We are excited to be able to offer our first trip to the summit of Longs Peak, the only 14,000ft peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. With the lengthy approach and significant exposure, reaching the summit of Longs is a great accomplishment. Those planning to undertake Longs should be prepared for a very long day on the trail. We will begin our approach around 2:00AM and we anticipate the round trip climb to take somewhere between 12 and 15 hours. Though Longs begins as an alpine hike, the summit push is definitely a climb; and consequently, we would strongly discourage someone from make Longs their first 14’er.
Dates: August 28-31, 2022
Our Longs Peak team will arrive in Denver no later than 5:00PM on Sunday, August 28th and will depart from Denver on the morning of August 31st.
Cost: $1,050 per person
- A non-refundable $250 deposit is required at the time of registration to secure your spot on the team.
- $1,050 is due before August 1st, 2022.
What is included:
- Three restaurant dinners on nights 1, 2, and 3; and a cold trail lunch on day 3
- 3 nights in a hotel
- All transportation to and from Denver airport
What is NOT included:
- Each team member is responsible for their own travel to and from Denver, arriving in the afternoon of day 1 (no later than 5:00pm MST) and departing on the morning of day 4. Some will choose to drive, but we expect most of our team members to fly.
- Each team member is required to bring their own trekking gear (daypack, clothes, hiking shoes/boots, trekking poles, etc.). We will provide an extensive and detailed packing/gear list for all of our participants.
- Each team member is responsible for their own trekking snacks (we will provide a sample list of what most trekkers will be bringing).
- Each team member is responsible for each day’s breakfast. On days 2 and 3, we will eat our breakfast on the trail. On day 4 most of our team members will grab breakfast at the airport on the way home.
Trek Difficulty: Difficult
Longs Peak is a very challenging mountain both because of the lengthy approach (~15 miles round trip) and also because of the presence of significant exposure in the final sections before the summit. When considering these factors as well as just the difficulties presented by the elevation, we consider this one of the most demanding single days that we offer on any trek or mountain. It is not to be underestimated and we expect all of our Longs Peak team members to devote themselves to a season of training before the trip. Though we do not require a marathon as a prerequisite for Longs, we feel that it is a very good test of a team member’s readiness. If you cannot cover 26 miles on flat ground at sea level, you will have a very difficult time handling the rigors of attacking Longs Peak in a single day.
Itinerary:
Day 1 (August 28th)
Team members need to arrive in Denver no later than 5:00PM MST. We will pick everyone up from the airport and transport them to our team hotel. After we get everyone checked in, we will go out for a dinner at a local restaurant. This night is about getting to know your fellow teammates and setting the tone for the adventure.
Day 2 (August 29th)
Day 2 is our acclimitization/tune up day. We will wake everyone around 6:00AM and make our way to the Bear Lake trailhead where we will spend the morning climbing to the summit of Flat Top Mountain at 12,361ft. The round trip hike is a little more than 8 miles and will take us around 4.5 to 5 hours. We will eat breakfast along the trail and will snack for lunch. We will then have a very early dinner (around 3:00 or 4:00PM) so we can be back in our rooms to get to bed early.
Day 3 (August 30th)
We will set our alarms for 1:00AM (yes, you read that right), and we will be in the cars by 1:30AM. We will trek with headlamps up the trail to the boulderfield and up to the famous Keyhole, where we will shift from trekking to scrambling to climbing. This will be an exhilarating stretch of trail that you will never forget. If all goes well, we will be on the summit well before noon. After a few brief moments on the summit, we will retrace our steps back down the trail to our cars, and make our way to a celebratory dinner, before relocating to a hotel much closer to the Denver airport.
Day 4 (August 31st)
We will wake up as early as is necessary to get each team member back to the airport in time for their flights home. We will not do a formal breakfast. Most team members will grab something at the airport.