2004 Attempt at Long's Peak

Last year, my friend and co-worker Derry conned me into going with him up Long's Peak with a group of boy-scouts. Not only did the boy-scouts slow us down, but we did it in early October after no sane person would ever try to climb Long's Peak.  We made it up to the key-hole but the ice-covered narrows sent us back down.  We decided we would return the next year (this year).

This year, we went a little earlier, but Derry decided to take along (his wife decided for him) his wife's boss.  Not only was this person an extremely unpleasant person to hike with, she was also a huge (slow) burden to us.  We spent most of our time up to the key-hole waiting for Natasha and decided that it was too late in the day to continue on (especially if we had to wait for her every 100 steps).

We started early in the morning (probably not early enough).  By the time the sun was coming up, we were up above tree-line.  The photo to the right is the sunrise back from where we came from.  We wanted to be much further at this time, but since we had to wait every few minutes, we were not able to make very good time.
	Not a whole lot later we came up to the Chasm Lake overlook.  It was extremely cold and windy at this point and we had to wait for our Russian friend to go the bathroom, and change into warmer clothes at this point.  The long delay here is what killed us.  See the photo at the left.  You can barely see the lake to the bottom left corner.  Very pretty.
So, after an excruciating wait looking over Chasm Lake, we continued on up several switch-backs.  Here is a distant look at the key-hole.
	Here is a view back the away from the peak over the bolder-field.
Here are Derry (on the right) and Me (on the left) in front of a very nice view of the peak.
	A closer look at the key-hole.
This is a view from the Key-Hole across "the Narrows".  This is as far as we got because we did not think we had enough time to make the peak from this point.
	From the Key-Hole down into the valley.  There are several alpine lakes below.
Sheppy from the Key-Hole.  Not where we wanted to end up, but as destinations go, this is not the worst.  Next year (2005) Derry and I have agreed that we will not invite anyone who we think can not make it or will slow us down.  We are also requiring a pact that anyone who cannot keep up, will be left behind.  I hope to get started a little earlier in the morning.  Hopefully these change will allow us to finally summit the peak.