Mission accomplished. Quest complete. Diamond tamed.
Nine months ago Mark decided he wanted to climb the Diamond. Today we did. Yeah, baby!
Last November Mark started joining me at the Movement Climbing Gym in Boulder two days per week. He went from hanging on 5.8 to redpointing multiple 5.11 routes. In May we transitioned to outdoor training and climbed a couple of mornings in the week. We did Touch and Go, Bolting for Glory (three times), Blind Faith (three times), Outer Space, Yellow Spur and Green Spur, Grand Giraffe, Ruper, Anthill Direct, Over the Hill, West Buttress of the Bastille, etc. Then we did some alpine climbing. We did the North Chimney to Broadway to preview the approach (and finished with the cool Chasm Cutoff Traverse). We climbed the Petit Grepon, the Penknife, and Sharkstooth in a day. We climbed the Red Wall on Chasm View Wall.
And the weather moved in. Rain and snow shut down the Diamond and then I had to do the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race. We kept up our training and when the weather looked perfect today, Mark flew back a day earlier from a family reunion in Utah and, last night, we headed to a friend's cabin four miles from the trailhead.
Microspikes rock! |
What we saw when we arrived at the North Chimney was ghastly. Oh, the humanity! There were eight parties in various stages of climbing the North Chimney. At least three of them were struggling to get up the rock-hard snow to the base of the wall. I'd never seen such a cluster on this wall. Apparently it is just getting more and more popular and everyone was watching the weather just like us. For a brief moment, I thought our day was done, but then I transformed to an earlier, more competitive version of myself, one that embraces a good race to the base of a route.
Mark and I were already, wisely, both wearing our Microspikes. If you don't own a pair of these...what's wrong with you? Seriously. This allowed us to crunch right up to the rock as if there was a staircase cut into the slope. To our right climbers batmanned up a fixed line and flailed on the slick surface. Once on the rock, we quickly transitioned into our harnesses and climbing shoes. We both wore packs and climbed on a doubled 60-meter rope. I took off. Mark said, "You're not on belay," and I responded, "I don't need one." I was planning to pull out a hundred feet of rope quickly and then Mark would need to start climbing anyway.
It seemed that no one knew the right route up the North Chimney and this worked heavily in my favor. One party was too far to the left, most were too far to the right, staying how too long on the snow and then in the chimney. I split these teams, powering up the middle. A couple of parties further up were pitching it out and that was our plan, but conditions changed things. We were glad for our earlier preview and we motored up the 4-pitch North Chimney in one simul-climbed, 30-minute pitch. We passed all eight parties and found ourselves on Broadway with a completely virgin, sun-drenched Diamond above us.
Mark arrives on Broadway at 6:30 a.m. |
We re-packed into our haulbag and pulled out our haulline. We got a quick drink. We tied into the ends of the lead rope and I was off, up the initial 5.6 pitch. This didn't take long and I hauled the bag and belayed Mark at the same time using a Wall Hauler and an Petzl auto-blocking belay device. Mark soon arrived at the belay and after a quick re-rack I was off. We have the change-overs dialed.
The next pitch goes up the 5.9 thin crack and then does the 5.7 traverse across the face to the next crack system. This pitch, like pretty much every pitch, is super fun. The traverse is specatular, with so many great holds out there. At the end of the traverse I went up a bit to belay in a cramped alcove on a sloping shelf at the base of the wide slot. There were slings thirty feet lower, but it didn't want to climb down to a belay. This pitch was about 190-feet long.
Mark on the great traverse pitch |
Mark arriving at the crack system at the end of the traverse pitch |
All the while I was belaying Mark, of course. With the bag up, my work wasn't done. I had to get the bag secured and the Wall-Hauler back onto the other end of the haul line and clipped to my harness. Unlike on the Red Wall, this time I never left the belay without the haul line.
Mark loved this pitch and even called out halfway across the traverse, "This is aswesome! And a lot easier than it looked from the last belay." Mark was relaxed and seemingly well within his physical and mental comfort range. Our preparation for this route had been extensive and it was paying off.
As soon as Mark was at the belay, I had him clove-hitched into the belay. He immediately sank onto the anchor and went to work re-racking. He'd rack onto the sling on his side and pass me gear for the other side. I took him off belay and he put me on belay. In just a couple of minutes I was setting off up the next pitch, which I didn't think would be very long, but instead ending up being at least 150 feet. All the pitches we did seemed to be quite long.
This third pitch started with a wide slot. I know this sometimes gives climbers a tough time, but we had prepared for wide climbing and this slot was short and easy, involving just a couple of secure squeeze/offwidth moves and then I was able to reach some jugs. This wide section is absolutely nothing compared to the squeeze on the crux pitch. Moderate, fun climbing led up to a ramp with some fixed belay anchors, but I continued above it, knowing that if I went high on this pitch, I'd be able to do the long dihedral above as one pitch. The climbing off the ramp to the ledges where I belayed was cruxy. I think it involved some 5.9 moves and Mark concurred when he passed this section. In fact, when he got to the belay, he said, "That was close. I was on the very edge." Yet, he was controlled and focused.
The fourth pitch is the massive dihedral pitch, which took 190 feet of rope to reach the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge. Many people call this their favorite pitch or the greatest 5.8 pitch they've ever done. I can't argue much with that. It is a spectacular pitch that is really fun to climb, but I like every pitch on the Casual Route. Every pitch is solid. Every pitch protects well. Every pitch is fun and exposed. This dihedral can feel hard if you try to climb it too fast, as the climbing is burly, steep, and, as I said, very long. There are frequent good resting spots, though, and these provide low stress locations to place protection. I was trying to move fast, though, and I tried to move fairly continuously. Hence, I was quite out of breath when I arrived on the big ledge. My fingers were also quite cold. This dihedral is perpetually in the shade, no matter what time of day you climb it. No matter what month of the year.
Mark cruxing on a difficult section at the end of the third pitch |
The fourth pitch is the massive dihedral pitch, which took 190 feet of rope to reach the Yellow Wall Bivy Ledge. Many people call this their favorite pitch or the greatest 5.8 pitch they've ever done. I can't argue much with that. It is a spectacular pitch that is really fun to climb, but I like every pitch on the Casual Route. Every pitch is solid. Every pitch protects well. Every pitch is fun and exposed. This dihedral can feel hard if you try to climb it too fast, as the climbing is burly, steep, and, as I said, very long. There are frequent good resting spots, though, and these provide low stress locations to place protection. I was trying to move fast, though, and I tried to move fairly continuously. Hence, I was quite out of breath when I arrived on the big ledge. My fingers were also quite cold. This dihedral is perpetually in the shade, no matter what time of day you climb it. No matter what month of the year.
I was thankful for the big ledge was it was easy to just pile up the rope on the ledge, instead of having to coil it across my belay tie-in, like at every other belay. Once again, I hauled and belayed. Mark had to free the bag for me about halfway up the pitch, but it was right on his way. I had brought along two pairs of Hand Jammies - crack climbing mitts - but neither of us got them out of the bag. And we didn't have any issues with scarring up our hands. I'd say it was due to our great technique, but it was much more due to the friendly jamming on the this route and the multiple opportunities to use face holds. If we were on Pervertical Sanctuary instead, I would have availed myself of these aids.
I had been trying to take some sips from the Camelback hose we had snaking out of the top of the haul bag, but I probably drank less than 20 ounces on the entire climb. I also didn't eat anything at all from the base of the North Chimney until we got to Kiener's Route. That's about 1500 feet of technical climbing and ten pitches. I wasn't bonking and just constantly felt the pressure to keep moving.
I had been trying to take some sips from the Camelback hose we had snaking out of the top of the haul bag, but I probably drank less than 20 ounces on the entire climb. I also didn't eat anything at all from the base of the North Chimney until we got to Kiener's Route. That's about 1500 feet of technical climbing and ten pitches. I wasn't bonking and just constantly felt the pressure to keep moving.
This is me climbing the 5.9 inset on the crux pitch. Photo taken by Eric Fowles from Chasm View |
The climbing had gone nearly perfectly. Mark did quite onsight the Diamond, but nor did I on my first trip up it. Nor the second or the third. I didn't completely free the Diamond until I did the Yellow Wall with Mark Hudon. I've since freed the Casual Route three of the five times I've climbed it. I haven't completely freed Pervertical Sanctuary (11a) despite two ascents. Nor have I freed D7 (11c/d) despite two ascents as well, but both were planned to be aid ascents, including one in winter with Phil Gruber. I felt great and the climbing felt really solid, safe for the those moments before I got situated at the crux. The keys to this ascent were our great preparation and waiting for the ideal weather day, no matter when that came. If you climb the Diamond in ideal weather, when it is dry, it is a great experience. Climbing it in less than ideal weather...not so much.
Climbing the last steep part of Kiener's Route |
We were both dragging up Kiener's to the summit and quite happy to stop going uphill. We hit the summit at 1 p.m. We ate and drank some more on the summit, before descending via the North Face. After a couple of rappels down there, we finally stripped off our harnesses and put the ropes away for good. The hike out would take another two hours, but we arrived back at the trailhead at 4:10 p.m., making for a 12.5-hour roundtrip. That'll do.
On the summit of Longs Peak |
5 comments:
This is awesome! Congratulations, guys! I need to get my act together and follow suit in the next year…
TK
Nice photos and write-up! Love that super long dihedral pitch. Congrats.
Nothing like having a winter dream, planning and training passionately as a team, and then pulling it off! What a gorgeous Diamond day you got. Goo job to both of you. You'll remember it forever.
BB
Great work! Thanks for sharing such a cool journey with all of us.
Thanks all for the kinds words. This was a lifetime achievement for me, and I couldn't be happier. Charlie, a couple from Telluride that we climbed right in front of knew you and Max. Their names were Julie and Dave. Do you know how to get in touch with them? We have some photos that I'd like to send them.
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