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Lower East Face Longs Peak, Tight Squeeze (5.8, 6p) + Upper East Face Longs Peak, Kor’s S’mores (5.10, 6+p)

Lower East Face Longs Peak + Upper East Face Longs Peak

Route:

Tight Squeeze + Kor's S'mores

5.8, 6p + 5.10, 6+p

Link-up of Lower and Upper East Faces of Longs Peak for 12+ pitches of 5.6-5.10 climbing.

Region: Colorado
Elev: Lower East Face top-out Elev: ~13,300 ft Upper East Face top-out Elev: ~13,900 ft
Rock type: Granite
Type: 
Date(s): July 13, 2024 (Sat)
Partner(s): Nate Arganbright

Related trip reports:

Route Overlays

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This route overlay shows the routes I have climbed on the Lower and Upper East Faces of Longs Peak. Any combination of a route on the Lower East Face to a route on the Upper East Face could be a good link-up. See the top of this page for links to the other routes on the Lower and Upper East Faces.
Route Overlay Kor's S'mores.

Intro

In July 2018, Dougald MacDonald and Kelley Cordes put up a route on the Upper East Face of Longs Peak climbing all the way from Broadway to the top of The Beaver in six long pitches of climbing. Two of the pitches are high-quality low-end 5.10 corners. When combined with a route on the Lower East Face, MacDonald and Cordes' route creates a direct line all of the way up Long's big east face in about 12 pitches of climbing. They called their route Kor's S'mores, likely a play on the popular Kor's Door on the Lower East Face that would provide a natural way to get reach Kor's S'mores.

In July 2022, Nate and I had linked the Lower and Upper East Faces via a link up Stettner's Ledges (5.8, 6p) to Zumie's Thumb (5.9-10a, 7p). This had been a fun long day of climbing. So it sounded fun to link Kor's Door (5.9-, 6p) (which I had climbed in 2020) on the Lower East Face with Kor's S'mores on the Upper East Face. However, as we approached the Lower East Face, we spotted a party gearing up at the base of Kor's Door. Since we had already climbed Stettner's Ledges and always relishing the opportunity for some new pitches and new beta collection, I voted to climb Tight Squeeze (5.6 or 5.8, 6p), a route ascending prominent right-facing dihedral system just left of Stettner's Ledges. Tight Squeeze was first climbed in 1962 by Paul Mayrose and Bob Bradley, and for whatever reason (I actually thought the route was quite good—solid rock and interesting features) has not become a popular route so it has probably seen few ascents since.

The following page provides a trip report for our link-up of Tight Squeeze with Kor's S'mores as well as photos from our overnight in the Chasm Lake Cirque beneath the towering face of the Diamond. Enjoy!

Time Stats

Leave bivy in Chasm Lake Cirque: 6:59 am
Start climbing Tight Squeeze: 7:47 am
Top of Tight Squeeze (Broadway Ledge): 9:58 am (2:11 to climb Tight Squeeze)
Start climbing Kor's S'mores: 10:07 am
Top of Kor's S'mores (The Beaver): 1:55 pm (3:48 to climb Kor's S'mores)
Arrive back at bivy in Chasm Lake Cirque: 4:22 pm

Climbs We Did

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Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
Hike up past Chasm Lake. Cross the Mills Glacier to reach the toe of the buttress. Scramble up a 4th class rock band right of Lambs Slide to the base of the route.
In the last few summers, the trail crew has been hard at work extending the cobblestone section of the trail leading up to Chasm Junction. They've done a great job. Maybe someday the entire Keyhole Route to The Keyhole will be this way.....
Chasm Meadows.
What are these things along the shore of Chasm Lake?
Moths!
Hiking along the north side of Chasm Lake.
Approaching the Lower East Face. Mills Glacier guards the rock.
Nearing the Lower East Face. Photo taken from Mills Glacier.
In cooler temperatures, Mills Glacier can be pretty hard and steep in the morning hours, so we had brought crampons. Crampons were nice to have, but warm temperatures meant the snow was not as hard as it sometimes is (so lightweight microspikes would have been sufficient).
Sometimes getting from Mills Glacier to the rock can be tricky, but it was easy with the snowpack we had.

Pitch 1

5.6 or 5.8
Climb the face out firhg to tget started, then work around the right side of the roof (5.6) and continue to a good ledge. The first ascent party climbed through the roof (5.8) and cut right to the ledge.
Looking up Pitch 1 from the base of the route. I took the 5.8 option through the roof since it protected better than the runnout 5.6 face to the right of the roof.
Above the roof. You can probably belay here, but I went a bit higher.
Nate nearing the top of Pitch 1. I belayed at some grassy hummocks.
Lanceleaf Springbeauty en route. (My dad read this trip report and used his Seek app to identify it.)
Lanceleaf Springbeauty.

Pitch 2

5.7
Layback up a corner for 15 feet, go right oer a flake, then climb a shallow, right-facing dihedral for about 80 feet and traverse left to a small ledge.
Nate leading Pitch 2.
A piton on Pitch 2. I wonder if this was from the original 1962 first ascent?
Another piton on Pitch 2. I wonder if this was from the origina 1962 first ascent?

Pitch 3

5.7
Climb up and left from the belay and climb a chimeny to a belay stance midway up the chimney.
Looking over at the terrain at the start of Pitch 3 (this is a bad photo - the belay is at a ledge just left out of the photo).
On his Pitch 2 lead, Nate had continued up this corner, joining Stettner's Ledges and skipping the original Pitch 3.
I was able to get us back on route by traversing left on a fun horizonal finger traverse. This photo is taken from the top of Pitch 3 looking down at Pitch 3, which we did not climb. Darn - it looks like a fun pitch of unique 5.7 climbing! This feature is how the route gets its name.

Pitch 4

5.6
Squeeze up the chimney for about 20 feet, then climb the face on either side. Follow the crack that continues from the chimney to the top of the fourth pitch of Stettner's Ledges.
Back on route, looking up at Pitch 4, which is a continuation of the slot.

Pitch 5

5.6
Hornsby's Direct finish
The route intersects Stettner's Ledges at the top of Pitch 4. From here you can continue to the Alexander's Chimney finish (5.4) or Hornsby's Direct finish (5.8). We chose Hornsby's Direct. From the top of the fourth pitch, follow shallow dihedrals up to a small ledge below a steeper section.
Looking up at Pitch 5, an easy unremarkable pitch of climbing that I linked with Pitch 4.
Nate climbing Pitch 5, taken from the belay at the top of the pitch.

Pitch 6

5.8
Hornsby's Direct finish
Follw a right-facing dihedral past a roof and many fixed pins to Broadway. The dihedral to the left is also possible. Since Nate and I had climbed the Hornsby Direct finish on a previous ascent of Stettner's Ledges, we decided to climb the dihedral to the left this time.
The final pitch to the top. The actual Hornsby Direct pitch takes the center of the three corners, but we had climbed this before when we climbed Stettner's Ledges so we chose to climb the leftmost corner, also about 5.8.
The leftmost corner.
Nate belaying at the top of the pitch, on Broadway Ledge. The first pitch of Kor's S'mores is directly above him by about 100 feet.
Broadway Ledge.

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

4th
To get from the top of the Lower East Face to the start of Kor's S'mores, scramble up from Broadway on about 100 feet of 4th class terrain.
Nate belaying at the top of the Lower East Face, on Broadway Ledge. The first pitch of Kor's S'mores is directly above him by about 100 feet.
Broadway Ledge.

Pitch 1

5.7/5.8
Climb moderate corners and cracks above Broadway. You're aiming for the right side of a prominent pillar/flatiron with an attractive, right-facing corner system. There may be a few ways to reach this. Move right below the foot of the flatiron to a belay beneath the corner system.
Start of Pitch 1. Above the corner is 3rd class.
Old piton at the base of Pitch 1. Atthough Kor's S'mores in its entirity was probably a first ascent by MacDonald and Cordes in 2018, it is likely some of the pitches had been previously climbed.
Nate on the Pitch 1 corner. I had belayed at the top of the corner since I had cllimbed all the way from Broadway Ledge, but if started from the base of the corner, the pitch continues to the right over easier terrain to the next corner system.

Pitch 2

5.10
Climb the corner. Excellent stemming and face climbing with good small protection. It is probably best to climb all the way to the ridgecrest, through a chimney system.
Looking up the corner. This is the first of two 5.10 pitches on the route.

Pitch 3

3rd
Move up to the base of the second pillar/flatiron, staying on the ridge crest. Belay high on the right side, because the next pitch is long. Most of this pitch is walking and could be scrambled, but it also goes quickly on a rope. This is also a long pitch, probably longer than 60m, so it can be simulclimbed or broken up.
The 3rd class ridge between the top of Pitch 2 and the start of Pitch 4.
Looking back down at Chasm Lake.
Nate at the end of Pitch 3. This photo was taken from the belay below Pitch 4.

Pitch 4

5.10
Climb the corner. Finger cracks lead up into the main corner system. Continue up to a steep, intimidating wide section. Fortunately, cracks inside the offwidth offer handholds and protection. It is a long and sustained pitch of 5.10- climbing. Belay on top of the pillar.
Nate starting up the corner.
Sixty meters of fun and sustained 5.10- climbing.

Pitch 5

5.8 or 5.9/10
Continue up the left side of the attractive low-angle ridge crest, then move up and right across the face of the buttress to a point where you can either climb directly through a steep crack in a corner (5.9/10) or move around to the right to a hand-traverse and face climbing exit (5.8). This pitch haas a lovely airy position high over Chasm Lake.
Looking at Pitch 5. I climbed the flake system in the middle of the photo and up through the obvious notch (the harder 5.9/10 option).
Nate nearing the top of the pitch. The Loft can be seen below to the right.

Pitch 6

5.8
End with a short, nondescript finishing pitch. The easiest way is to go right around the final tower.
The short finishing pitch. Just on the other side of this tower is the 3rd class terrain of The Beaver.

Top

The route tops out near the top of The Beaver.
The Beaver.

Descent

3rd
From the top of the Beaver you have two options. The quickest option is to scramble (3rd) down the Beaver to the Loft and take the loose trail back down to Chasm Meadows. The second (and more rewarding) option is to rappel into The Notch (or downclimb Gorrell's Traverse (5.4) to The Notch) and climb up The Staircase (5.5) to the summit of Longs Peak and to descend from there via the Cables Route. We went down via The Loft, and I consolled myself that I had already summited Longs Peak 8 times this year....but still, 9 sounds better than 8....
Looking down towards The Loft. We descended this way.

Other Photos

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Other Photos

Below are some other photos from our Friday and Saturday nights bivying in the spectacular Chasm Lake Cirque below the towering walls of the Diamond.

Our bivy

We bivied in Chasm Lake Cirque. What an awesome place to spend a couple of days—one of my favorite bivy locations in RMNP.
Our bivy.
Our bivy.
Making dinner.
Nate enjoying a Coffee Crisp my mom had brought him from Canada on my parents' recent visit.
Yum. Coffee Crisp used to be one of my favorites (until I was diagnosed with Celiac disease and cannot eat gluten...fortunate for Nate since his Coffee Crisp is safe from Steph's sweet tooth!).
There is a great water source near the bivy sites.
Morning alpenglow on the Diamond, as seen from our bivy.
Morning sun on the Diamond, as seen from our bivy. We had planned to climb a route on the Diamond on Sunday, but at least 10 parties passed by our bivy that morning. Everyone got the memo that the Diamond is good to go. I think I'd rather car-to-car and just not be aware of how many other parties there are, and just claim your spot in the North Chimney queue when you arrive.

Flowers

The wildflowers (in particular the Alpine Columbine) seem to be out en mass this summer.
Purple Fringe.
Alpine columbine.
Alpine columbine.
Purple aster.

Other

A widow-maker tree near the trailhead. This downed tree seems to be supported by just a few jagged edges of trunk.

Previous and Next Adventures

Pagoda Mountain (West Ridge Bypass), RMNP, CO
Shoshoni - Apache - Navajo - Niwot Traverse, Indian Peaks, CO

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