolation, with their blessings and dangers, may be found here, to test the endurance and skill of adventurous climbers; but far better than climbing the mountain is going around its warm, fertile base, enjoying its bounties like a bee circling around a bank of flowers. -John Muir from Shasta Rambles and Modoc Memories Back to Fourteeners Back To Dan's Basecamp This TR with Pictures Planning on going to a peak I've been to? Ask me a question if you think I could help. Contact Me. |
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| Longs Peak Attempt Trip Report February 23-24 2001 |