My partner was a little behind getting her winter game on so we decided to throw in some bigger days to "accelerate" the training. What better way to have a big, tough day than a Winter ascent of Longs Peak. I've been up Longs in the Winter on all aspects except the south face, so the time seemed right to give Keplingers Couloir a go since the weather had been conducive for a Winter climb. What's that mean? Keplingers is a plumb Spring ski decent that can be skied from the summit (14,250 ft) in good years. In the Winter, it's typically lean on snow and can have avalanche exposure with new snow / wind. It had been a while since the upper peaks had seen snow and winds had been high (100-120 MPH) on the mountain tops. This typically scours new snow and compresses snow into "styrafoam" conditions. This makes for good climbing conditions, maybe not so good ski conditions, but this was about getting out, getting some miles (17-ish) and some vertical (~6k ft).
Since it's Winter, a 3 am alpine start isn't necessary. No thunderstorms now. At least, I hope not. Leaving Boulder before dawn was a 5:30am beginning.
This Winter had a great January start then tapered off, significantly. This might mean a wee bit of a walk at the start. Not such a big deal on the front end, however, a bit of a pain on the back end. Always chipper at the start.
Keplingers is one of Longs Peak longer approaches. It crosses under the south face of the Dragon's Egg Couloir off Mt Meeker. Not such an interesting ski, yet. Hopefully the spring snows will fill it in.
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| Mt Meeker and Dragon's Egg Couloir |
While it's a long slog in, it's amazing to pass by the glacial erosion and deposits.
Luckily, there are great views of Keplingers Couloir from the lower valley.
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Longs Peak summit in center, Keplingers Couloir winds up from base towards the Notch then traverses left towards the Summer Home Stretch finish.
Lower portion of Keplingers Couloir, Sand Beach Lake in the background.
Finally on top, windy, as usual, but not too bad for Winter.
 
Back down to the base of the Couloir as the sun sets on the higher ridges. Time for headlamps.
This was after-all a training exercise, and we got what we asked for. Headlamps on at 12k ft with a sketchy, icy ski out to the final miles where it was skis on packs for the final walk out. All in all, 14 hours, 17 miles, 6k ft vertical and a good day in the mountains.
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