![]() ![]() Hike up East Longs Peak Trail, the summit route for Longs Peak, for 3.25 miles to Chasm Junction. Chasm Lake is reached by a 4.5-mile hike from the Longs Peak Trailhead off Colorado Highway 7 south of Estes Park.Imposing Longs Peak looms to the west with Mount Lady Washington on the north and 13,911-foot Mount Meeker to the south. The final trail section climbs above Peacock Pool to Chasm Lake’s rocky shoreline and stunning mountain views. The 11,780-foot lake is reached by a popular nine-mile, round-trip hike from the Longs Peak Trailhead and Ranger Station. Granite walls, Mills Glacier, and talus fields filling the cirque surround this picturesque lake. We topped out at 4:20pm and reunited with our friends from the bottom of the face.Chasm Lake, one of Colorado’s most beautiful mountain lakes, is a high-altitude alpine lake tucked into a glacial cirque below the towering East Face of 14,259-foot Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. The final hundred feet were really physically tiring as we had to climb through a deep pocket of sugar snow. The top of the face held a bit more snow, which was getting less and less supportive towards the top. This section was not without its difficulties a few times we had to traverse left or right to find a feasible line. We tried to stick to the pockets of snow as they provided much more stable climbing than the smooth rock slabs that comprise the North Face. We were excited to get moving, and the terrain above us seemed to mellow out so we stowed the rope and free-climbed the rest of the face. I belayed Ryan up shortly after, he was very happy to be moving again. I placed another screw below this move, then moved up to the left and then right again, clipping the final bolt. After maybe 2/3 of a rope length, there was only one remaining difficulty: a waist high step with ice coating the top of the lip. I managed to clip in to the second bolt and place an ice screw shortly thereafter. This portion was suprisingly difficult for me the actual grade and climbing difficulty was not a problem, but the icy conditions made me very happy to have protection. I continued on up, dry-tooling on rock and ice. We made our way around the edges of a frozen Chasm Lake and began our ascent of Camel‘s gulley, which held some snow and was a somewhat pleasant climb. I had never seen the Diamond this up-close and personal before. We ascended above treeline as the sun was coming up, arriving at Chasm Junction roughly 2 hours after our departure.Īfter another 45 minute jaunt, we found ourselves underneath the imposing East Face of Longs. We departed from the TH at 6:00am on the dot, fully prepared for the -20 temps the weather service was calling for. It turned out to be a great day, although very physically difficult. After a bit of research we discovered a gulley that starts at Chasm Lake and spits you out right at the base of the North Face we thought it would make a great outing to link these routes together and descend the Keyhole, making for a full traverse of the mountain with Chasm Lake as the starting point. We decided on the North Face to mix up the climbing a bit and take another baby step towards Kieners (we‘re getting there). Route: Camel‘s Gulley to North Face, Keyhole descentĪ little sick of long drives to remote corners of Colorado, Ryan and I decided to continue our training on a mountain closer to Denver.
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