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Base Camp
Up
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: October 18,
2008
- Miles Hiked: 11.0
- Elevation Gain: 5,300'
- Hiking Partner(s): Brian
Kooienga & Jeff Shafer
- Description:
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We couldn't resist the temptation to swing the ice
tools again after a recently published trip report on the Flying
Dutchman, so Brian, Jeff, and myself decided to check it out.
Although my initial thoughts were simply to climb the route, Jeff
suggested we continue to the summit if the weather permitted. This
ended up being my 6th summit of Longs Peak by the
5th route. There is obviously a fairly long approach for very
little ice climbing, but as previously mentioned we felt like getting
our tools out, we knew the ice was in, Brian and I hadn't climbed the
Flying Dutchman Couloir, and none of us had done the Clark's Arrow
route.
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We left the trailhead around 4:45 and essentially
ended up hiking to the base of climb separately after spreading out
early in the hike. It took us roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes to
reach the snow in the Flying Dutchman couloir. The hike in went
well and the scramble around Chasm Lake wasn't difficult. We
geared up next to another party of two who started up the snow right before
us but without crampons. They stopped again a short way up the
snow to put on their crampons so we passed them and made our way to the
base of the ice. They made it to the ice behind us and decided to
free-solo the pitch, so we let them go ahead assuming it wouldn't take
them long. We quickly learned that one of the individuals had
never ice climbed before. Approximately 25 feet up the ice he
nearly peeled off and took the express descent down the Flying Dutchman.
One tool and a foot placement blew out, and he quickly found himself
belly down on the ice. Fortunately, he caught himself and quickly
finished the climb.
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The three of us made quick work of the short pitch
using the conventional technique of ice screw protection, ropes, and
belaying. Anyway, we
scrambled up to the Loft and saw the sun reflecting on some
climbable ice below it. We hiked across the Loft to the beginning
of the Clark's Arrow route and quickly dropped approximately 150-200
feet. At this point, we began scrambling back north with none of
us feeling particularly strong. We took a short break after
starting the ascent, and another below the Notch. We then
continued traversing to the base of the Homestretch and topped out after
7 hours and 25 minutes.
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The wind was only occasionally annoying and we
all commented on the beautiful mid-October day we were having.
After refueling and hanging out the summit for 30 minutes, we quickly
descended the North Face where we rappelled and scrambled down to the
Boulder Field. The technical pitches of the North Face appeared to
be in good mixed climbing conditions. We took a short break to remove a layer and take a
quick drink of water. We had limited discussion on the descent
since the three of us were all listening to our iPods and focusing on
the trudge back to the trailhead. It ended up being an 11 hour and
30 minute car-to-car hike.
- Maps:
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Click here to view a
2D map of
the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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www.
just
hiking
.com
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