Window closing on safe ascent of peak in the Rockies

ESTES PARK, Colo. -- Sometime before 3 a.m. on a Sunday last month, after the yipping and howling of distant coyotes had quieted down, tent zippers started opening at Longs Peak campground in Rocky Mountain National Park and a soft parade of hiking boots began treading the blacktop road leading to the mountain's trailhead.

The steady stream of headlamped hikers on their way to reach the 14,255-foot peak in the Front Range must first thread through a gantlet of vehicles, parked in the dark at odd angles on both sides of the access road. By 6 a.m. more than 200 hikers have signed the mountaineering register, located in a wooden kiosk where the trail starts at an elevation of 9,400 feet.

That heavy trekking traffic is a fact of life on one of the nation's most popular mountains 14,000 feet and over -- a so-called ''fourteener" -- from the end of July through the first part of September, a short window when snow and ice have either melted out or have yet to fall and cover the mountain. That's the only time of the year when nontechnical climbers can safely get to the top, and most of the 8,000 people who attempt the climb try it then.

But by last week, the first snow squalls of the season whipped over Longs, dusting the tallest of the park's 113 named peaks, signaling that the window was about to close, and turning back hikers in search of a late season summit.

From now until next July at the earliest, only a handful of climbers wearing crampons -- ice cleats -- and carrying ice axes and sometimes rope to tie them together for safety, will attempt to scale the mountain each week. Compare that to the busiest day last month when more than 700 people were on the mountain, most taking the looping, 16-mile Keyhole Route to the summit and back.

Jeff Achter, 34, of Fort Collins, Colo., who started for the top at 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday, had hiked to within an hour of the summit by 8:15 a.m. when the snow started.

''I wasn't taking it too seriously. I waited around for a while, but then I noticed that the mountain peaks I had been admiring had disappeared in the squall. I decided to turn back," Achter said, as he loaded his backpack into his car Tuesday afternoon. ''I realized we were no longer in the summer regime."

That assessment was confirmed Wednesday morning, when Jim Detterline, the Longs Peak Area ranger for the past 18 years, posted a technical rating advisory at the trailhead. That rating separates climbers who have specialized ice equipment from novice hikers who might be out for a rigorous climb.

The Keyhole Route up Longs Peak, marked by symbols painted onto the rocks years ago, is the long but nontechnical way to the summit. In good weather, dry and without snow or ice, the route is rated a trail hike with only a few places where rock scrambling or handholds are needed. But winter weather changes that to ''Alpine Ice 1" rating, meaning special equipment is needed to safely navigate the narrowest ledges and steepest climbs.

Last year, because of late snows and persistent ice, the mountain's hiking rating was never changed to nontechnical, making this year's season all the more popular.

Despite its location, Longs Peak, named by Major Stephen H. Long in 1820, during his discovery expedition, is no figurative walk in the park. Its technical routes, attract world-class climbers. And although children as young as 4 years old have made the nontechnical climb, 55 people have died trying since 1915, including one who succumbed to exposure and hypothermia on Sept. 4 last year.

''He was totally dressed in cotton and was caught in a storm," said Detterline, who found the body leaning against a route marker on the mountain's summit. ''If he had turned around, he would have been cold and wet but he would have been all right."

The morning starts are especially early and critical for those climbing Longs Keyhole Route because the trip is one of the longest up-and-down routes to the summit of any 14,000-foot plus mountains in Colorado. It can take 14 hours to complete, and getting to the summit by noon to avoid afternoon thunderheads is important. Last week, however, the problem was snow.

On Tuesday, Sami Thompson, 26, of Boulder, Colo., and Jeff Hullenbach, 27, of Anacortes, Wash., nailed the predawn start, heading out on their climb to the top of Longs shortly before 4:30. But tired and cold, they returned to the parking lot almost nine hours later without having ''bagged the peak."

''It snowed and hailed up there," said Hullenbach, who acknowledged that wearing shorts was a poor choice. ''We got about 300 feet from the top, but because of the weather it wasn't fun anymore. It lost appeal."