The Diamond

It seems appropriate that my 7th time up to the Diamond (and eighth route I'd climbed on it) was D7. It was also probably the best route I had climbed so far on the Diamond. D7 features beautiful, solid rock and good cracks all the way up. It was originally an aid climb, so there are lots of pins. 

I climbed D7 with Nate Arganbright. We'd had an adventurous day on D1 the previous weekend, and it was nice to return the following weekend (Labor Day Monday in fact) for another day on the Diamond. Nate climbs D7 at least a few times a year and has climbed the route in all conditions (soaking wet, filled with ice, ...), so he was easily convinced to add another lap to the year's tally. We climbed the route in just under 4 hours, with me leading the odd pitches and Nate leading the even pitches (Pitch 4 is by far the hardest pitch of the route, involving pretty sustained 5.11-ish climbing and an 11c crux section). It was one of those unusually warm and calm days on the Diamond, and we climbed in t-shirts as we managed to stay in the sun the entire time. It was not yet noon when we reached Table Ledge, so we decided to continue up to the summit via Kiener's Route (we had not left any gear on Broadway Ledge to give the option of continuing upwards). We descended via the Cables Route and then down Camel Gully back into Chasm Lake Cirque. This was the first time I had been down Camel Gully, so I enjoyed the opportunity to collect some photos of this connector option between Chasm View area and Chasm Lake area. 

All in all, probably my favorite route and most enjoyable day on the Diamond to date. Thanks Nate for being psyched to climb this route again! 

This page gives a trip report from our climb, including a route overlay, time stats from the climb, and lots of photos. Enjoy! 

RMNP had just reopened after the closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the spring had not seen any big dumps of snow in the alpine, so Nate and I were thinking the same thing: Diamond.

The original plan was to spend two nights in Chasm Lake Cirque and climb for two days, at least one of which would be on the Diamond. But we ended up truncating the trip to one night and one climb due to incessant afternoon squalls making it uncomfortable to just hang out at camp after we got back down from the climb. But it was an awesome trip nevertheless, to be up there and climbing on the Diamond, and the only ones up there too. We climbed D7. In fact, this stellar route had been the most recent route both of us had climbed on the Diamond, when we climbed it over Labor Day weekend at the end of the previous season. We faced a bit of mixed conditions getting to the base of the route (crampons and ice axe certainly came in handy). But the plus side was that we had the entire Diamond to ourselves. And the North Chimney had never felt so safe with no parties above to kick stuff down. Climbing conditions on the route were superb; the rock was surprisingly dry for early June. We had sunny rock and sunny skies until midway up the crux pitch (the second to last pitch from the top). By the time we reached the top of this pitch, a squall system complete with thunder and lightning was brewing just over the ridge, and we made the wise decision to cut left to the Diamond Rappel route and rappel one pitch from the end of the route. 

All in all, another excellent Diamond adventure with a super solid partner.

This page gives a trip report from our climb, including a route overlay, time stats from the climb, and lots of photos. Enjoy! 

And we cannot stay away....

Our goal this time was to shave a few hours off of our previous car-to-car climb of D7. We hiked in with only what we needed, wearing our harnesses, and brought only a single 70m rope for an up and over ascent. We left the trailhead just after after 6am. We crushed our previous time, and car-to-car in just under 9 hours.

Another awesome day of climbing on the Diamond! Photos and time stats below.

Weather had been poor throughout much of the summer, which put a damper on Diamond climbing activity. Even on nice days, it seemed that the world-class wall of alpine granite was fairly quiet. In August, Nate and I took advantage of a free midweek day to do a lap of the Diamond. This was the fourth time we had climbed D7 together. It was so nice to be back on the Diamond with my favorite climbing partner.

Nate and I climbed the route in six pitches instead of our usual five pitches. We swung leads, with Nate getting the crux 11c pitch. I was psyched to get the crux clean (following it of course) without too much of a problem (in my first three times up D7 I had always ended up getting an assist off a cam at the crux). A short hail storm hit just as we finished the final pitch of the route, but cleared off as we began the descent. Typical Diamond weather. 

The following gives time stats and photos from the climb.