Longs Peak: Climbing Colorado's Infamous 14er

Good morning friends. It is a beautiful and chilly autumn day here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and today we are attempting a climb that we've had our eyes on for years and that is Longs Peak. Now Longs Peak is known as being one of the most famous and also the deadliest 14er of Colorado and that's for good reason because the trail has a perfect combination of challenging terrain, epic views, and plenty of spicy scrambling up to the summit. We know the route today will not be easy. We're climbing 5,000 feet at very high altitude where we'll top out at 14,200 feet. Not to mention the wind and the ice as we climb higher and higher are going to add a whole other layer of complexity to an already challenging day but we started early. We're going to give this our all and we are so excited to see if we can summit Longs Peak. Elyse, look at that sunrise. My goodness. It's a good sign. You think a nice sunrise is a good omen? I don't know. I think so. I hope so. I'm just gonna decide that it is. And there my friends is Longs Peak in all its glory. Man that looks intimidating up there. You see on camera it looks pretty gnarly. It looks crazy. That's some cliff face, huh? It really reminds me of Whitney. It does a little bit, yeah. It looks really daunting though. It looks fun too though. Elyse, you enjoying this flat part? I am actually. It's so warm out but I really feel like this trail is so funny. They make you stare at this beast for a really long time. They're like you better be damn sure that you want to climb this bad boy. We're giving you so much opportunity to turn around. They do give you a lot of opportunity to chicken out and bail before you get to the really gnarly part. I will prevail. In true Live Hard Love Hard fashion, we already got off route. Well after a classic Live Hard Love Hard snafu in which we followed the prettier route instead of the correct route. Why do we always do that? Because we both have ADD. Never have two people with ADD on the same climbing team. We get distracted by pretty things. You say pretty things. Anyway, after the one thing I hate more than giving up vertical is adding unnecessary vertical. But we're now back on route. Here we go. It feels like we've crossed onto another planet. Yeah, it's crazy up here. I feel pretty good except for the altitude headache. I'm trying to stay hydrated. Oh that's a good idea. Wait, we're above 12,000. That's surprising for you. I'm doing pretty good. Just starting to get that headache. Well, the good news is we can finally see where we're going again. Yep. And there is our keyhole. The bad news is that thing looks hella far up there. It does still look far and I'm already feeling the altitude. Right? Oh my gosh, I still got a ways to go. These boulders sure are bouldering. Yeah, pretty bouldering now. I feel like a snail. I know. We're so tired and we still got all that up there to go. Get into that keyhole though. This boulder field is no joke. We're almost 13,000 feet. Yeah. So just climbing up every step up a boulder just feels exhausting. Exhausting. I'm so tired. Oh, I'm feeling that altitude so hard. Come on boo, you're so close to that keyhole. You want to take a rest, yeah? Yeah, 100%. Okay. Normally everyone makes comments about Adam's heavy breathing while he's filming me. I think I was the one heavy breathing that time. This thing is so steep. Last few slabs to that keyhole. Go, go, go. Okay. Oh shoot. Yeah. Oh shoot, you have to see this. Come on boo. Up to the keyhole. Keyhole. Heck yeah. Look at this guys. Wow. Okay. Uh-huh. All right. Keyhole guys. Now I feel like we're making some progress. Yeah. I hope you guys can see that view down there. Insane. This thing went from a long, hard, sloggy boulder field to spectacular AF in a hurry. Look at this. I think we have about a thousand feet left and about a mile. Take a look at it. Oh, it looks gnarly. You know what that means. I think it's time for some jelly beans. Jelly bean time for sure. You can never go wrong with about 13,000 feet. All right, baby, let's get serious. Well, we geared up, layered up because it is a little chilly back here. This is the dangerous part. So we got to lock in. Just go super slow, super careful. Not going to die filming, but we'll try to get some shots for you guys. Yeah, exactly. It looks awesome. Yeah. I see what they mean about these ledges. I mean, you take one slip, that's a long way down. It is a long way down. And there's nowhere to stop you. Yeah. You're just sliding the whole way. So true. Slippery? Yeah. It's good? Nice of these right to the bullseye. Man, these views are unreal. I know. It's almost hard to keep your eyes on the trail. Please keep your eyes on the trail. It is really gorgeous. Look at those guys. Nice. It's really polished. Just be careful on the rock because it's so polished. It's slick. I'm a little concerned about that. Yeah, yeah. Just get good handholds. You're fine. Nice baby. There's good handholds, footholds here and there. Nice. Nice of these. Very nice. Really slippery, huh? Yeah, it's really slippery. We did know this going in. There's an infamous part where you have to give up about 100 feet of vertical. Are you so bummed? I'm not that bummed. You know why? This traverse part is so freaking fun. It's an amazing rock scramble, beautiful views. If you have to give up vertical, you have to give up vertical. It happens. I think we're in the trough now. Yeah. And you can see we got a long way to go up there. Why did it look so far? It's just because it's so steep and we're tired. It's just really high altitude. We're like 13.5 or something right now and really out of breath and it's just very steep. It probably doesn't look good on the camera but it really is. The good news is that ice and snow is staying off to the right so we're not worried about slipping right now which is great. I think it should be avoidable hopefully. Yeah. Careful. Yeah, it's slick. As we get up towards 14,000 feet I can only take about five or ten steps up and then I have to take five or ten breaths. It's steep. I think we should slow down a little bit. We're like trying to book it up this trough and it's very hard. Elise, I can see the top of the trough. I know but I still see so far. You all right? I think I'm just gonna... You guys, this thing is not technical at all but it is so steep and it's long and you just get higher and higher and more and more out of breath. My heart is going so fast. Am I dying? But the good news is it's not technical so if you can handle the cardio of it it's not like you're gonna fall to your doom so that's nice. It's hard to be this tired when you also have to watch out for falling to your doom which is going to be the little traverse up here. Oh, the narrows, yeah. So steep. So steep. Oh, the top of the trough. Holy moly. Oh man, that trough, you know, I think it's deadly not because of fall danger but because of cardio danger. I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack coming up that trough. Oh man, that was rough. Oh, whoa. Oh, here's the ledge. I know. Oh, this looks gnarly. This does look gnarly. We got we got our work cut out for us. Let's just catch our breath before we do it. For sure. Whoa. I don't know if I'm gonna even be able to follow shot you on this. Really? Well, because I might want You all right there? Yeah, it's really tight. You got it. There you go. Nice. Wow. I know you can't tell how steep this is on camera, but it's crazy business. We do still have the final 200. Yeah. Up to the top, which does look kind of steep and kind of scary slabby. Probably pretty polished from all the people going up and down it. Yeah, that's true. But, we got this. Final 200. I think we only have about 200, 300 more feet to the summit. That's awesome. Let's do it. Let's crush this. Let's rock it out of the park. Why are you so happy right now? Are you not tired? I got a lot of energy. I think for those jelly beans. Oh, okay. Give me some jelly beans while we do this. Oh, you need the jellies. I need the jellies. Okay. I've lost track of how many times I've saved your life with jelly beans. It's always above 13,000 too. Yeah. Like, remember on Shasta? Oh my god. And Whitney Mountaineers. Whitney Mountaineers, gotta get on my jelly level. Wow. So excited. At least it's sugared up. Adam's like, goodness just hide the jellies after this. Oh, you're giving them back to me. Thank you. Thank you. Oh. I think that's all I needed. Yeah. Good work. The final slab begins. You are, but at least you're going to finish, right? Wait, is this it? Is this the summit? Oh my god. Oh yeah. Oh god. This is a big summit. Oh, it's a nice big summit. I feel awesome. Holy moly. Yeah, long peak yo. Am I going into cardiac arrest? I'm a little worried about you. You are getting old. Well, you were speeding up that thing, man. Jelly beans are the win. I gotta say though, this is spectacular. This is awesome. We gotta go scope out the whole thing. Oh my god, we're gonna have a 360 from up here, guys. This is the top of the whole world up here. Yeah. Can't wait to show it to you. It's gonna be awesome. Oh, yes. Is this my snack spot, Elise? Oh, you guys, this is a tremendous summit. It's a true 360. You have to walk the 360. You don't get it all from one single peak. It's tremendous. You're crazy. What's wrong with you? Look at that. What is the snack spot right now? I mean, that's the snack spot for sure. There's no question about it. What kind of pop tart did you bring? I brought a frosted banana bread. Oh. And I will have you know, I kept it perfectly whole. How? Through that entire ordeal. How? Are you so proud of yourself? Yeah, it's not easy to keep a pop tart whole in that level of scrambling. Wow, look at his level of skill, guys. I'm sure everyone is impressed. This is my kind of snack spot. I came out almost all the way, guys. I was like a big spoon Adam. That's about as much as I can handle. You love being little spoon. He's so stoked right now, he won't admit it, but long speak. Wow, that was very cool. Really awesome summit as well. Amazing summit. I hope the 360 views turned out well for you guys. And honestly, really a fun climb. It was perfect. It had just the right amount of spice where you didn't feel overly scared for your life, except for Adam and his poor heart. Seriously, I think the danger on this one is cardio danger. I never felt like we were going to fall to our death or anything, but it was very fun. The scramble, the last mile scramble from Keyhole is super fun. Really great scramble. Yeah, highly recommend this one, honestly. Hope you guys had fun with us today. Make sure you acclimate and do your cardio before you do it. Let us know what you thought. We'll see you next time. See you guys next time out on the trails.