This is the most intimidating mountain along the northern Front Range of the Colorado Rockies and the deadliest of the state's 14ers (mountains above 14k feet/4200m). The keyhole route involves class 3 scrambling on a mountain face, walking along a 3ft/1m-wide ledge above a sheer cliff, and lots of time above the treeline in tundra where you're the tallest thing on wet rock and storms come out of nowhere. Even being comfortable around the mountains in that park, it's the kind of hike where I see sections like the narrows/homestretch in a photo and my hands start shaking. But if I can conquer a mountain like that, it's a big step up in wilderness confidence. The path to it has some of the most beautiful columbine patches I've seen in super delicate tundra ecosystems that are fascinating to walk through.
I will shitpost on this mountain. The highest shitpost anyone has hopefully made.
Here it is from the ground. The main photo is probably taken at about 12k'
It's going to be soyface as shit. One of those mountains like Rainier or Fuji that just kind of dominates the entire landscape no matter where you are in the region.
My first time looking at the Rockies I hit the soyface so hard-- it was impossible not to! Looking at it from Boulder, the Rockies splay out like a massive row of teeth as far as the eye can see. Sunset out there can make even the most oblivious person stop for a moment and take in the beauty. End of day crowns the mountains in an orange halo of light. It's like watching them be set ablaze (but in a good, artsy way).
Shit description, I know, but I've got those puppies seared into my brain and it would be impossible for me to forget them. In a just world we would be doing pilgrimages there and to all the other natural beauties of North America.
They're a remarkable place, Rocky Mountain National Park especially. The moment I visited it I knew I had to move to within daytrip distance because a place like Mills Lake or Sky Pond or Chasm Lake (that one being right below the keyhole route, Longs Peak in the middle of the shot) is a naturalist's cathedral. There's nothing like a low dose of psilocybin surrounded by wildflowers 12.5k' up while the sun rises over Glacier Gorge.
I also can't wait to go further north. I've only done southern Wyoming so far so the really wild sections of the Rockies are going to be a whole new level. At most we have one or two grizzlies in Colorado.
Delta-tier goofyfooting.
A class 3 scramble is a rocky section where you have to keep handholds in order to avoid falling. Technically this has a class 4 section where you're outright bouldering and have to have hand/foot holds. During The Narrows you've got to really hug the wall while the home stretch is nearly climbing.
Climbing gyms are great. Working out all of the smaller muscles builds a lot of functional strength that directly translates to gaming.
I did this last month! I personally loved it and it got me into scrambling. My gf on the other hand absolutely hated it but still summited.
You're braver than I to attempt it earlier. I've been keeping an eye on snowpack daily and didn't want to do it when the California fire was degrading our air quality so much. Ice on the lower RMNP hikes is scary enough, while up there it would immediately turn me back.
The hazy air definitely killed the views but there was barely any snow. Only had to walk on snow for ~10ft
I did Bierstadt last year when the local fires were really bad. Smoke at that altitude made breathing suck which brought me down earlier than I would have liked. I'm really cautious with Longs timing and getting down before the morning rush/storms, but for such a milestone hike I'd hate to limit the view.
1AM is my target time. I'd like to at least be to the chasm lake fork before sunrise to get a good shot of it coming over the tundra. That will be a pretty easy pace to keep and thankfully there's fuck-all to look at until then apart from that waterfall.
I'm scared to take my camera bag along because it'd throw off my centre of gravity during the narrow sections.
Also I have bad news, I shit posted on the top of Mt. Whitney making me the shitpost king of the CONUS
I'll definitely post some. With any luck the wildflowers are either at full bloom or just coming off their high summer period up there. There's a section just prior to a nearby lake which has huge patches of columbines against a waterfall backdrop so with any luck the lighting will still be good by the time I'm back down from the summit and I'll get the real gems of that altitude.
