Longs/Meeker: 9/16/17: Once climbing up the ledges out of the Loft Couloir, I was assaulted a bit more directly by the Jet Stream winds that sometimes reside on Longs Peak. The summit of Meeker is above. I used the mountain itself to shield myself from the wind, quickly summit before being blown quite literally off, then descend onto the Loft. The Loft, even though it's quite flat, was the crux of the climb. No where to hide from the full brunt of the terrible wind -a choke point between two peaks the wind is being forced between. I've been turned back many times on Longs by wind like this - usually much, much lower down. It's just comedy - a Marcel Marceau mime act or Chaplin's Gold Rush, trying to merely walk into such a force - just to be blown backwards. Now I know why everyone I passed gave me strangr looks and was descending!My mind drifted to @alan.arnette and his unfortunate accident on neighboring Twin Sisters, where a great gust of wind picked him up and threw him against the rocks, breaking his leg. Careful, Ranger. My task in the Loft was to find the right gully down into Keplingers, but of course, the wind sucked all the clouds with it, so half my time was in a whiteout. . . . #highesthundred #adventuresinexhaustion #colorado #14ers #13ers #centennials #fastpacking #mountainrunning #trailrunning #hiking #runwithud #UDhydratesme #uphillathlete #peakbagging #milesfromordinary #approachbybike @ultimatedirectionusa @lasportivana (at Longs Peak)
