Longs Peak Winter Solo, 14,255’
1/25/03
Aron Ralston
Published 8/01/03

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1. Leaving the trailhead at 7:20 a.m. on Saturday—Scott dropped me off and away I went, feeling as strong and prepared as I've ever felt for climbing a winter 14er. Via the iced-over Keyhole Route, I summited Longs Peak for my 41st winter 14er solo. The ascent took me 4-1/2 hours from the trailhead, and the descent took me 5 hours—there was 300' of difficult 5.3 M2 AI2 downclimbing to descend the Homestretch. I hadn't anticipated the ice when I allowed my pack to drop back from the 5th class chimney I used to avoid the Homestretch on the way up, hence my crampons were laced to the pack and useless to me until I retrieved the pack an hour later. The Homestretch portion of the descent off the summit took me two hours before I was on the Narrows and headed home—the next 6 miles down the Trough, across the Ledges, through the Keyhole and Boulderfield, back over Granite Pass, past Jim's Grove, and then the switchbacks to the trailhead took just 2-1/2 hours. Scott MacLennan met me at the trailhead and we drove back to Boulder to celebrate with his friends, a movie (Antwone Fisher) and dinner at Zolo's.

2. The sun tries to heat the tundra but is foiled by windswept snow that blots out its warmth.

3. My new Saltic mountaineering boots—awesome things of technological beauty and comfort they are. I'd had them out of the box for just 4 hours of breaking-in time and they felt as comfortable as double-plastic liners, and just as warm and lightweight, but they're fully waterproof (even after 9 hours in the snow, without gaiters, the outers had no water penetration at all) and have Vibram soles.

4. Within 2-1/2 hours I was at the Boulderfield bathroom for a facility break.

5. Wind is seemingly ever-present and from an ever-changing direction in the Boulderfield.

6. I attained the Keyhole at 10:30am, just three hours and change from leaving the trailhead some 6-1/2 miles and almost 4,000' vertical lower. At the Keyhole, the Vaille Memorial shelter stood guard over a stash of 6' of powder stacked inside the doorframe of the hut.