The Diamond

Despite Colorado's reputation as a climber's paradise, I haven't climbed much in Colorado (only two short trips while passing through, in 2007 and in 2014). It's a long way from home in Bellingham, Washington. Finally, in Summer 2018, I planned a 3-week climbing trip to Colorado (objectives involving Black Canyon of Gunnison, Eldorado Canyon, Mt. Evans Black Wall, and Rocky Mountain National Park). The Diamond—a world famous wall of alpine granite on the East Face of Long's Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park—was high on the list of objectives. There are several awesome routes on The Diamond. I had climbed Ariana (5.12a) in 2014, thought it was fabulous, which only inspired me to want to climb other routes on the towering wall. 

George Foster joined me for my second week of climbing in Colorado. He also wanted to climb the Diamond. We decided to climb Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish, which sounded like an awesome route. The Yellow Wall is reputed to be one of the best routes on the wall. It can be kept at 5.10b with a few variations (a 5.7 bypass to the 5.11 start to Pitch 1, and taking the Forrest Finish directly to the top for Pitches 5-6).

During my trip, Colorado was experiencing its "summer monsoon season", which means nearly daily afternoon thundershowers. These can be particularly fearsome at higher elevations. And The Diamond happens to be on the high point in RMNP. But luck was with George and me, and the second day of our trip together we got our one-day weather window: a day with no forecasted thundershowers sandwiched between days forecasting 40% afternoon showers. So we decided to go for it and climb The Diamond! 

Apparently so did everyone else. By my best count, there were 16 parties climbing on The Diamond that day (3 on Yellow Wall, 1 on D7, 2 on Pervertical Sanctuary, 1 on Curving Vine, 6-8 on Casual Route, 1 high up above the Casual Route on some route I don't know). There could have even been a couple of more parties that I missed! The crag-like atmosphere resulted in about 3 hours of waiting at belays for the pitch above us to clear out, but with the bluebird skies the waiting was just part of the experience and didn't add any real worry to the day, just some chilly semi-hanging belays. George and I found the climbing on the route to be excellent: consistently steep and sustained at the 5.10 level, with an amazing position up the center of the towering Diamond. 

(Update: The Diamond is so awesome I had to climb it again before I left Colorado. Two weeks later, at the end of my Colorado road trip, I returned to the Diamond and did a two-route 13-pitch link-up of Pervertical Sanctuary (5.10c) and Casual Route (5.10a).)

Nate and I thought it would be fun to shave a couple of hours off of our 12-hour car-to-car time of D7+Kiener's ascent. We approached with our harnesses on and small packs that we would carry up and over, planning to stop as little as possible. It was a splitter forecast, and we didn't feel the need to leave the trailhead super early, so we approached in the daylight as well. Our initial plan for the day was to climb D7, but when we arrived at the base of the Diamond, there was a party just heading up D7. So we decided to climb Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish instead. It had been awhile since either of us had climbed this route, and we were reminded of how fun this route is. 

Our car-to-car time was 9 hours and 48 minutes, a personal best for both of us. We were pretty happy about it, but rather than patting ourselves on the back for a personal best time, our conversation revolved around ways we could shave even more time off next time. For one, we had waited a bit at the base of the North Chimney to allow a party to clear out of it (so not having to do this would save some time). Also, we figured that a route like D7 would take us a bit less time than Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish. And third, my legs were a bit tired from a big cross-country traverse the previous day, so I felt I probably slowed us down a tad. So, our next goal is to get our car-to-car time to under 8 hours. It's super fun to have Nate as a partner since we both get so much enjoyment out of efficiency and getting this dialed. 

The following gives time stats and photos for the climb. Another awesome day of climbing on the Diamond!

This trip report represents the first time I did back-to-back Diamond days. I had climbed Ariana with my Lynn the day before, hiked out, drove back to Boulder, ate dinner, wrote a trip report, slept 5 hours, was picked up at 2:45am in Boulder by Mike, drove back to the Longs Peak Trailhead, hiked in, and climbed Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish. Needless to say, I was pleasantly worked by the time I got back to Boulder the second time. (Disclaimer: I did not lead any of the crux pitches on either route and led very little on the second day.) But I did still manage to hack out this trip report before collapsing in bed! My favorite way to spend a couple of days! I will keep returning to the Diamond again and again.

This was my third time climbing Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish. The initial plan for this day had not been Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish, but had been to climb The Obelisk, a route neither Mike nor I had climbed. But when we arrived at Broadway Ledge, there were already a couple of parties queuing up for Pervertical Sanctuary, which was our way to access The Obelisk above. Not wanting to wait, we decided to climb a different route. Mike had not yet climbed Yellow Wall + Forrest Finish so we decided to go for that one. It seemed a bit more challenging, sustained, and insecure than I remembered (although this could have had something to do with the fact that I had climbed Ariana the previous day), but I was reminded of how good a route it is, and Mike and I enjoyed a day of climbing on one of the best alpine walls in North America. Thanks Mike for stepping up to all of the hard leads! 

The following gives time stats and a handful of photos from the climb.