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Failed Summit Attempt!

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Kevo
Posts: 2374 - Karma: 136
I set out shortly before 3 am last night to go climb Longs Peak out here in Colorado. It is a pretty good hike, 16 miles with a ton (not exactly sure) of elevation change, probably close to 5,000 verticle feet. You have to start way early so that you are below the treeline once the afternoon thunderstorms start rolling in. So everything is going well and I break above the treeline at about 4:15, at which point the wind really started to pick up. I thought nothing of it for a while, but then at about 4:30ish it started to sleet/snow...in freaking August. At this point I was probalby just above 12,000 feet in elevation, and the wind got even stronger. I put on some gloves and a waterproof shell and at this point come to the sad realization that I had no long pants which really sucked because it was easily below freezing. As I neared a ridge that was closing in on 13,000 feet, the wind REALLY picked up. It was gusting at least 70 miles per hour. Absolutely freaking rediculouse. After waiting a little while and seeing the sunrise, I had no choice but to give up on the summit attempt. Crossing the last section called "The Narrows" in 70+ mile per hour winds is not an option, especially when the summit is in the clouds (guess I didn't mention that part of the story). So I came within 1,500 verticle feet of completing my summit attempt, but sadly I had to turn around, along with all the other people who were trying to climb it today.




To love the times we have
To like what makes us sad
To live when others die
To lose and say goodbye
To last until our moment comes
Aug 17 2005 1:07PM
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bermbuster49
Posts: 7445 - Karma: 90
sounds fun...haha


-kulpy-

gangsta raps lyrics are all the same, Someone gets shot, someones frontin, someones a wangsta, someones benchpressin, someones makin fried chicken, and the beans dont burn on the grill. You can see that shit in kentucky. Fuck the bronx, deep south bitches-scientist
Aug 17 2005 1:08PM
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Jaskittin
Posts: 5606 - Karma: 195
Thats shitty, but you made a smart decision, its not worth taking the risk. Just try again another day.





They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When your high, you can do everything you can normaly, just as well. You just realize its not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference.-Bill Hicks

And on the 7th day, God stepped back and said "There is my creation, perfect in every way....Oh dammit I left weed all over the place, now they will think I want them to smoke it. Now I'll have to create republicans.-Bill Hicks

Aug 17 2005 1:09PM
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skisebski
Posts: 5970 - Karma: 21
gotta love climing.

*NS Skateboarders*

- getting one inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery-*CCR*



Aug 17 2005 1:11PM
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nut
Posts: 625 - Karma: 12
That is very ironic that you posted this. My girl and I are doing mt. princeton on friday. We've been going back and forth about whether or not we should take waterproof bottoms or bottoms at all. After your story, I think we will.

Princeton is pretty wimpy compared to Long's, but the same conditions could exist.

On another note, one of my good friends was on Longs last year when that foreigner died (the excahnge student from CSU). My friend was the first to see the dead guy's friend and took him to safety at the trailhead. My friend told me that these two guys had jeans and sweatshirts on. The guy that my friend rescued had his socks on his hands becuase he was so cold. Needless to say, they didn't even try to find/rescue the other guy until the next day. It shook my friend up, because he had like 10 people he was leading on a summit. They decided to camp at the boulder field because of the conditions, and then he has to deal with some unprepared people that put themselves in a stupid situation.

Aug 17 2005 2:39PM
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Ice-Is-Scary
Posts: 0 - Karma: 87
Same shit happened to me and my friends about two weeks ago, we were at about 11,500 when a freak sleet/ice storm rolled in while we were on top of an exposed mountain. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts and had to run down the backside to avoid getting bombed by lightning. So we are sitting in this gulley at prolly 10,500 getting hypothermic because its prolly 40 degrees out and raining/hailing but there was too much lightning to try to run over the top of the exposed mountain back down the other side to the car. It was about a 20-25 minute hike completely exposed to get to the other side. So we sat and froze our ass off literally for about 2 hours then said we'll were gonna freeze to death if we sit here so we just made a run for it. Didn't get struck by lightning which was pretty cool

We pay our debt sometimes.
Aug 17 2005 3:25PM
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.John.
Posts: 6943 - Karma: 14
I climbed long's peak last year, probably the most rewarding mountain I've ever climbed


i don't want this to get out too far but i heard ninthward has sex with armada-Twix_182

Aug 17 2005 4:08PM
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table_top08
Posts: 863 - Karma: 10
Maybe you should have checked the weather before climbing a 14,000 ft. foot mountain

Aug 17 2005 4:54PM
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hendrik.
Posts: 6715 - Karma: 267
maybe you cant really forecast the weather all that well for mountains, ass hole.

-hendrik
________________________________ _______
Just ski.
Aug 17 2005 5:05PM
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Ice-Is-Scary
Posts: 0 - Karma: 87
Well the weather doesn't mean shit, the day we went up it was clear skies and 10% chance of showers, weather moves in very fast at high altitudes

We pay our debt sometimes.
Aug 17 2005 5:33PM
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Kevo
Posts: 2374 - Karma: 136
Yeah man the forcast right before I left was clear with 15-20mph sustained wind and gusts up to 25mph. The low on the mountain was not supposed to drop below 40 degrees. Needless to say, the changed it by the time I got back down. The weather that high can change unexpectedly in 5 minutes. Oh and whoever was talking about not being prepared (story of CSU student) I definitely witnessed some extreme stupidity with a few people trying to get the the boulder field wearing sweatpants. sweatshirts, and running shoes. When you see backcountry park employees huddled against the leeward side of boulders trying to stay warm, chances are you shouldn't be there without some kind of waterproof winter clothing.




To love the times we have
To like what makes us sad
To live when others die
To lose and say goodbye
To last until our moment comes
Aug 17 2005 6:29PM
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Kevo
Posts: 2374 - Karma: 136
Well, I went up there last night for a second attempt with a few of my friends and we summited Longs. It was the first time for all of us.




To love the times we have
To like what makes us sad
To live when others die
To lose and say goodbye
To last until our moment comes
Sep 24 2005 10:29PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
That should teach you not to be a mountain walking hippy.

Sep 24 2005 11:26PM
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*rkp*
Posts: 8198 - Karma: 258
wtf?

Sep 24 2005 11:53PM
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poor@$$skibum
Posts: 1625 - Karma: 40
^its ok, hes a snowblader. they seem to be somwhat retarded.


my gf can only get 10% of my cock in her mouth which always leaves me having to put the other 90 in mine-Lateralis


Sep 25 2005 1:28AM
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mattster
Posts: 4120 - Karma: 41
wow. for the longest time i thought it said failed suicide attempt. i am an idiot

****************************************


-Matt
My signature is so plain... dag yo.
NS SKATEBOARDERS

Sep 25 2005 2:25AM
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Meh42
Posts: 2431 - Karma: 14
Hahahahahah, I love Estes Park, I spend a month there every summer. This year we did Meeker, Longs and Pagoda in one day, 20+ miles, we woke up at 1 am to do it. Whenever you do make Longs, take a look at the path straight up Meeker, or over to Pagoda, it was fucking terrifying. We made it to chasm lake by 3:45 AM, peaked Meeker at 6, Longs at 9 and Pagoda by 12. Coming up Longs, seeing the view and the people up there was one of the best moments of my life. But back to the point, I've never been more terrified in my whole life than those literal cliff hangers over 150 foot drops we had to do to navigate that shit.

The only thing that went wrong the entire day was seeing a 7 year old in the Homestretch on Longs. It puts a damper on your accomplishment when you realize a goddamn 7 year old just made a 14 mile hike...

I absolutely love Rocky Mountain National Park.

_________________________________________ __________
-Chris
Sep 25 2005 6:09AM
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Meh42
Posts: 2431 - Karma: 14
Oh by the way, this was super early August, like the second or so. For those who don't know, Longs is only classified "safe" by about end of july, then starts becoming dangerous again in like early september. It's goddamn rediculous how small that window is.

Also, if you have the time, try for it again, like I said, it's definatly worth it. If the weather still looks sketchy though, try waking up suuppper early, the storms don't usually usually roll in around there until like 12-1

_________________________________________ __________
-Chris
Sep 25 2005 6:13AM
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EC-Tom
Posts: 2572 - Karma: 12
Don't you pretty much do the same thing with those "blades" attached to your legs?


-Tom

Mass Fuggas fo' life.
Sep 25 2005 7:24AM
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
Oh that's the pussy talking. Dude next time just buckle down and conquer that fucker!

----RIP Signature------
Sep 25 2005 8:10AM
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Ahmets_Brother
Posts: 20283 - Karma: 5,931
you shoulda brought a jacket and snow pants


member 9020 newbies are our future unless if we stop them now!

don't look directly at her, girls are evil, they make it feel like our underwear shrunk. but why...WHY!!-twix 182

BOGART!!
Sep 25 2005 8:17AM
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Kevo
Posts: 2374 - Karma: 136
Yeah man I did summit it. I guess it is kinda hard to spot the revival post really far down where I said that I summited it yesterday. We started at about 3:30am but didn't finish untill shortly after 6pm because one of the guys that came with us got altitude sickness and slowed us down for a long time before he finally turned around. There was some snow and ice starting at about 13,000 feet that also slowed us down. All in all, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Next time I go up there I will probably be climbing the diamond (the 2,000 foot cliff below the summit that faces east).




To love the times we have
To like what makes us sad
To live when others die
To lose and say goodbye
To last until our moment comes
Sep 25 2005 4:48PM
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Ahmets_Brother
Posts: 20283 - Karma: 5,931
you should climb everest next


member 9020 newbies are our future unless if we stop them now!

don't look directly at her, girls are evil, they make it feel like our underwear shrunk. but why...WHY!!-twix 182

BOGART!!
Sep 25 2005 7:57PM
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scientist
Posts: 6920 - Karma: 348
I climbed something where there was 3 feet of snow in july, im not sure how high it was, bt i had trouble beathing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fomerly known as *huckster*
Sep 25 2005 8:18PM
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assassin167
Posts: 908 - Karma: 10
that sucks dude

french is wierd too. the movie "mouse hunt" in french was called " nous reveillons pas un souris qui dors" meaning we wont wake up a mouse thats sleeping.
-Lat
Sep 25 2005 8:21PM
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