The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-08-26
A Colorado Letter.
Loveland. Colo. Aug. II, 191

Editor RepOrter:-l thought per-
haps it would interest you and the
Reporter readers to know about my
trip to the summit Of Longs Peak.
AS you probably know, Longs Peak
is the highest point in this part OF
the Rocky Mountains, being 14,255
feet above sea level and a few hun
dred feet higher than Pixies Peak.
Many who have climbed Pixies
Peak say they would not care to
take the trip up Longs Peak, be-
cause the two mountains are so SINH
lar, but this is all a mistake, rail-
road goes to the summit Of Pixies
Peak and a Ford reached the top re-
Gently, while the summit of Longs
Peak, and even the base of this peak
have never been marked by horses
hoofs, and many of the people who
start never get to the top.
Several people have died from af-
ter effects of this climb and one
young woman died on the trail The
first ascent was made forty-seyen
years ago. .....
Well, for the story of my trip.
We, a party of five men and four
women, started from Estes Park viii
lage on horseback Sunday morning
at $3.50. After riding about two
hours we reached Longs Peak inn,
which is at an altitude of 5000 feet;
here we ate very light breakfast,
the guide absolutely refused to let
us eat much1 as that would make it
difficult for us to stand the climb in
such a high altitude. After we left
the inn we took a wild trail up
through the mountains, the road
if it could be called rOad-Was a
little ravine about a foot wide, and
just as steep as it is possible for
anything to be without being perpen-
dicuiar, it was full Of rocks of all
sizes; of course we had horses that
we're used to such places and we just
let them take their own way. We
reached the timber line about nine
o'clock and here at Timber Line Inn
little 1lxl4 shack were the last
signs Of civilization we saw until our
return trip.
All this time we had been travel
ing southwest, but after We passed
the timber line, we went south most
of the time for three or four miles
until we reached Boulder Fields
here we tied our horses to the rocks
Boulder Fields is about one and
one-tenth miles across and there is
nothing to be seen here but rocks,
rocks, rocks. We crawled and jump
ed over these, going due west, for
about a mile, then for tenth of
mile we climbed up, as though climb
ing wall, the top of which is call
ed the Key Hole.
Below us lay the most wonderful
and beautiful valley have ever seen
and beyond it and all around us the
beautiful snow capped peaks of the
Rockies, and not bit of vegetation
Of any kind in sight, only the big
rocks, the mountain lakes and the
snow. ~a.
l wondered how we could go one
step farther, it seemed as though
there was absolutely no place we
could safely step; but our guide led
US on and from here on we did not
walk more than three steps until we
reached the summit three hours lat
err, but had to crawl over rocks and
climb in snow.
We travelled along gulch for
about an hour, that is on the west
side of the base of Longs Peak, this
was one solid mass of snow, which is
called the Trough, and is almost
perpendicular, our guilds had to cut
steps in the snow and ice with an axe. !
People say to me, "Was the climb !
through the Trough really danger
ous?' and all I have to say is that !
had we slipped here we would have
gone down the gulch of snow. on
down into ravine of rocks thou I
sands of feet below, and would never
have been seen again; but | must |
add this this is not always true of
the trip along the Trough, for some
summers the ice and snow melts,
thereby eliminating most of the dan
ger of slipping.
In one place in the Trough I was
foolish enough to lose my nerve and |
the guide had to crawl along an icy,
smooth rock and carry me on his
back until we reached foothold. |
When we reached the top of the ;
Trough we turned east and proceed
ed along the Narrows. This is simply |
a shelf on the side of the mountain,
it is about three feet wide, with a !,
perpendicular wall on one side and a
very steep precipice at the edge, |
which is hundreds Of feet deep-here /
we crawled along part of the time
and were able to walk some by ;
up tight against the wall
and hanging on; we travelled along |
these Narrows about twenty-five !
then came the real climb
ing, even the Trough was play COM
pared with the Home Stretch, as it is
called; for here we took a straight !
line up to the top, over big rocks
which were covered with ice and ,
snow To make this more agreeable it
began to snow on us here and the I;
clouds came down on us. 1t took us !
about half an hour to reach the top
and when we got there fierce storm
was raging and we were almost froz-
en-, and rather glad to get to flat
place to stand on, for the Home
Stretch is straight up and down and
we knew that to slip there or to
lose our balance meant certain
death in the rocks far below.
Just about five minutes after we
reached the top, one of our guides
was struck by lightning, he was
standing near the EASTERN precinjce |