FELLOW SP MEMBERS AND VISITORS:
This is a highly detailed account of our ascent of Longs Peak via the Loft Route, written by my long time climbing partner, Jim Lierman. If you're a beginner, this is a good report to read. I have not seen a better account of what it takes to climb a serious mountain like Longs Peak anywhere. The trials, requirements and situations people are willing to endure just to climb a mountain are clearly illustrated. An exercise in madness? Perhaps. But this is what it takes if you want to be successful at climbing Longs Peak. Sit down, relax and devote the time required to read and enjoy this report, and hopefully you'll get something out of it. It will be time well spent.

My thanks to Jim Lierman for allowing the submission of this outstanding report to SP. --SP member Aaron Johnson

LONGS PEAK via THE LOFT ROUTE July 15, 2000
Climbers: Rosa Aguirre, Dave Beldus, Aaron Johnson, Jim Lierman and Andrea Radcliffe

On one of the early hikes in the 2000 season, Mike Schaffer informed us that he and his wife, Holly, would be moving to Los Angeles so he could pursue his MBA at the University of Southern California. They were to be leaving in mid-July. He said he�d like to try climbing Longs Peak again.

On the IU Club�s first attempt of Longs Peak on September 12, 1998, Mike had trained very hard. He even did an �extra credit� climb of Mt. Evans over the Labor Day weekend and got lost in the Willows returning to Guanella Pass the week before, an adventure in itself. Unfortunately, Mike�s day on Longs Peak ended at the Boulder Field where he waited for the rest of us. We had hiked about 6 miles to get to the Boulder Field, but it was still only about 6 am!

On that 1998 hike Dave Beldus, our esteemed Rocky Mountain National Park leader was to guide us. Over a month before the hike, however, Dave suffered an accident working around his house (20+ sheets of 4�x8� plywood fell on his legs and ankles and pinned him against a wall) and was unable to make it past the Boulder Field. In layman�s terms, he was phenomenal! I really don�t know anybody else who is in such fine shape. At the end of the day he showed me the shin of one of his legs and the damage remaining 4-6 weeks after the accident was unbelievable, yet he made it the 6 miles to the Boulder Field. Then our next two experienced leaders, Aaron Johnson (abdominal injury) and Vern Garner (cracked bone in leg), were also unable to lead us. The leadership of the climb past the Boulder Field fell to me. We decided to pursue the climb despite the absence of our more seasoned leaders. Seven of ten made the summit that day. As mentioned, Mike�s day ended at the Boulder Field. My son Brian had strained a leg muscle and was feeling the effects of altitude and had to stop just past the Keyhole on the Slabs. I told him to go back to the Keyhole and wait with Mike. At that point I didn�t think anybody would be getting the summit because of impending storms. Dave Beldus� day had ended at the Boulder Field. Myself, Roger Auer, Brian Chase, Tore Hatlen, Dave Herbaly, Greg Hostetler, and Greg�s friend Scott Spangler all made the summit. Roger did it in tennis shoes. As we approached the Trough the weather looked threatening, but after suggesting that we should turn around because of impending storms, a very determined Dave Herbaly looks me in the eyes and says, �I�ll turn around when I see the lightning!� He also reminded me that it was only 7:30 am and that the afternoon storms were a long way off. Your perspective is altered starting at 3 am! We got rained on during the descent, but no serious weather, just slippery rocks.

Our 1998 climb was via the Keyhole Route, the easiest on Longs Peak. It consists of:
� a 6 mile hike to the Boulder Field, then another 1 � miles consisting of;
� crossing the Boulder Field,
� pass through a rock feature called the Keyhole (that looks like a large Keyhole),
� traverse an area called �the Slabs�,
� climb up �the Trough�,
� pass the Chockstone,
� traverse the Narrows, a ledge system with steep drops,
� climb up the Homestretch (steep 400� granite wall, via cracks),
� finally you�re at the summit!

Getting back to Mike Schaffer�s predicament, we talked with Dave Beldus and agreed that we would attempt the Loft Route on July 15th for Mike. We had to accelerate our conditioning to allow us to be in adequate physical shape to be successful on Longs Peak at mid-season. Aaron turned into a drill sergeant and we climbed Mt. Toll, the Citadel, Mt. Democrat and up to Ypsilon Lake/Spectacle Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park to prepare for Longs Peak. On the climb of Mt. Democrat, Andrea and I continued on and also climbed Mts. Lincoln and Bross (actually, I didn�t do the summit of Mt. Lincoln, I waited near Mt. Cameron for her to walk out to Lincoln�s summit and then we continued on to Bross; Andrea needed the 14�ers, I had already done them and she was moving faster than me at that point). Rosa and Andrea were in peak condition and ready for Longs Peak. We were all glad to see Longs Peak finally arrive because the conditioning was killing us!

Mike Schaffer was unable to train with us due to his schedule but he was climbing whenever he had the opportunity. Unfortunately, Mike was injured on a training climb while climbing Mt. Massive (14,421�) with his father-in-law at the end of June. He fell while downclimbing and twisted his knee and was unable to attempt it with us.

On a well-deserved and more complimentary note, Aaron has a real gift for setting up a schedule to allow people to be successful on mountains. He has such a vast knowledge of routes on various mountains he is able to structure a varied, progressive schedule such that if you are successful on the climbs leading up to a mountain, you will probably be successful on that mountain. The entire IU club is a testament to his skill and foresight with their success on the mountains they have attempted. This would also prove true later in the year on Wetterhorn. Very remindful of Anatoli Boukreev in his book, �The Climb�, and how he approaches training for a mountain. As was true with the IU club, there may be a lot of moaning at first, but you quickly accept that you�re doing what you have to do to be successful. Now, when Aaron says we�re meeting at 4:00 am there is acceptance and following, not moaning, because we all realize we have to do it to be successful.

To be successful on the Loft Route on Longs Peak in mid-July we also needed the weather to cooperate because the snow had to be off the route by July 15th and that is very early for the Loft. Normal melt is in August, if ever. We got lucky and the weather cooperated so the climb was on!

Aaron wanted to attempt Longs Peak via the Loft Route. He said the Keyhole Route was longer (15 miles, 5,000� gain) than he cared to do again, but he was interested in the Loft Route. It was supposed to be shorter and only slightly harder. Dave Beldus will climb it anytime, anyway�what a stud!

Rosa Aguirre decided to try Longs Peak for various personal reasons. She had been attending the Scottish Highlands festival in Estes Park for several years and Longs Peak looms over Estes Park. She said after seeing it for years and knowing Aaron was a climber she decided to attempt to climb the mountain.

Weeks before the climb, I made copies of all of the pertinent maps and guides and studied them. Gerry Roach�s book talks about the Loft route and says that after August it is only slightly harder than the Keyhole route. Prior to August the ledges can be covered with snow and it becomes technical. He says the route heads past Chasm Lake toward Mt. Meeker, around the Ship�s Prow, and then ascends a steep section toward a snowfield. Just below the snowfield there is a 10� wide ledge that does an ascending traverse about 100 yards. Then it intersects a 2� wide ledge that does an ascending traverse about 60 yards. From there you climb up a steep, class 3 gully. Then you downclimb to Clark�s Arrow and climb back up to the Homestretch (the end of the Keyhole Route). After a training climb we are at Aaron�s looking at pictures of the Loft Route and he shows me a picture of some climbers on a gnarly ledge system. I told him I wasn�t going to do THAT! He said I had already done that one, it was a picture of the Narrows on the Keyhole route. The ledges on the Loft were supposed to be tougher. Now I�m questioning things, but the bottom line is I believe in my abilities and I can always turn around and downclimb out if I�m feeling overmatched. Then Lori alarms me in an email when I tell her we�re attempting Longs Peak via the Loft Route and she emails back, �there is some interesting scrambling on the Loft Route�. When Lori describes something as �interesting�, it usually means not climbable by humans. She is a Superwoman climber! Her comment really alarms me and I debate whether I should attempt the climb.

Aaron makes reservations for us to spend the night at the Columbine Inn in Estes Park on Friday night before the climb to allow us to get some sleep before the climb. We are to meet Dave Beldus in the parking lot of the Estes Park McDonald�s at 1:15 am and try to be at the trailhead climbing at 2 am.

Thursday evening, July 13, 2000

Andrea calls me Thursday night and tells me that if we get to the ledges and if she sees any snow on them she is turning around and walking out. I told her no problem, she can walk out with me because I�m not interested in the route if there is any snow on the ledges.

Friday, July 14, 2000

Friday morning, the day before the climb, my son Dave asks me if they got the dead climber down from Longs Peak and wanted to know if that was the way we were going to be climbing. I check out Friday news reports and learn that two guys were doing a technical climb of the Diamond on Wednesday and were hit by lightning and one died. They were getting the dead climber off of the Diamond. The East/North faces and routes were closed (including the Loft) due to potential rockfall from the recovery operation. The last lightning death on Longs Peak was in 1956. The last death on Longs Peak was in March�on the Loft Route when a climber fell 300 feet and died! Now I�m really nervous!

I was very upset Friday morning, worried about the ledges, and I forgot to pack my headlamp. I was talking with a co-worker and we were discussing hiking in the dark when I realized I never got my headlamp from the china cabinet. I had originally planned to work until 3:00 pm and then head to Aaron�s but because I forgot to pack my headlamp I was worried about what else I might have forgotten so I went home at 2:00 and repacked. It turns out the headlamp was the only thing I forgot.

I called the ranger station at Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park at noon and they said the recovery was still in process so the East/North faces and Loft route were still closed. They wouldn�t know until later if it would re-open. We decided to chance it and find out at the Chasm Lake trail cutoff.

We met at Aaron�s at 4:00 pm to carpool to Estes Park. There was considerable apprehension. We drove to the Columbine Inn as planned. We checked in to the hotel and got settled and then went out to dinner. As it turns out, we had two guys and two girls so we had men�s/women�s rooms. Finally Andrea didn�t have to spend the night with a bunch of guys. I�m not sure if she was disappointed or relieved!

You had to ask the desk guy/owner for ice. I had planned on putting some ice in a cooler to keep some drinks cold for after the hike. I took our ice bucket and asked him for ice. He gave me 7-8 small cubes. I recognized that he was protective of his ice and decided not to harass him. I decided to settle for a warm soda after the hike.

On the drive up to the hotel, we discussed gear and Rosa didn�t have a flashlight and I couldn�t find my extra light so we went to a hardware store in Estes Park and bought one for her.

Randy and Sharon Breunlin had recommended an Italian restaurant, Dunraven, but we found out it was up toward YMCA of the Rockies and we probably needed a reservation and it was slow, so we went to Mama Rosa�s near Ed�s Cantina. Dave Beldus has always recommended Mama Rosa�s. It features really good Italian food. Three of us had spaghetti and Aaron had lasagna. Then we headed back to the Inn and went to bed at 8:00 pm with a 1:00 am wake up call.

Saturday, July 15, 2000

Neither Aaron nor I sleep well, Aaron gets up on his own at 12:57 and we get ready. By 1:10 Andrea and Rosa are in the car waiting for us. I ate Hostess pie at 1:00 am for breakfast. We head to McDonald�s to meet Dave. We get there and there is a car with its running lights on. I wander around the lot looking for Dave�s van but I can�t find it. We wait until 1:30 and Dave hollers at me from the car. He didn�t drive his van and he was asleep in his car. We talk about carpooling up to the trailhead and Dave tells us that he has to meet a concrete truck at his house at 4:30 pm so he�ll have to drive alone. Dave is going to climb Longs Peak and then go home and pour concrete. What a stud! We follow Dave up to the trailhead and park and get ready. We are on the trail hiking at 2 am. We cover about 4-5 miles and are at the Sky Potty at 4:30 am by the turnoff to the Chasm Lake trail. The trail is open so the previous day�s rescue operation was successful. Everybody went to the bathroom, in the dark, except me. Rosa ended up dropping her new flashlight at the Sky Potty and broke the bulb. She then had to get out of the bathroom in the dark! Aaron�s batteries were failing so they put Rosa�s batteries in Aaron�s light and both worked off one light. By that time we were well above treeline and it was a clear, near full moon night so there were no problems seeing by then. It was real funny with all of the people sitting around at the trail junction in the dark taking a break. You could hear the voices, but it was so dark you couldn�t see anybody. Then somebody smoked a cigarette! Unbelievable.

A really amazing thing happened on our 1998 trip to several of us. We met in Denver at a park-n-ride at midnight and drove up to Estes Park to meet Dave at the McDonald�s at 2:15 am. We had started out so early that we basically missed a night�s sleep and were all still very tired. Do you know the sensation that occurs in a person when they�ve driven too far, or read late at night, when you start to drift off to sleep but you catch yourself and �jolt� back. The sensation of your mind tricking you into going to sleep. Well, as I was hiking along the trail in the lower, easier parts very early in the morning my mind was telling me to close my left eye and rest. And then my mind would convince me that the trail is straight here, I can rest both of my eyes for awhile. I�d close both eyes and, in essence, �sleepwalk�. After the first step I�d be jolted back awake. At a rest stop along the way we talked and surprisingly it was happening to several of us.

It was really interesting hiking when we made it above treeline. I had told the women about seeing the Denver city lights off in the distance and how pretty it was. They got to see it and they were impressed with the red glow of the city lights against the black background of the night. I had also told them how neat it was watching the lights of all the hikers snake up the trail below. They looked down and a long line of headlights and flashlights extended down below us all moving up the trail. Fascinating images that you can�t capture on film. It is a very impressive sight.

We hike up past Chasm Lake and see the Ship�s Prow, a prominent ridge extending out from Longs Peak. We�re well above treeline and it is starting to get rocky at this point. I had brought my water filter, but we ended up refilling our water bottles below Chasm Lake and didn�t filter the water, we just refilled our half-empty bottles out of the fast flowing stream coming from Chasm Lake. We climb around Ship�s Prow to the left of it and skirt a snowfield up to the start of the ledges. After some really steep climbing we find a cairn marking the turn for the ledge. (A cairn is a pile of rocks that is built up to mark a route). We make our way along the first ledge. I notice it is considerably less than 10 feet wide as the guidebook described. I�m hoping they didn�t use the same tape to measure the 2 foot wide ledge! We make the turn to the narrower ledge and it is adequately wide and actually easier than the first ledge. The drops from the ledge were pretty significant. I can�t imagine being up on them when there is snow and I can understand why the climber died in March.

We make the Loft at 7:00 am. Stunning views and a tremendous sense of satisfaction. We all take a break, take some pictures, and I eat a nectarine. We�ve been hiking/climbing hard for 5 hours and it is only 7 am!

We resume climbing and walk across the Loft and start to downclimb to Clark�s arrow. We have difficulty locating Clark�s Arrow, and in fact, never find it. We possibly dropped too low and were briefly delayed. Dave dropped down and scouted around a buttress and we later followed him around it because it looked like we might get into trouble if we try to climb over the buttress. We moved pretty slowly up around the other side of the buttress because it was class 3 scrambling and by then we were tired and hungry. Dave was well ahead of us and waiting for us just below where we meet up with the Homestretch. We take a little break and Dave tells us that time is running out for him and he may need to head home to meet the concrete truck. It is now just past 10:00 am. We told him we�d be fine getting down the Keyhole Route and he should just do whatever he needed to do. After the break we climb up and intersect the Homestretch and proceed to the summit.

I met a guy named Alphonso on the Homestretch. We climb together for a brief time and then I get a burst of energy and finish my way to the summit. We made the summit at 10:30-11:00 am. Alphonso meets us later on the summit. While we�re at the top we wanted a group picture so I asked Alphonso if he�d take a picture of us. He takes the picture and asks about us and we find out he is from Indiana. Dave and Andrea tell him that we�re the Indiana University Alumni Club �Hoosier Trekkers� and they start singing the IU fight song. We then take a picture of us with the IU flag. Actually, Alphonso is from Hammond, Indiana and grew up near Cline Avenue and the Borman Expressway. In 1995 he and his wife fell in love with Colorado and moved out here�without jobs! He now works at Coors and is the proud papa of two female Colorado natives! Really nice guy. We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and he may join us on some other IU hikes. He was overwhelmed when we pulled out my IU Flag and he was proud to get a picture of us. He even got a picture of us with HIS camera! He was going to be in Indiana on vacation the next week so he couldn�t wait to tell everybody who he ran into on top of Longs Peak.

Dave gets hero treatment at the summit as word spreads that it is his 53rd time on the summit of Longs Peak. Several people/groups came up and asked if he would be in a picture with them. It was hard earned, well-deserved respect.

Dave asked me to take a picture of him standing on a rock marking the summit. He said he has a picture of him standing on the same rock with his daughter some 30 years ago. I take a nice picture of him. However, my camera malfunctioned for some reason and most of the summit shots didn�t turn out because the shutter wasn�t opening properly. I took the picture portrait style and with the top and bottom cutoff it turns out to be a �crotch shot� of Dave! I was very disappointed with the quality of my pictures. This in stark contrast to the usual fine quality it produces. The camera is a Minolta with zoom and the ability to select panorama at will. It is a great, lightweight camera my parents gave me for a birthday gift about 4-5 years ago.

Aaron is watching the weather closely and pushes us to start down the mountain after a brief stay at the top. He is cautious of some rapidly building clouds and the crowd that may form on the Narrows if they all try to get down at once. We don�t even bother to eat lunch. We hurriedly take pictures and begin our descent down the mountain.

Our retreat from the summit is to wrap around the back of the mountain and do the reverse of the Keyhole route. Our downclimb is to start by descending the Homestretch. The Homestretch is a very steep granite slab with several vertical cracks that offer good hand and footholds. At the bottom of the Homestretch you enter the Narrows which is a series of ledges, sometimes very narrow (hence the name) with walls up one side and steep drops to the other. The ledge pictures Aaron showed me were of the Narrows. At the end of the Narrows is a big rock called the Chockstone that kind of blocks the exit from the Narrows. The rock is car sized, and you have to get over and around it but it is a bottleneck because only one person can pass at a time. This would be critical later. After the Chockstone you�re at the top of the Trough. The Trough is a huge couloir (gully) that drops about 400� and is filled with loose rock. At the bottom of the Trough is a series of ledges through an area of slab rocks called the Slabs. At the end of the Slabs is the Keyhole. The Keyhole is a rock formation that looks like an old skeleton key type keyhole. At the Keyhole is a little stone building that can house a few people in inclement weather. You pass through the Keyhole with the rock formation above you and you enter the Boulder Field. After the Boulder Field you have about 6 miles of trail leading to the parking lot. There are about 2 miles above treeline and about 4 miles below treeline.

As we started to descend the Homestretch, I was waiting for the people below me to move and all of a sudden somebody grabbed me from above and yelled. I turned and it was Lori Tagawa! Lori, her husband Lou, Paul Weaver and Mark were on their way up. They too climbed the Loft Route that day but left several hours after we did. She said she saw me so she ran down behind me and grabbed me by the shoulder and yelled that she was falling. Everybody in our group was excited to meet her. As she walked away she slipped on the granite and she did a pirouette to recover. Dave Beldus was really impressed with her recovery and complimented her. She looked so at ease on the rock.

We took a few pictures in the Narrows, but other than that we continued moving down the mountain as fast as we could. There was traffic on the Narrows as Aaron had anticipated, but there were still a lot of people on the summit. We made it across the Narrows and there was more traffic at the Chockstone. Remarkably, people were still headed up the mountain despite the building storm cloud. This is the effect of summit fever after you�ve invested so much time and effort to climb a mountain. We made it over the Chockstone and as we descended the Trough the weather really built up and started hailing and raining despite being eerily silent. The cloud seemed to muffle sound, although maybe it just made us concentrate so much we didn�t hear the sounds around us. We continued down, more nervous now, Dave Beldus way out front, Aaron and Rosa well down toward the bottom of the Trough and near the Slabs, while Andrea and I were about halfway down the Trough. Then we had the first huge �Boom� of thunder. The thunder was so loud it would just rock your body�very scary. It obviously accompanied lightning which was a very dangerous situation. At this point we are about 7 miles from our vehicle and 4,000� above it. The mountain is 14,255� tall and the cloud level was now down to about 13,800�, making the cloud level even with the Narrows. We were a couple hundred feet below the cloud level.

Andrea was terrified and because the hail was like little ball bearings all over the steep rocks she was falling a lot coming down the Trough after the lightning and hail/gropple started. (Note: Years ago I first heard the term �gropple�. I asked Keith Goates what gropple was and he told me it was an old Indian name that means �nasty white stuff that falls on hikers�!) She seemed to be too scared to pick out a good route. I was also concerned she might hurt either an ankle or wrist and complicate the rest of the descent. I had been following her to make sure she was okay, but I then took the lead and showed her better ways to get down and tried to hurry her along. She had been moving slower after the hail and lightning started.

As we�re headed down the Trough, along with maybe 20 other people all frantically getting down as fast as we can, a woman is paused waiting for us to clear so she can proceed up. There was an experienced climber coming down and she was in his way and he asked her where she thought she was going. The woman said, �I wanted to see how far up I could get.� The guy replies, �You�re there, head down!�

We made it down the Trough and started to cross the Slabs. After traversing a short distance we met a group of hikers crouched down. The frequency of lightning was increasing and I knew what the hikers being crouched meant. Crouching down like they were is the standard hiker lightning safety position and is an emergency reaction to a dangerous lightning situation. I crouched down and assumed the lightning safety position and told Andrea to do the same.

To get in the lightning safety position you keep your legs together and crouch down as low as you can and rest on the balls of your feet with your heels off the ground and your feet and legs together. You are trying to minimize the contact point to the ground and to not allow ground current to have a circuit by going up one leg and down through the other. The following Monday when I was talking to Steve in our office about it I showed him how to crouch down. He asked me what you do after 2 minutes because he said that was about how long he could maintain that position. I told him with the adrenaline rush you get from having all of that dangerous lightning around you can maintain that position for hours.

As we were crouched down, I talked with this one really experienced climber about whether we should crouch or try to get down. He said where we were was as safe a place as any. Ahead was the Keyhole and Boulder Field and in his opinion they were worse places to be in lightning. We were also quite a ways from them as well. I didn�t disagree and told Andrea to crouch down but move away from me. The other safety factor when crouched is to not be too close together in case there is a lightning strike. If you�re spread out it is more likely that somebody will be untouched and be able to administer first aid in case there is an accident. But Andrea was so scared I just let her stay near me because I figured there were others nearby who could administer first aid and it psychologically helped her to be able to talk to me, I think. It wasn�t really any help, because I was just as scared! I just tried to hide it because I figured it would only panic Andrea. Andrea was just crouched down and in a trembling voice she said, �I don�t want to die.� I reassured her that nobody wanted to die but that we were taking the safest precautions that were available to us given the conditions. The area where we were caught was about 13,400�. The summit is 14,255� but the cloud levels had dropped to about 13,800� so the bottoms of the clouds were only about 400� above us at this time.

As we were crouched down one of the thoughts I remember was feeling so bad that I�d never get to see Pam or my Mom again. I felt the odds were better that we�d be hit by lightning than not hit. I also felt pretty stupid for getting caught up so high in such a bad storm, but there were so many people caught up high that day including a lot of really experienced climbers. In the situation, the high numbers of people didn�t make me feel any better about things. I just remember thinking, Jim, you�re an accountant! What are you doing up here on this mountain in an electrical storm!

Andrea asked if we shouldn�t just head straight down the mountain to the valley below us. We would have been heading west, towards the Glacier Gorge valley in Rocky Mountain National Park. She wondered if it would be safer if we got further down the mountain. I explained that it probably wouldn�t be any safer and it would put us in a wild valley about 25 miles away from our vehicle and there were no trails out. I explained the safest plan was to wait out the lightning and proceed as we had planned.

I also remember talking with others in the group that hopefully this lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud hits dissipating the electrostatic charge. It was mostly faint hope, if for no other reason to at least calm Andrea as much as possible. As we talked about this glimmer of hope a huge, spectacular bolt of lightning struck from the cloud directly in front of us and hit the valley floor about a half-mile below us. The huge BOOM of thunder ended those hopes and answered Andrea�s thoughts of being safer below.

I was also afraid to move. It was kind of like the children�s game of covering your eyes and nobody can see you. I irrationally thought that since I hadn�t been hit yet whatever I was doing was working so I wasn�t going to do anything different. My immediate problem was that because the weather had been nice before the storm I had been climbing in just a short sleeved, wicking tee shirt. Now, however, the rain/hail was very cold, the temperatures had dropped considerably and it was windy. I was so cold, but too scared to move to get my rain gear or other clothes out of my pack, thinking, I haven�t been hit by lightning yet and I�d rather be cold than dead. I waited the first long stretch of lightning out with this strategy. I�d also had my camera out and had been taking pictures. My little camera case was in my backpack, but again, I didn�t dare move so I just put my camera under my shirt.

After awhile, the lightning strikes dropped in frequency from one strike every 10�15 seconds to maybe one every minute or two. With this pause our little group decided to make a break for the Keyhole. We started scrambling across the Slabs. After a brief lull the intensity again picked up so we stopped and crouched again. By this time I was shivering uncontrollably from the cold and I thought, �I�m going to die of hypothermia if I don�t protect myself from the cold, so I might as well get my raingear out of my pack and risk a lightning hit.� My wicking tee shirt had now been wet for nearly an hour in the cold rain and wind. We crouched down and waited out another period of intense lightning activity.

After the lightning activity again subsided our group started another break for the Keyhole. We were being led by a very experienced climber, then a kid (early 20�s), his uncle (a little older than me), me, Andrea, and about 10 people behind Andrea. I was busy watching where the guys went and then looking back to make sure Andrea was keeping up and staying on the right path. At one point I caught up to the three guys in front of me and they were laughing. I asked why they stopped and they said the kid�s hair just all of a sudden stood straight up. The other two guys had hats on so they told the kid to put a hat on. I then explained that it wasn�t a grooming issue, what that meant was there was a tremendous amount of electrical energy going up through his body and that a lightning strike in this area was imminent! They asked me if we should crouch down. I suggested that since this area was about to be hit we�d be safer getting out of the area so we made a fast break for the Keyhole. I didn�t tell Andrea because I didn�t want her to be overly scared. I knew she was already scared enough. We both slid down a long rock slab in the Slabs. There was only a narrow trail to catch ourselves and I thought she might be scared so I waited and offered to catch her. If you overshot the trail, which was shoulder width, there was a pretty long drop. She motioned for me to keep moving and she slid down on her own. By this time she was moving very fast to get down out of the lightning danger. Andrea wasn�t even using her hands on a lot of places on the Slabs. There was one area that I was concerned about. The trail is very narrow and you are in the bottom of a vee between some large rocks. Then there is a small section exposed to the west with a long drop, well over 30� where there is still a rock on the eastside. You have to do a move to get under the rock that is overhead and across to the other side of the trail. It is the only place they�ve installed manmade protection. They have put two rebars in the rock to use as handholds for safety because the rocks don�t offer any handholds. When we got to the exposed section where they installed the two rebars Andrea only used one. I had delayed to make sure she was okay and again, she just told me to keep moving, that she was okay and she just climbed across the exposure. Keep in mind it was also wet and covered with hail. As a climber she really grew up that day!

We finally reached the Keyhole and climbed through the Keyhole and over toward the Boulder Field. Aaron and Rosa had been waiting for us in the little stone building. Aaron then retrieved his backpack and we continued down the mountain. Aaron had taken his ice axe in case he had to cut steps in a snowfield. During the lightning it became a lightning rod and after they cleared the Keyhole he ditched his pack away from everybody else so the ice axe wouldn�t hurt anybody by attracting lightning.

Aaron started talking with Andrea, so Rosa and I hiked together for part of the Boulder Field and we arrived at the restroom facility ahead of Aaron and Andrea. I finally went to the bathroom at the restroom facility at the Boulder Field on the way down. By this time it is very late in the afternoon and was my first time to answer Mother Nature�s call. Earlier, I had told everybody about the walls only going part way up. The walls only went up to my chest and as I stood there going to the bathroom I could see Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, everybody climbing in the Boulder Field and I could see Rosa and others nearby. Very strange, but very scenic! There are two stalls and I imagine it would be really strange with somebody next to you, especially somebody of the opposite sex. Although, as Aaron always says, if you�re going climbing, check your inhibitions at the door!

Alphonso caught up with us again on the way down. He asked me for a huge favor, could I give him some water. His was frozen and he hadn�t had any water to drink for a long time. I gave him plenty of water and offered him an apple. He declined the apple because he said he had a lot of food he just didn't have any water. He had frozen his water the night before hoping it would stay cool. The temperatures were so cold it never thawed! He ended up carrying bottles of ice up and down the mountain.

Well on our way down we paused again by the Sky Potty for a break. Andrea was hypothermic and had very wet, cold feet and hands and only one extra pair of dry socks. She was going to wear her dry socks on her hands and just go with cold feet. I was still in my tee shirt but I had my rain poncho on to break the wind and shelter me from the rain. I told her to change her socks to warm her feet, and to take my wool mittens to warm her hands. She didn�t want to do that because my hands were also cold. I ended up getting my Polartec sweatshirt top out of my backpack and putting it on under my rain poncho. It felt so warm! I warmed up instantly and Andrea warmed up with the dry socks and wool mittens. These were the warm, wool mittens my brother, Joe, gave me for Christmas several years ago and they have saved us on so many occasions. They once again come through at a rough time!

On our descent, Aaron was calling my name quietly to stop me to see if I�d seen the elk. We were just above treeline headed down and I�d had my eyes on the trail and walked right by a herd of elk nearby on the horizon. Aaron said he had seen two and one was a huge bull. Later, Lori emailed me a picture of them that she had taken. It reminds me of the picture in the paper a few years ago of the hiker who came across a herd of elk presumed to have been killed by lightning. There were 50-60 dead elk (decomposing by the time they were located) spread over quite a large area on Mt. Evans. It was dramatic evidence of the lethal power of high altitude lightning.

We finally got back to the vehicles between 4:30-5:00 pm. We saw Alphonso before we left for home. Aaron also checked out a 3D model of Longs Peak in the Ranger cabin with all of the trails highlighted. As we drove home I had another bout of double vision and I was glad I wasn�t driving.

And a sad, angry kind of note, Aaron�s new Nissan Pathfinder got scratched! He thought it got keyed, but after examining it, it looked more like scratches from an ice axe or hiking poles from somebody who carelessly was standing nearby.

Finally, at about 9 pm, while I�m safe at home, Dave Beldus called me and asked how our descent had been. I told him about it and he was glad we were okay but he felt bad he couldn�t stay with us. I told him we were fine with him going ahead as we had discussed. He said he got back to his car around 4 pm and made it back home to meet the concrete truck. He said he just finished pouring concrete! I�ll repeat it, What a stud!

Postscripts

On Monday, back at our office I talked to Lori about the climb and how they fared during the storm. I found out Lori�s group was stuck on the Narrows just above the Chockstone. Around the core of a flash of lightning is a blue haze of electrically charged ions. She said they got �flashed� by the blue ion haze twice. Once it entered through their knees and exited their feet. The other time it entered their hips and exited their feet. She said it was a mild zap sensation. She also had a watch and said they were stranded for an hour and half.

While we were climbing on Mt. Evans a few weeks later Aaron and I were discussing the temperatures. A storm blew in on us and we made a quick descent back to the vehicles before trouble. The temperatures dropped dramatically. We talked about the temperatures that day and on Longs Peak. Aaron said the temperature on Longs Peak was below freezing because guys with Camelbacks couldn�t get water because their tubes were freezing. No wonder I got so cold in my wet tee shirt!

Later, Andrea took a weeklong rafting trip in Utah as part of continuing education for her teaching profession. Is it not enough to get three months off in the summer�you also get (have) to take a weeklong rafting trip! She said one night they had a campfire and they were sitting around talking about what they had done on their summer vacation. (Now if that doesn�t sound like what a bunch of teachers would talk about!) Andrea said her biggest adventure was to climb Longs Peak and she said it was really an adventure because of the lightning storm and she told the group about it. One of the guys in the group asks her which route they used. She said, �The Loft.� He said he likes the Loft Route. Andrea now figures the guy is experienced and she asks him how he knows the mountain. He says he is a climbing guide on Longs Peak and has even led climbs up the Diamond routes. In fact, his most famous student is Beck Weathers. For those who don�t know, Beck Weathers was the Texas physician on the doomed 1996 Everest trip who had serious frostbite and was left for dead twice but ultimately survived. In his recent book, �Left for Dead�, Beck talks about the guide who led him up Longs Peak. It was his second climb up to that point. His next climb was a failed attempt of Denali.

Now humbled because her big adventure is something this guy does daily, she asks him if he knows Dave Beldus. She explains that Dave is in our hiking club, lives in Estes Park, has climbed Longs Peak 53 times and led us up the Loft Route that day. To her amazement, he says he knows Dave. In fact, they met on the summit of Longs Peak and climbed down the Cable Route together the first time they met. He said he was impressed with Dave because he had no gear with him. Andrea says, yep, that�s our Dave!

A little background on Dave. He is from Evansville and by remarkable coincidence we found out he was in high school the same time as my parents. One year as I was setting up the IU climbing schedule, he called my house about his availability for a hike and talked with my Mom who was visiting from Indiana. Later, he asked what my parents were doing at my house and I told him my parents were going to a high school reunion in Las Vegas. He asked what school they�d attended. I told him Gary Emerson. He said he attended Evansville Memorial and they had played football against Gary Emerson. It turns out my Dad was on the Gary Emerson team. My Grandmother had even kept a program from the game. My Dad made a copy of the program and I gave it to Dave on one of our hikes and many of Dave�s friends were listed in the program. He was just a sophomore at the time and wasn�t in the program. After our first time hiking with Dave, we were talking at dinner at Ed�s Cantina in Estes Park and I told him I was impressed because I had hiked 175 miles that hiking season. Dave said he hikes 50 miles PER WEEK! He is in remarkable shape and knows Rocky Mountain National Park like the back of his hand! The first time Aaron and I hiked with him we were headed up to Ypsilon Lake and as we were hiking in the forest he stopped and told us that in 12 minutes we�d be at a stream we could drink from. Sure enough, about 11 minutes later you could hear the sounds of the rushing water. Then at the 12 minute mark there was Dave teaching us about drinking from backcountry streams. He is a great guy and we all have a great deal of respect for him and enjoy hiking with him. We have so much fun that we schedule several hikes per year around his schedule.

Dave left in early August for eastern Canada where he again served as a tour guide for a bus tour company. He has taught school in the Panama Canal Zone, was a Park Ranger, fights forest fires and is instant friends with everybody. What a great guy!

The climb also had an impact on Rosa. She realized on the mountain how unexpected events can occur and that she needed insurance benefits. She went back to her old job as a Federal Probation Officer for the insurance benefits.

Driving to a subsequent climb, Andrea remarked how her zest for life and more ordinary things had been enhanced. She was so excited to see her parents that night. She said little things are no longer taken for granted or overlooked. She also has a unique perspective from which to judge the relevance of real/perceived dangers.

Miscellaneous Emails

From: Timberlineandrea@aol.com on 07/17/2000 06:56 AM
Have you recovered yet? My muscles feel a lot better today. Yesterday I was wiped out.

To: Timberlineandrea@aol.com@SMTP@Exchange
I've recovered. My asthma is pretty bad. I was a little sore going up and down the stairs yesterday, but other than that I was alright. Dave Beldus called me at about 9:00 pm. He had just finished working his concrete.[I am not worthy, I am not worthy!!!] He said he got down around 4:00.

And ohmigosh do I have some stories to tell you about Lori! They were on the Narrows just above the chockstone and actually had the blue flash through them twice! She said the first time it entered her knees (as she was crouched like we were) and exited her feet into the mountain and the second time it zapped everybody through the butt and out to the ground. WOW!!! She said it was the most intense lightning encounter of her life.

Also, she was telling me in her younger days she did the Diamond!!! [I am not worthy, I am not worthy!!!]

I hope you're alright and you've had time to reflect on our experience.

I'm curious, what did you tell (or not tell) your parents.

To: Kearbyck@aol.com@SMTP@Exchange
We did Longs Peak Saturday. I'll write more later, but we got caught in an electrical storm just below the summit. The clouds built up faster than I'd ever seen before. Some friends of mine were 400' above us and actually had the lightning's blue flash go through them twice. For about a half hour I really thought I was going to die...very scary stuff. Huge bolts of lightning about every 15 seconds or so. A far less meaningful item, we made the summit and met a guy from Hammond! Small world. He was trapped with me and Andrea (do you remember her from Sherman, the one without Cujo who overslept) and a group of about 15 people. It was so scary being trapped so high, just below the storm cloud's bottom, and those crackles and overwhelming BOOM'S. We saw some big hits over in the area where we hiked up in RMNP when you guys were out. I think I got some really dramatic pictures of the Narrows, a ledge system where my friends were trapped.

To: "P B Lynn Walker (Remote)" @SMTP@Exchange
Got a real "charge" climbing Longs Peak! We met Lori, Lou, Mark and Paul on their way up (on our way down, we started much earlier) and shortly after that we got hit by a very intense electrical storm. We were trapped on in an area called the Slabs at about 13,400'; Lori's group was up around 13,800' on a ledge system called the Narrows. We all got the summit, but that paled in comparison to the lightning. What stories we all have to tell.

Jim

In a letter to Kathie Grisham:
We�ve had an incredible hiking year so far which culminated in the scariest situation I�ve been in last Saturday. We had been pushing ourselves to get in shape for a climb of Longs Peak via the Loft route. We have had several grueling climbs and I had a knack for not having my ice axe when I needed it, only to have it when I didn�t need it! Then last Saturday (July 15th) we did Longs Peak. The day before we did our hike the trail was closed because they had to remove the body of a climber who had been killed by a lightning strike on the Diamond, an imposing vertical wall. We started on the trail at 2:00 am; hiked in the dark up to the climb to the Loft. The route to the Loft included a 10� wide ledge that intersected a 2� wide ledge and then a class 3 scramble up a rock field. Pretty scary stuff. Then some class 3 scrambling over to the summit of Longs Peak. When we got to the summit (14,255�) we noticed some developing storm clouds so we left the summit in a hurry. Unfortunately, the clouds developed faster than anything anybody had ever seen and we got caught at about 13,400� on some rock slabs above a valley in the most intense electrical storm on Longs Peak in years. For about 45 minutes we assumed the lightning defensive position and just hunkered down to weather out the storm and try to get lucky. There were about 100 people caught up there and some were on a ledge at 13,800� including a friend/coworker of mine. They were �flashed� with the blue haze from two strikes. Lori said the first one entered their knees and exited through their feet and the second was a �butt shot� that entered their hips and exited their feet. They were all fine, but boy was it scary! The bottom of the storm cloud was at around 13,800�, even with my friends on the ledge, and just slightly above us. We could watch as strikes would hit the valley floor 2000� below us and the thunder was so loud it just rattled us. And it was hailing, raining, the temperatures dropped to about 40 degrees and it was windy so we had to deal with hypothermia as well. Meanwhile, an hour away in Denver, it was 90 degrees! Awesome sights, but very nerve wracking. What a difference two miles up makes. Pam and my Mom have both said I�m grounded from mountain climbing. On the way down after the lightning had subsided I was sure thinking a lot about taking up SCUBA diving again. It sure seemed a lot safer. And you don�t have to start at 2:00 am, you don�t have to climb up a mile, you don�t have to walk 15 miles, you don�t have to carry a heavy pack (they�re weightless under water). I told Pam, my hiking gear was for sale really cheap when I was on the side of that mountain in the lightning!

To: WAGNERSTHREE@cs.com@SMTP@Exchange
And the climb on Saturday was awesome. 15 miles, over 5,000' of vertical gain. We started at 2:00 am. We had to traverse a 10' wide ledge, then a 2' wide ledge with awesome drops. Lots of rock scrambling. Then when we made the summit we noticed two storm clouds developing so we left in a hurry. Unfortunately, we were caught on rock slabs at about 13,400' in a very intense electrical storm with the storm cloud level at about 13,800', just 400' above us. We watched lightning hitting a valley over 2,000' below us. I had some friends stuck on a ledge at 13,800' in the lightning and they got zapped by the blue flash of two lightning strikes. One entered their knees and the other entered their hips. Scary stuff. When the lightning caught us I really thought our time was up. The prior week a climber was killed by lightning on Longs Peak and I figured there'd be multiple deaths on our climb because there were so many people. I bet there were over 100 people up high on the mountain in the storm. There were 12-15 people hunkered down in our group alone just sitting in the lightning defensive position and hoping to not get hit. The thunder would just rock our bodies it was so loud. And we were 6 miles and several thousand vertical feet from safety. Scary times.

To: Tom & Amy Hirn @SMTP@Exchange
On 7-15 we climbed Longs Peak again. This time we did the Loft Route and on the way down we got caught at 13,400' in an intense electrical storm. Lori was in a group caught at cloud level, at 13,800' and actually got the blue flash of the lightning twice, once through her knees and the other time through her hips. Scary time. I really thought it as 80-20 odds that we would be killed. The lightning was hitting about every 10 seconds at the peak of the storm, and would lull down to about once per minute. We were trapped on slabs on the west side of the mountain. Lori's group was on the ledge below the summit. We waited it out for about 45 minutes, Lori was up in it for 1 1/2 hours. Tough day but thankfully, nobody was injured.

To: WAGNERSTHREE@cs.com@SMTP@Exchange
My friends who got flashed by the lightning are fine. Apparently there are electrons or ions around the lightning bolt and these are what passed through them. Lori said is was a mild zap, although after the first one that entered their knees and exited through their feet into the mountain, she did look for an entry wound. Lori was trapped on a ledge with steep drops in front of her, a vertical wall behind her (about 400'), and the storm cloud even with her.

Ironically, the other scary time I had on a mountain was also with Lori and we have teased each other about it. I went with them down to the Needle Mountains in the San Juans. It is really remote and it takes a train and a 6 mile backpack to get to the basin. We got near the top of Sunlight Peak, after climbing Windom Peak, and we had a serious encounter with lightning. I was the last person going up, and the people near the summit had their hair stand straight up, their ice axes were all humming and the rocks were all crackling with electricity moving up through the air. Then there was a huge cloud-to-cloud lightning hit that dissipated the electrostatic charge. That time though, we did a glissade to get off the mountain in a hurry. The glissade was more terrifying than the lightning! A glissade is where you sit on a snowfield and slide down the mountain. We glissaded a very steep snowfield and I had to do my first, emergency self-arrest with my ice axe so I didn't smash into some big rocks. Scary stuff. Then the storm continued to hit the basin with huge bolts of lightning. We got down to our camp as quickly as we could, but we were exposed to the lightning for quite awhile. The other problem was we were so remote. We couldn't have reached help until the next day, and late, because we would have to hike out 6 miles and then catch a train and the train only stops twice a day. {I decided to copy a summary I wrote after our trip to the Needles...enjoy}

But most of our hikes are really nice. I've been on well over a hundred hikes and only a handful have had problems. Probability alone will get you, and we're extra careful. The one on July 15th caught us because it built up so quickly. I'd say the cloud went from inception to fury in less than an hour! It is hard to believe, but sometimes some of the mountains can make their own weather. I think they're so tall relative to everything around them they create super updrafts. And sometimes we've seen some interesting things along the continental divide when you have a moist air mass on one side and it is descending into a dry air mass on the other. There will be clouds on one side and as they go over you they completely dissipate and it is clear on the other side. Really neat stuff.

TO: Scott Spangler (Member of our 1998 trip)
We did Longs again on July 15th, originally for Mike Shaffer�s benefit. Mike, you may recall, was the one who only made it to the Boulder Field on Longs Peak. He wanted another shot before he leaves Denver to pursue his MBA at USC. Sadly, he hurt his knee training while descending on Mt. Massive and was unable to join us. A group of us did it anyway, including Andrea Radcliffe. Andrea had an asthma attack training for the Longs hike in 1998 and wanted a shot at it. Well, she got it! We did the Loft route and Dave Beldus led us all the way up. He is in phenomenal shape. This time we got caught high on the mountain in an intense electrical storm. Hopefully we got all of our bad luck out of the way this year.

My Other Serious Lightning Experience

An excerpt from �July 4th, 1998 Needles Trip�

To preface this summary, when I told Aaron Johnson that I was going to do a Needles Trip he said good luck because the Needle Mountains make their own weather and it is usually bad. He said every Needles Trip he has done he has been hammered with bad weather. He also said the long approach was grueling and then you hit a huge wall to get to the upper basin where it is best to camp. He said on one trip a girl couldn�t make it and he had to go back down and carry her pack up and then set up camp in a downpour.

Our group consisted of myself , Lori Tagawa and her husband, Lou Bull (the three of us drove down in Lori�s truck), Paul Weaver who drove down during the day on his own, and Dave and Heather Markham who left later after they got off work although Heather wasn�t going to climb the 14�ers�

�The next day at about 6:30 am we (everybody but Heather, who stayed in camp) started climbing and the plan was to do all three 14�ers in one day. I didn�t think I was going to be able to do all three but I was going to give it my best shot. We started up the wall leading to the upper basin and even it was a challenge. After getting to the upper basin we took a short break and Mark caught up with us and we all talked and he was invited to climb with us. After that we climbed to the east toward Windom Peak. After Mark�s escapade with the goat we donned our gaitors and got our ice axes out and climbed a snowfield up to a ridge leading to the summit of Windom Peak. The four stronger climbers (Paul, Mark, Dave and Lori) were well ahead of Lou and I but we managed to do the rock scramble and Lori hung out just below the summit pitch and guided us from above. The summit had one block and I eventually made the scramble up and sat on the block and took in the extraordinary views. After a short break we decided to go for Sunlight. Lou, however, said his day was complete and he headed back to camp. In hindsight it was one of the best decisions of the day.

We then downclimbed a steep section of Windom and traversed some huge snowfields to Sunlight which was the most difficult of the peaks. Below the approach to the summit we followed a couloir of snow up. Our lead climber was at the summit block with me in the rear about 100' below the summit as a storm moved in. I was trying to figure out how to climb up a big rock upon which Lori was standing and suddenly she yelled at me to immediately put my ice axe on the ground and crouch by a rock and get low. Above me everybody's hair was standing straight up, the ice axes were humming and the rocks were crackling with static electricity which indicates an imminent lightning strike. Fortunately there were some cloud-to-cloud strikes which relieved the electrostatic charge. Lori said that Paul and the others would probably be down soon and that we should wait for them. Almost as soon as she said it she heard a clanging which was Paul dragging his ice axe against the rocks to ground it as he was running down the mountain. As they approached where Lori and I were there was a little talk of trying to wait out the storm but Mark said, "Let�s get off of this mountain and live to climb another day!" We immediately started our descent from the mountain so I was unable to make the second summit. We dropped back down the way we came up, but when we got to the couloir we ascended we made a sharp right turn and scrambled down some really steep rock faces and got to a long, very steep snowfield and we glissaded down. It was by far the steepest glissade I�d ever done. Lori waited for me to get my pants on and then she went down leading the way. She leaped in the air and yelled and was on her way. I sat down and was quite nervous. As soon as I started down I picked up a lot of speed and was quickly out of control. To try to gain control I tried to dig my heels in and then I started spinning. Lori then yelled back to me to watch some rocks that were coming up and I sort of panicked and turned over onto my stomach and jammed my ice axe into the snow to self arrest my glissade. I came to a stop which was a huge relief. I then started my glissade again and dragged the shaft of my ice axe in the snow which gave me much better control of my speed. I passed between the rocks Lori warned about and then it was clear sailing for several hundred feet and I had a nice ride. From this point we had to hike across snowfields and rocks to the edge of the upper basin where the trail descended to our camp.

As we climbed down from the upper basin the 3rd 14'er took a few direct lightning hits. Then it rained hard from Friday afternoon until early Saturday.

On Saturday morning at about 5:00 a.m. Lori and Paul checked out the weather and decided it was too bad to consider doing Eolus. There were low hanging clouds enveloping the summit and extending down into the valley and there was still intermittent rain. The rocks would be slippery and the climb would be dangerous and there was a strong possibility of thunderstorms developing. We then slept in until 8:00 am. When we got up the weather had somewhat improved and Paul and Mark decided to attempt Eolus. If they made the summit they would try to get the late train back to Durango. If they didn�t make it they would camp one more night and try it first thing Sunday morning and then catch a train back to Durango. Lou and the Markhams were ready to go and I was going to slow to try a 14�er. We decided to leave by 10:00 am to catch the early train back to Durango. We broke camp and left after Paul and Mark headed up to Eolus�

�So I got one of the Needles and had a big adventure and found out the hard way that all of Aaron�s predictions about the Needles were absolutely spot on accurate.

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