Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Moutaineer's Route v. Longs Peak Keyhole Route

Several of us are looking toward climbing Whitney this summer. We have put in our permit applications. Does anyone know how the Mountaineer's route compares with the Long's Peak Keyhole route. We did Long's last year and while it was a challenge it was interesting as opposed to a long slog.

The Keyhole is more 'interesting' than the Whitney trail and Whitney trail is a longer 'slog'. The last summer that I hiked both, the Keyhole was 9 hours and the Whitney trail was 14 hours. If you were comfortable on the Keyhole and can do your own route-finding, the Mountaineers Route on Whitney is more 'interesting' than the Keyhole. Your time will depend on your comfort level on that terrain. Another possibility is to go up the Mountaineers and down the trail if you are making a day hike.

Whitney is apt to be drier than Longs and may have better views to distant mountains through dry air. Also, there are no flatlands in the view to the east of Whitney. I wouldn't like taking camping gear on that loop.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

I parked at the trailhead for the Keyhole route and passed on it, and I also did the MR last year. I hadn't planned on doing Long's, so it didn't hurt me to pass on it. When at the Longs trailhead, I had just come off Crestone Needle in the Sangres and then Pikes outside Colorado Springs. While on the Needle I saw 3 people, while on Pikes I saw 300. Which do you think I preferred?
I felt no issues with passing on Longs when the Rangers told me the numbers of hikers who attempt and summit it. Everything I could tell about Longs was that it was basically a zoo. I've never done the main trail, but with the quota system I'm sure it can't be too bad along its 11 miles. If you do the MR I think you'll find that its not crowded if done as an overnight, and you'll be alone and see very few people most of the time. I did the MR on Labor Day weekend last year and it was not too bad at all. I started up the stretch above Iceberg at 9am and had the summit plateau to myself for a little while. The vegetation in the eastern Sierra is also much prettier than the scrubby lodgepole near Longs.
Only the last 400 feet is really all that demanding or technical, and if you did Longs you should have no trouble with the MR.
One last thing which I found to be really odd, the people I met and talked to while doing Whitney were far friendlier than they were near Longs, or in Colorado in general. Thats not to say people are miserable bastards in Colorado, but there was definetly an attitude I picked up on that has soured me to going back there to climb for a while. It was particularly bad at the trailhead for Longs. I think it has to the do with the large numbers of tourists, but thats just speculation. What ever it is, I think Whitney is a far more pleasant mountain to do when compared to Longs.

Can't disagree with you at all. In Colorado, since there are 55 peaks in the 14er collection, many people are in a hurry to check off another one and tend to be a little elitist and perhaps somewhat unfriendly. You are right too, many are from out of state & nervous about altitude & whether or not they are going to make the summit.

Good call on Longs Peak. On weekends there are over 500 people on the trail and the numbers during the week days slightly less.

The MR is a little harder than the Keyhole route.

To me, the MR and the Keyhole Route were about the same level of difficulty - did them both in the summertime during the month of August and both routes had a lot of traffic on them. The parking area for the trail to the Keyhole Route is a zoo much like Whitney Portal, so your experience should be the about the same overall. Both mountains are in really scenic areas too. So far, the people I've run into while hiking in Colorado have been friendly and helpful - just like most of the people I've met everywhere I've hiked.

I'd be interested in a comparison between Mount Russell's East Ridge (Sierra) and Capitol Peak's Northeast Ridge Route (Colorado). I've only done Russell, but I would like to give Capitol a try. Has anyone done both of those routes?

Sure, Whitney is very popular for various reasons, but aren't you stretching the crowd factor on Whitney when comparing it to Longs? With the quota system the Main Trail would be far less crowded than Longs, and the Mountaineer's route would be nothing when compared to Longs. Labor day weekend of last year when I did the MR I don't think I saw more than 2 dozen people the entire time I was below the summit plateau and above the split from the main trail.
I did meet plenty of very friendly people in Colorado, including one nice person who was volunteering to take peoples pictures. I was more impressed by the fact that I never met anyone who I would say was rude, cold, unfriendly, or not making eye contact when I was in the Whitney area. I did the Meysan Lakes Trail and the MR, so maybe that was why (never did the Main Trail). It really struck me how friendly and sharing people were on the summit of Whitney. People brought extra food to share, and everyone seemed to be euphoric(low BOC?). It was like a dam love-in!

Compare that to La Plata 3 weeks earlier when trying to get the 3 others who were on the summit with me and happened to be from Breckenridge(ooh, who cares?) to talk to me was like trying to pull their teeth, or the weird stares I got from people who would look away from me when I went to make eye contact with them at the Longs trailhead, or the Disney atmosphere on Pikes, though the people were very friendly on Pikes, and I ended up with a very different feeling about Co vs. CA. Maybe it just was all the sunshine in the Sierras vs the cloudy and stormy conditions in the Rockies?

I personally would say that Russell is slightly harder than Capitol Peak.

Capitol's knife edge ridge degree of difficulty is overrated as you can virtually stand upright starting on the south side and hang your hands over the edge gripping the north side
working your way across. About 2/3rds of the way across you switch sides over to the north side and finish the crossing.

Capitol usually requires a backpack to camp at Capitol Lake, some 6 miles. Probably similar to doing Russell with a camp
site well up the North Fork. Just as with Russell,however,some
people do the climb from the trailhead in one day, you know
someone like Laura & her group.

I hope its not too much harder than Capitol, as I plan to do Russell this August. Many folks seem to think Capital is the hardest CO 14er, whereas Russell doesn't get much reading on the CA climbing meeter from the people I've discussed it with. I would like to partner up for Russell, around August 10th.

CMC - thanks for the info on Capitol. I'm pretty slow, so it took me about 13 hours to do Russell as a day hike but I didn't find it as difficult as I had expected to. I have it in my mind that Capitol will take longer to climb than Russell though, but maybe it is worth trying as a day trip this summer.

Capitol is certainly in the top 4 or 5 along with North Maroon, Pyramid and the summit blocks of Mt Wilson and Sunlight. The most dangerous but not the most difficult is Little Bear on the standard route as many rocks & alot of water all funnel down through a narrow gulley which is very difficult to avoid. There is a more direct route on Little Bear but that is another story.

Each time I have climbed Capitol (4) I have camped at Capitol Lake, which is about 11,600' in some trees. It gives you a chance to rest at a nice camp site before the next day climb. The mileage from your car to summit round trip is 17 miles and about 5800' elevation gain. A long day.

I do think timewise it would take longer to do Capitol vs Russell. Capitol is probably one of two Colo 14ers that I consider a backpack overnight trip.

As you get closer to this summer and plan to climb Capitol, feel free to e mail me if I can provide info which isn't in all the guide books.

For that matter, although this is primarily a Whitney Message Board, anyone planning Colorado climbs can also feel free to e mail me for info as I have climbed all the Colo 14ers quite a few times from age 20-70 going back to 1958 to the present.

In response to this old post and for anyone else looking at comparing a couple of ridges. I ended up doing Capitol Peak in August as a day climb and it was indeed a longer day than my day climb of Russell a couple of years ago. The section from Daly Saddle to K2 was a pain and slow going for me (If I ever do it again, I'll go directly up the ridge from the saddle). The ridge between K2 and Capitol Peak was similar in technical difficulty or maybe slightly more difficult (but not much) than Mount Russell's East Ridge. GPS said between 17 and 18 miles with 5800' elevation gain. The Elk Mountains certainly are beautiful.

The Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney involves more elevation gain, more route finding, and more difficult rock climbing than the Keyhole Route on Longs Pk. Whitney isn't a LOT harder, but it IS harder.

Capitol Peak's northeast ridge is a longer climb (and a longer day) than Mt. Russell's east ridge. However, the climbing on Capitol is easier. I sometimes play a little game where I try to see how much of a climb I can do without using my hands. With careful routefinding and careful foot placements, I climbed Capitol's entire northeast ridge (mostly just left of the crest) without touching the rock with my hands. Russell is a classic class-three climb with plenty of places where you'll need your hands for more than just balance.

It is very subjective on hard or how technical a climb is - it's always nice to hear a variety of opinions.