MDUB MDUB MDUB MDUB MDUB 3/28/2008 Long's Peak While most people went to RRG last weekend, Rob Ross from Chicago, opted out and decided to come to Colorado to make a late winter attempt at Climbing Long’s Peak with me. Long’s Peak is a popular 14,000+ peak in RMNP and is the peak in the very background of the photo. We left for the trailhead at 2:30 am on 3/28. The climb lasted over 15 hours and covered 8000 vertical feet in about 13 miles. This picture of me was taken in the first 3 hours when we thought we had lucked out with the weather. Unfortunately we spent nearly 12 hours in blizzard like conditions with sustained winds at 20 to 40 mph and gusts over 60mph. Visibility often approached near whitout conditions and we spent a good portion of time breaking trail in 3 + feet of snow all thanks to the RMNP Rangers who said snow shoes were not needed. BRUTAL!!! Thanks for the beta!!! Pretty much it was an epic day for us and I’m sure Rob thought about how he could have been at Miguels in RRG having pizza, while being all nice and warm. KUDOS!!! to Rob though, who went from 800 ft elevation in Chicago to over 13,000 feet at the Keyhole Ridge entrance. Beer never tasted as good as it did when we got home with all of our fingers and toes intact. I’ll post a couple other pictures of when the weather really started punishing us. RMNP, Longs Peak, mountaineering, colorado