All major routes on Longs Peak are snow- and ice-covered, according to Rocky Mountain National Park. And trail reports for Mount Bierstadt indicate that popular 14er is blanketed in snow.

If you thought about trying to summit 14,259-foot Longs Peak, now is the time, as the routes to the top are free of snow, but ...

At 3:20 a.m. on the first day of winter, Dec. 21, Chris Deuto left the Longs Peak trailhead aiming for the Diamond: a 900-foot wall of vertical granite on the mountain’s northeast face.