The LA Freeway is a primarily off-trail traverse connecting Longs Peak and South Arapaho Peak. The route was envisioned by many people before me and as Gerry Roach says "requires creativity." Using a combination of friends' beta, information shared online, and my own exploration, I put together a line that prioritized what I found to be the most fun and efficient movement.
I've spent a lot of time on sections of the route and think they contain some of the best alpine scrambling in the area (Mt Toll is my favorite). The idea of connecting them all into one continuous line, without repeating the approaches, was my primary driver to attempt LAF. But there's a lot to inspire a person, the history of the route, the view of it from Boulder, the driving accessibility to the start/finish etc.
Day of start
There must be something poetic about having my 6-mo post double mastectomy surgical followup in the morning and starting La Freeway later that night. I was hopeful for a 4 hour nap but got 2 hours before Maggie picked me up to drop me at the Longs Peak Trailhead. I started the route at 10:15PM.
I chose that start time because I know Longs -> Chiefs Head well, Chiefs Head -> The Cleaver is easy terrain and I'd be at the Isolation crux by day break and hopefully to N Arapaho by sunset.
En Route
TH -> Longs
I took Cables (5.4) up to Longs Peak. Cables had running water over it, but after climbing it a couple weeks ago with veraglass over everything, the running water was delightful.
Longs -> Pagoda
Took a short sneak Taylor and I found down from the homestretch to the boulder field traverse to Pagoda, where I took as straight of a line as I could down to that mid-traverse gully downclimb in order to continue the way to Pagoda Peak.
Pagoda -> Chief Head
From Pagoda, I took a line Taylor showed me that was an improvement on my previous beta that starts by descending the W ridge. This starts by descending the SE ridge, you find an intuitive entry to the SW Face and walk to the 5.0 corner downclimb. I take one more 5.0 downclimb at the rappel station to find the grassy ramps that allow you to walk towards Chiefs Head.
Other highlights
The Cleaver -> Isolation Peak
Took the 5.5 NW cliff face to gain the ridge, stayed more ridge direct this time, it's good.
Algonquin -> Pauite
By happenstance, this was my 5th time on this traverse in the last month, I had it dialed and this was probably my best execution of the traverse.
Pauite -> Mt Toll
My favorite peak for the movement up it. Took the NW face with double piton corners. Chimney climb the first one (5.4), stem climb the second one (5.2).
Pawnee -> Shoshoni
The start of the nausea and acid reflux. When things stopped being pure fun and I started to struggle to keep things together.
Shoshoni -> Apache (Kasparov Traverse)
I have got to figure out better beta on this one. I've done it 3 times before this effort and each time is a bit of a confused push through, this was no exception. This is the only part of the route that I'm not happy with my routefinding.
Apache -> Navajo
N face (5.3), more direct than the W gully and better movement. Once you're at the platform where the W gully and N face intersect, I take the white headwall (5.0-ish moves).
Navajo -> Arikaree
Will showed me the NW slabs up (4th), both the N ridge and slabs are fun but the slabs are more direct.
Airakaree -> Deshawa
Took the 5.0 corner on the R instead of the L for the final ascent to the peak, I think I like R more.
Deshawa -> N Arapaho
Asking my stomach to please not vom as I did the exposed 4th class W wrap around the handcrack tower.
N -> S Arapaho
Funny how a line I've thought of as so familiar felt so foreign at that point of exhaustion.
Descent down to 4th of July
My "good gully" line was awful in the dark. I think any line would have been miserable, my stomach was in terrible shape.
After
Thank goodness Kyle brought Kathmandu, at first I was thinking no way I can eat anything. But after eating a bit, I went from extreme nausea to feeling pretty good! Thankful for that bc it was maybe a 2 hour drive home due to be turned around by police halfway down BoCan and having to take Coal Creek down to Boulder.
Gear
With chest surgical scars that have nerve damage and tissue necrosis, I find wearing a pack with water in the front uncomfortable. I used a 2L Raide belt to carry my water in, it's more annoying to get the water in/out but worked better than keeping the water in the back of a pack. I used Yiran's 12L Salomon pack that was comfy and so well designed, but a bit hot.
I brought 1.6L of water capacity, a .6L and 1L Katadyn bottles, and one filter that I switched between them with a regular top.
I used Petzle NAO headlamp in conjunction with my Fenix HM65. Petzl is rated for 1500 lumens and Fenix is 1600, the Petzl is brighter. I strapped the Fenix to my Raide belt (see start photo), the combo head/waistlamp was incredible, especially for the 5th class sections. Unfortunately, I got too greedy with the brightness settings and the petzl headlamp died at Chiefs Head so I just had the waist lamp till sunrise at Tanima which noticeably slowed me down. While either or would be good for trails, the waistlamp more of supplements the headlamp for the technical terrain, so just the waistlamp was not ideal. I should have brought an extra headlamp battery or conserved it better on the 3rd class terrain.
I used a GPS watch with a gpx I created loaded in it to navigate straight lines. This was something I had mixed feelings about. My usual style in the mountains is "Naviguessing" but I felt like I had to prioritize minimizing time on feet. Using the watch for navigation makes it easier to keep straight lines, especially in the dark where my designated markers to aim towards aren't visible. For me, it does not replace scouting/familiarity with the sections, but does help with keeping on an efficient line.
Gaiters were huge, never used them before this effort, but glad I decided to add them in.
Fueling
I brought estimated 6500 calories, ate probably 5000. Things that hit were rice burritos, salty maple syrup, crackers, banana pancakes, cheeze-its (before heartburn). Things that didn't hit rice crispie treats, nature valley almond biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, cheeze-its (after heartburn set in). Usually I love eating food while in the mountains, but I think I should have focused on digestibility rather than enjoyment. If I were to do another 20+ hr effort, more rice burritos and less fatty foods. Stomach issues that were compounded by the heat slowed me down significantly, but thankfully did not break my attempt.
This was unsupported th-to-th (other than friends texting to cheer me on) but so much support outside the literal effort.