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The Ledges, Going Down (pg.3)... |
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by Jerry Cates |
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Finally, I was back at the serious stretch in the Ledges, where the poor fellow had fallen the day before. The rock reaching up into the sky is at the base of the knob. The trail is pretty obvious here, going from right to left, toward the crease. Just around the corner is the Keyhole. Notice the abundance of hand-holds in the side of the rock approaching the crease. I was grateful that my leather gloves kept my hands from getting messed up earlier on the trek. As a result, taking advantage of these hand-holds was easy.
The photo on the right was taken at 2:07 p.m., just before arriving at the crease in the Ledges. The rock trail here is not level, but the dry surface offered excellent traction for my running-shoe soles. I would not want to tackle this stretch in a rainstorm, especially if- as is usually the case- the rain ices up on the rocks. In inclement weather, with ice on the trail, using rope and setting a belay would be called for. As you can see, the rock provides plenty of places to set protection, both for terminal and intermediate anchors. Next time, I plan to bring along enough gear to do that, should it become necessary. Today, luckily, it wasn't needed... Next: The Keyhole, going down... Longs Peak Menu ... Bugsinthenews ... Books About Longs Peak |
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