Longs Peak

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 5/10/2011, By: DaveSwink
Info: We climbed Mount Lady Washington on Monday morning under bluebird skies. The trail to treeline was hard-packed and traction (micro-spikes) was helpful. At treeline, the deep snow had softened in the upper 30 degree temps so we used snowshoes. The east slope of Mount Lady Washington alternated between the exposed tops of talus and snow fields up to 100 meters high. The snow slope was perfect for easy kick-stepping. The views from the top were great. As the attached pics show, the North Face of Longs is very heavily loaded, and the Boulder Field has heavy snow up to the Keyhole. On the way out, the trail snow pack had softened and snowshoes were needed to avoid postholing. 

Route: 
Posted On: 4/27/2011, By: mountainmicah83
Info: We were in the Longs area on Saturday checking out conditions. If it didn‘t get too hammered this week, you should make it to the boulderfield with no snow shoes due to the packed trail but it is snow right out of the parking lot from the rangers station. We made the mistake of dropping our snowshoes below the boulderfield to find ourselves miserably postholing to our knees through much of it. Surprisingly the cables route was 100% snow covered. There was no dry rock section at all and the snow was very unstable. Upon crossing over to the keyhole, the rocks were covered in thin verglas and the top of the trough looked very suspect as well. Be sure you have snowshoes, crampons, axe, and probably a rope with some gear. It got hammered there last week and probably is getting quite a bit this week as well. By the way. It was totally worth it to carry a snowboard for the return as it got us back to the car in a jiffy. Only had to take 1 foot out twice for about 20‘ each in the trees around goblins forest. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 4/10/2011, By: Barb4rian
Info: Climbed the Lady yesterday and got a really nice look at the boulderfield, loft couloir, and the general approach to Longs. Trail is bootpacked from the parking lot all the way past tree line. About a half mile from the Chasm Junction the snow begins to thin out and is melting away. The boulderfield is covered in snow from the privy to the Keyhole and the Loft Couloir/various other couloirs below the diamond has/have plenty of snow (I can‘t say on the conditions of the snow though, sorry!) P.S. If its a warm day when you go, expect some corn and general softening everywhere. Flotation wasn‘t necessary but traction is definitely recommended. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 3/14/2011, By: JB99
Info: Snowshoes are not needed below timberline, traction might be nice. We left the crampons on our backs though and got by okay. Several shortcuts are well packed and we rediscovered one today that we started breaking back in. Just a short jaunt up to treeline today so I don‘t have any word on conditions higher up. Pretty nice weather, except for the wind. 

Route: Keyhole Route
Posted On: 3/14/2011, By: mountainmicah83
Info: We planned on another go at the Cables route for Sunday but when we arrived at the ranger‘s station early early, it was blizzarding down snow. We made the no go at around 4Am when it was still snowing hard and there were 6+ fresh inches at the TH. The trail will still be bootable because there were at least 6 other cars of folks who set off up the trail anyhow. Many cars were getting stuck on the 1 mile road from hwy 7 to the TH at the ranger‘s station due to the snow but it should be gone in a couple of days. 

Route: Trough Direct
Posted On: 11/28/2010, By: Monster5
Info: Approach: Good bootpack to within 1.2 mi from Black Lake (winter shortcut is obvious). A solid snowshoe trail was in to Black Lake by the end of the day. Snow above the lake to the base of the Trough was hard and windswept. Trough: Class 2+ section to the left of the lower difficulties is relatively clear of snow. The snow is continuous up to where the Keyhole route intersects. Perfect for cramponing - stayed left as per TomPierce‘s suggestion where the windslab tapered out. A few inches of snow in the upper Trough - a lot of points bashing. Above: The Narrows and Homestretch are pretty dry - went through w/o crampons on the ascent but used them on the descent (Homestretch was dicey with the gusts and hard snow within the joints). The narrower section of the Narrows is dry and the snow is avoidable on the wider sections.