Life at the Boulderfield Hotel on Longs Peak

story by Jenn Fields for the Boulder Daily Camera

I wish there was still a "hotel" on the Boulderfield on Longs Peak. And a cable car to it from the trailhead.

I don't really want that. I just got spoiled living in Chamonix last summer. But that's a different story.

Still, wouldn't it be fab if you could get a coffee and a slice of cake partway up Longs Peak? The deliciousness of the idea is part of the reason why I've been into the Colorado Mountain Journal's (coloradomountainjournal.com) series from the memoirs of Hull Cook, a guide who worked at the Boulderfield Shelter Cabin in the early 1930s.

Cook's stories from the "hotel" -- a 14-by-18-foot building at 12,750 feet on the flank of Longs -- feel relevant now but still surprise. I nod knowingly as he tells about the hotel's roof being ripped off by the wind the first winter, leaving behind a stone cube packed with snow. I think of modern tourists when he tells a story about literally carrying slow clients on his shoulder. And I wince at the lightning stories, having had my own close calls.

The cabin -- which stood on the Boulderfield for 10 years and served clients being guided up the Cables Route on the north side of Longs... read more
 

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The Colorado Mountain School brings a taste of the past to the present:
As the only guide service allowed to do technical guiding in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Colorado Mountain School will be running biweekly two day Longs Peak Camps from June through September.  The main goal is to teach individuals the basics for climbing Longs Peak, have an overnight experience in the Boulderfields, and to attempt a route on Longs Peak.  Click here for more details.
 
Call us today to register for this or any other outing.
 
Thanks,
 
Colorado Mountain School Staff
800-836-4008 x3