For better or worse, with a 12er completed the day before in an attempt at a rapid acclimatization, we drove back to Rocky Mountain NP for a day with Longs Peak. Yesterday's hike took nearly the whole day, so unfortunately we got a later-than-ideal start for Longs.
The start point for the Trough Route is Glacier Gorge, just a short distance before the Bear Lake trailhead at 9200'. We arrived at the parking with some thick clouds overhead, which, even with a colorful display, was less than ideal for our plans.
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| Colorful clouds to the east |
At 6:50am, we departed along the Glacier Gorge approach trail. The trail winds up and around the east side of the Glacier Knobs and up to Mills lake.
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| Couloirs guarding Mills Lake above |
In winter, the trail conveniently crosses directly over the lakes, which was new, fun, and debatably a water sport? In any case, here is the expansive view from Mills Lake, looking south toward Longs Peak and Pagoda Mtn.
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| Noah crossing Mills Lake |
After crossing Jewel Lake just past Mills, we continued through the gorge a couple miles to Black Lake. The skies began to clear as we progressed, giving us hope that a nicer day lay ahead of us.
I was taken aback at the views of the Arrowhead, a steep but graceful peak rising to the right of the trail.
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| The Arrowhead 12,642' |
Looking forward was the Spearhead and Chiefs Head Peak, and a confusing headwall that we weren't certain how the trail would pass.
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Spearhead 12,575' and Chiefs Head Peak 13,579'
(You can guess which one is which) |
Closer to Black Lake, additional spires on Arrowhead appeared.
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| Arrowhead |
Arriving in the Black Lake cirque was unbelievable, with McHenrys Peak to the west, Arrowhead to the northwest, Spearhead to the South, and frozen waterfalls lining the bowl we were in. At 10,620', we still had over 3600' vertical left to climb. We took a little time here to take it all in. This spot is still one of my favorites along this route. I think anyone who has visited can see why.
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| McHenrys Peak 13,327' |
The climb out of the Black Lake cirque got the heart pumping, especially at this elevation. We discovered than breaking before we were tired was the key to making our best progress.
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| Noah climbing up from Black Lake |
Out of the Black Lake basin, the Longs Peak summit block came into view, along with the top half of the Trough we would be climbing. The Trough is the widest snowy swath in the photo below, leading up between the summit block and the pointy spires on right.
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| Longs Peak and the Trough |
It's important to look behind you occasionally on these hikes, because there is a lot to see. We felt completely in the wilderness, with no views of roads or cities. Only mountains in every direction. We certainly lucked out on choosing this as an objective on our trip. And the skies were clearing even more.
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| Looking north |
We hugged the slopes to the left, and without seeing the lower portion of the Trough, we decided we would ascend the couloir to the left of it (above Noah in the photo below) and cross over when the snow thinned.
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| Noah boulder-hopping up to the left couloir |
The rising temperatures (think 50°) with calm wind and an aggressive slope to climb made the going very warm for our winter mountaineering setup. Boulder hopping is also frustrating over time, and we were itching for some crampon work on the snowy slopes. Soon we were on the snow again, but it was too shallow for crampons. The elevation was nearly killing me, and progress was no more than 15 steps and a few minutes break, then repeat.
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| Keyboard of the Winds |
Around 12,000', we had to assess our progress with the time of the day at this point, considering our time just to reach the left couloir was nearly 7 hours. It was nearly 2pm, with less than 4 hours of daylight left. Noah was uncomfortable descending the upper parts of the route in darkness, and there was no guarantee that we would be able to summit in less than 4 hours from this point. While sitting indecisively on the rocks, we came to the conclusion that we would cross over to at least see the Trough, and see what the snow conditions were like.
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| The Trough |
We were surprised to find the snow to be quite deep in the Trough, but we had failed to see this from the base because it was a fairly deep couloir that we couldn't see inside. At 12,150' and 7:15 hours, we called it a day, vowing to come back again and try it later with a true alpine start.
We thought glissading down the couloir would be a fun and quick way to descend. It would lift our spirits from having to turn back from a summit bid. I decided, as per tradition, to guess how far we had glissaded. My guess of 350' was nearly exact after checking with Noah's GPS!
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| Our glissade path! |
Noah found taking pictures inconvenient as he had stowed his camera deep inside his pack, so I got a photo of myself instead. Let's give a warm welcome to Nathan's new helmet.
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| Happy after glissading |
The descent was very quick, as the need for breaks is nearly nonexistent. Descending back to Black Lake revealed sunlight ice flows covering the rocky slopes.
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| Icy flows near Black Lake |
The distance from Black Lake to Jewel/Mills Lakes took longer than I wanted, but we did make it regardless. Only a few miles left after than down to the parking area.
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| Noah clearly using his trekking poles appropriately on Jewel Lake |
We made it back to the car by 5:20, and for me at least, less exhausted than after the hike to Hallett Peak. Maybe I'm adjusting to elevation just enough to help myself out. We planned to take a rest day after this Longs Peak trip. Gotta stay fresh and rested to stay strong.
Hike Data
Miles hiked: 11
Time elapsed: 10.5 hours
Elevation gain: 3650'
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