August 2019 The Diamond on Long's Peak

Kenton on top of Long's Peak

Saturday, August 24 I climbed the Casual Route (5.10a) on the Diamond of Long's Peak with Derek. We left the parking lot at 3:15 AM. Past Chasm Lake we had to cross a short stretch of very icy snow, a feat which we accomplished more safely using microspikes (I had borrowed some from Sarah which barely fit but still worked). We free-soloed the North Chimney (5.4) approach after the ice field. I wasn't entirely happy about this, but we didn't want to knock loose rock onto each other or onto the climbers below, and we wanted to finish this segment quickly. The climbing was very easy, and we reached the start of the climb proper on Broadway ledge around 5:45 AM. Perhaps not surprisingly, there were already three parties on the route. At least one of them had camped overnight to make the approach shorter, and the other had left the parking lot almost an hour earlier than we had!

After waiting a bit for the other parties to get started, it was finally our turn. Meanwhile, several additional parties had shown up to climb the Casual Route, Pervertical Sanctuary (5.11a), and D1 (5.12a). So there was a bit of pressure to not climb too slowly (besides the obvious pressure of wanting to finish before any storms might roll in).

Kenton standing at the start of the Casual Route on Broadway Ledge. Chasm Lake is in the background.

Pitch 1 - Derek led this pitch, and I don't remember much about it.

Pitch 2 - I led this. It's called 5.9 on Mountain Project, but it felt perhaps easier than some of the ensuing 5.8 pitches. I led this and linked it with the 5.7 traverse pitch which came afterwards.

Pitch 3 - I led this, and it felt casual.

Pitch 4 - Derek's lead. This felt challenging for 5.8.

Pitch 5 - My lead. I went all the way to the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge.

Pitch 6 - My lead. The crux, and the most fun pitch for me. This was the first chimney I've climbed outside where I really felt I was doing it the right way. I was squeezed in there with my hands pressing forward and my feet pressing forward, too, so that there was a good deal of pressure keeping my back against the wall behind. It was difficult to protect this chimney section, but I wasn't too concerned about a fall. Pulling the final 5.10a move didn't feel like a really big deal. Derek, on the other hand, hated this pitch. He could barely fit in the chimney, and he was unable to turn his head forward while inside. Also, the backpack that was trailing behind him was almost too large to fit inside, so it kept getting stuck. He was completely and thoroughly pumped by the time he made it to the top.

Pitch 7 - Derek's lead, although he was so tired after getting stuck in the chimney below that perhaps I should have led it for him instead. This pitch was a wandering traverse up onto a ledge where we felt comfortable enough to unrope.

Derek chilling out halfway up The Diamond

My overall impression of the climb was that it was fair at the grade and a ton of fun. It was very well protected; I never felt that I couldn't find good protection except in the chimney. Any time I reached what I thought was a more difficult section, I realized that I only needed to look around for some good feet, and the climbing got easier.

The two biggest challenges for us were 1. the altitude and 2. the slow party in front of us. There is no doubt that the altitude was affecting me, having just arrived from sea level the afternoon prior. Luckily, I never experienced any major symptoms of altitude sickness (no headaches, for example), but I was lightheaded for good portions of the climb. I often had to stop making moves to take some deep breaths. The other saving grace for me was that Derek carried the majority of the gear (both the protection and the rope) on the approach, thereby allowing us to move far more quickly than we would otherwise have been able to go. Our other challenge was the party ahead of us who moved at a glacial pace. I believe that Derek had to wait on the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge for 2.5 hours while I led the pitch above, stopping every 10 feet or so to allow the girl in front of me (who was on toprope) to make more progress. It would have been nice to pass this couple, but we never felt as if there was an appropriate time/place.

The last few hundred feet of scrambling to the top were easy, but they went rather slowly simply because I couldn't move too quickly at that altitude.

We descended via the Cable Route (5.4). In one portion the rope got stuck after a rappel (the only one we did), and Derek chose to free solo back up to free it. Ugh. Other than this mini-disaster the descent was uneventful. We arrived back at our car around 7:30 PM. So, it was a long day! It would have been significantly shorter if we hadn't been stuck behind other parties on the route and if the rope had not become stuck on the rappel.