the lamb slide on kieners route

Aug-08-2003 / On Saturday, my dad (Buzz) took me up a new route on Longs Peak. The Kieners Route is a classic route which skirts the left side of The Diamond on 3rd, 4th and lower 5th class terrain. The reason it's so classic is because a) it's moderate climbing with nothing but upper 5th class routes around it, b) everybody else is on the keyhole route, c) the exposure, d) quality of rock.

The first photo on the left describes the route. Basically, you start from Chasm Lake, go up Lamb Slide -- or if you don't have an ice ax and crampons -- the glacial ridge to the left of it (then crossing it at the top), traverse the legendary Broadway for a hundred yards, then up one of the chimney systems to begin the actual route.

Lamb's slide was the spookiest part, with nothing but running shoes and two sharp rocks to dig into the snow with. As the pictures attempt to show, the crossing we did felt pretty exposed! Of course, it's really not that bad, especially later in the day when the snow is softer. Coming down the Cables route makes an excellent loop!