Viewed from the plains, Longs Peak's southern ridge presents a jagged profile resembling a beaver trying to climb the mountain, a familiar image to readers of James Michener's novel "Centennial". The northeastern aspects include the Diamond, an almost sheer 1700 foot face that is the premier big wall in America outside of Yosemite. The west slopes fall away steeply, too, with lots of talus-filled gullies. Oddly, the summit is a large, flat expanse of about a couple acres, like the top of a tree stump falling away steeply on all sides.

Indians are alleged to have trapped eagles on the summit, but the first white man to climb Longs Peak was one-armed John Wesley Powell in 1868.