Climbing Longs Peak

Climbing Longs Peak:

Climbing Longs Peak has been on my bucket list ever since I first visited the Rockies. The thought of climbing such a famous and dangerous 14er added to the thrill and made me eager to see if I could make it to the top. As tempted as I was to climb it as my first Colorado mountain, I knew that it was wiser to climb a few smaller peaks and get a feel for climbing 14ers and prepare my body for the ascent.

Since I live in Chicago, it’s no small feat to get to the mountains and climb them. Each summer, my husband and I do a long weekend and drive out to Colorado and climb a 14er and then drive home promptly. It’s exhausting but incredibly rewarding.

After climbing four other peaks, I felt confident that we were finally ready for Longs. It was time to check it off my bucket list!

The best months for climbing Longs Peak are July and August, but these are also a very busy time to climb the mountain. In addition, my husband was doing military training for most of August, so we knew that it’d be a tight squeeze to climb the mountain before September.

We ended up ascending on August 30th and came down the 31st. The weather was decent during our climb – it was cold but there was no ice or snow to deal with. Our biggest worry was with the wind near the peak; afterward, we saw reports that the wind was reaching 60mph near the ledges and summit.

Prepping for the Climb:

We made the decision to reserve a campsite at Boulder Field since we were going to be driving straight from Chicago and would only be arriving mid-morning. If we had wanted to do the summit in one day, we would definitely have needed to arrive much earlier in the morning. We also got lucky that a campsite was available on Thursday night – everything else was solidly booked through mid-September.

After we finished up work on Wednesday, we headed home to grab a few last minute items and then headed toward Colorado. Time to do this thing!

It’s always crazy to me that we can get in the car as the sun is setting and then arrive by dawn in the mountains. The drive was about 14 hours long and we went straight-through. (After four years of doing this, we’re pretty much pro’s at this drive!)

We arrived at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center to pick up our overnight permit and meet up with my sister who’d be doing the climb with us. Getting the permit was quick and easy, although the ranger did take a few minutes to run through some safety rules with us and make sure that we had a bear canister. We also filled up our water bottles and headed out to the trail head.

The ranger suggested that we use crampons for our climb since snow was a concern at this time of year. Since we didn’t have crampons, we chose to still climb but agreed to turnaround near the summit if ice was a concern.

From Beaver Creek, it’s about a 10 minute drive to reach the Longs Peak Trail head. There were plenty of cars parked along the road leading to the trail head but we took our chances and hoped to find a spot in the lot. As luck would have it, there was an open parking spot and we were thrilled to be able to park in the coveted lot. The trail head had a small ranger station and some primitive facilities but nothing fancy.

After double checking that we had everything we could need, we set off and began our climb. Time to start this thing!

The Climb to Boulder Field:

We left our car around noon and began the climb to Boulder Field (roughly 6 miles). The first mile of trail was pretty busy and we sat a lot of hikers and joggers who clearly weren’t heading to the summit. It wasn’t too steep at first but I found myself panting pretty fast due to the elevation and heavy backpack.

About one mile into the climb, we reached Goblin Forest and took a short breather. The path flattens for a short while here and it felt good to walk on flat ground for a bit. We were still in the trees and it was a really lovely trail – I wish I could have enjoyed the scenery more, but we were pretty focused on our climb.

Another half mile or so up the trail, we reached the Alpine Brook and crossed on the little bridge. There’s also a warning sign here that reminds hikers that lightning is a danger once you’ve crossed the treeline. Shortly after crossing the brook, we broke through the tree line and had a terrific view of the summit.

The path continued to climb and we took breaks every mile to drink water and catch our breath. It was a great day for climbing – not too hot and no thunderclouds in sight. We had been a little worried about the afternoon storms but found ourselves pretty lucky to not have anything to worry about.

In general, the climb wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The incline was gradual and we took it pretty slow. Elevation was a concern and I had a few instances where I’d start to feel dizzy and needed to drink some water and breathe a few seconds. I think my body was going through the shock of Chicago to Colorado and then climbing a 14er. Drinking water and eating protein bars seemed to help.

Around 11,000 feet of elevation, there’s a trail split toward the summit and the trail to Chasm Lake. Several rangers were standing “guard” here and asked to see our backpacking permit before we could continue climbing to Boulder Field. They didn’t end up asking if we had a bear canister but we were glad to have one just in case. They also warned us to look for a man who’d been climbing the summit in the past week and was lost. It was a bleak reminder of the danger in climbing these mountains.

The rest of the climb to Boulder Field was straightforward and fairly easy. We crossed over Granite Pass and got hit by some crazy strong wind. I was glad to not be alone since the wind and looming mountain was intimidating. It was pretty nerve-wracking to see the huge mountain looming over us and know that we were just tiny people on the side of a mountain, out of cell range and alone in the clouds. I think I had a mini panic attack, but luckily the wind settled down and I remembered that we were just going to spend one night up here.

After crossing Granite Pass, we could start seeing Boulder Field and it was comforting to see other tents set up in the shadow of the mountain. We were some of the last to arrive so the campground was pretty full by then.

There was a trickling brook along our approach of Boulder Field so we stopped to fill our water bottles. This was the last chance to get water before the summit and we wanted to stock up fully. The water was ice cold and clearly coming straight from the snow on the summit. Brrrr!

And then it was time to set up camp and await the next day’s summit.

Read further to hear about our night at Boulder Field and Summit the following day!