-early-mid June, 1995- Mark Rikkers makes a solo snowboard descent of the North Face of Longs Peak. He was accompanied to the Boulderfield by Andrew Worm. This is the earliest recorded snowboard descent of Longs Peak and one of the few if any of the other descents on the north face that did not involve a rappel. Rarely is this face filled in enough to ride top to bottom without getting cliffed out.
-June 27th, 1995 - Mark Rikkers and Barrows Worm made the second snowboard descent of Long's Peak via the North Face. This was reported in issue # 70 of "Rock and Ice" magazine and also noted in the book, "Long's Peak" by Dougald MacDonald. Rikkers and Worm rappeled one section of this descent.
-7/9/1995- Dave McKee climbed and snowboarded the north face of Longs peak. He was accompanied by Jim Detterline who took pictures.
-6/13/2003- Erik Kling descended the Trough Couloir on Long's Peak with Gabe Gomez(skier). This is the first recorded snowboard descent of this route on Long's Peak although probably not the first. We would like to hear about any other earlier ones.
-5/4/2008-Jose Valenzuela and Austin
Porzak(skier) climb and ride Long's Peak via Keplinger's Couloir to the Homestretch. This is the earliest recorded descent of this route to date.
5/16/09-Marc Barella, Ben Conners(skier), and Carl Dowdy(skier) climb the North face of Longs Peak and then descend the homestretch down to Keplingers. Check out Ben Conners TR at
picture: Erik Kling riding the trough couloir on Long's Peak. photo courtesy of Erik Kling
both pictures-Mark Rikkers riding the north face on the second descent of Longs peak. photos by Barrows Worm, 1995
A view of the Trough Couloir on Long's peak, photo by Erik Kling, 2003.
photo-Jose Valenzuela ascending Long's peak via Keplinger's Couloir, photo by Austin Porzak, 2008
photo-Jose Valenzuela on the summit of Long's before his descent of Keplingers Couloir. photo by Austin Porzak, 2008.
photo-Jose Valenzuela descending Keplingers Couloir. photo by Austin Porzak, 2008.
photo- A look at the north face of Long's Peak. photo by Matt Primomo
photo- Marc Barella and Ben Conners climbing the north face on Longs. photo by Carl Dowdy, 2009.
photo- Marc Barella free soloing the north face of Longs with a board on his back. photo by Carl Dowdy, 2009.
photo- Marc Barella riding Keplingers couloir. photo by Carl Dowdy, 2009.
Long's Peak is the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Long's can be seen lording over the front range in many places from south of Denver to Ft. Collins. It is more known for its technical climbing and steep rock faces than for its snowboard descents. Indeed the earliest recorded snowboard descent of this mountain was via the North face, a class 5 rated rock climb in the summer. The Keplinger couloir, one of the other two possible descent routes you can take if looking to ski/snowboard this peak is a difficult bushwack with many miles and much elevation gain to approach. Keplinger's does seem to be becoming the standard glise descent route of this peak though. This line seems to come in fully more often than the North face. Some people ski/snowboard the trough couloir too. This involves an often hairy and rocky ledge traverse with much exposure. Any snowboard descent of Long's is quite an accomplishment.
