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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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May 19, 2018 - 11:01am PT
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The Diamond is truly beautiful. You can't help but be drawn in by it when you see it. I'm glad this thread was started. I'm gonna do a Diamond climb for the first time in several seasons, I think.
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hacky47
Trad climber
goldhill
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May 19, 2018 - 11:02am PT
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fun fact:
Stella Noble climbed the casual rte when she was 9 years old!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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May 19, 2018 - 11:23am PT
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Pervertical is much drier than the Casual. Not likely to be much harder considering who put it up. This year the snowpack is lighter. Still I'd wait for July.
Heed the advice about altitude and weather.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 19, 2018 - 11:45am PT
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And LuckyJack, anticipating the odds are good you'll be getting up something here in Colorado at the end of June: please post up a trip report!
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hacky47
Trad climber
goldhill
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May 19, 2018 - 12:07pm PT
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took me a sec...the iron messiah knows...the perv is one of the best rts in the world...starts at the bottom of the lower east face, no? huge....
winter?
ahhh.. the history....thinking of Tobin
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trailridge127
Trad climber
Loveland, CO
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May 19, 2018 - 01:55pm PT
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Spearhead might be wet in early June, My favorite granite in the park. Sykes Sickle is a fantastic route. The barb being a close second
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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May 19, 2018 - 06:01pm PT
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Lots of good advice here, although I think the OP has a little snail eye at this point (quite rational).
It is fashionable for strong climbers to pooh-pooh the Casual Route, and I see where they're coming from. Nevertheless, it was one of my best days in the mountains and climbing in general (car to car and to the summit and down cables route, none of the rapping stuff). To the average rec climber (yours truly), it's definitely bucket-list worthy.
I did it 10 years ago and it was over-crowded then, and I understand it's much worse now. As much as I hate to say it, perhaps a permit system should be be implemented.
Nearby: Directissima on Chasm View Wall is of comparable quality and difficulty (a little harder climbing, easier "other stuff").
Flying Buttress on Meeker is a step down in terms of commitment, but also a great day.
I'm a weather wimp so in general would much prefer to go in late July - August to June, but things change year to year. Super wet around here as I write this.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 19, 2018 - 07:12pm PT
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Yeah, I wish I'd done Flying Buttress. There is another climb over on Mt. Meeker that I wanted to do, fairly eye-catching, called Main Vein.
Anybody have a report on that thing? I've heard stuff, but since forgotten details. Supposed to have a dicey section?
............................................................
Here's some flyby footage, good for the first 20 seconds.
It shows why The Diamond can be really wet early-season, just look at all of that acreage positioned above the wall which collects snow that has to run off:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Also, on YouTube, didn't find much that I liked on the Casual Route, but here's a halfway decent short of Steph Davis Soloing Pervertical:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
And speaking of Pervertical, though I haven't done it: if a guy says, "I'm looking for things in the range of East Buttress of Middle, East Buttress of El Cap, North East Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock" ... though it might dry out sooner than the Casual Route, I won't be sending him up Pervertical Sanctuary as an idea of a comparable route to those Valley climbs. (But it is one I've always wanted to do!) BITD people used to call it 10+, it's now listed as 11-, at least for one pitch.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 19, 2018 - 07:14pm PT
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Roger Briggs is Mr. Diamond, among many other things as a climber. Of course his Alpinist article, linked just above by JLP, is an excellent read!
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/mountain-profile-longs-diamond/8
My own reflections on the Roger Briggs/Alpinist article below, mostly peppered with anecdotes about the various protagonists of Diamond climbing whom he references. There was a good film short produced about 10 or 15 years ago, chronicling a period where Briggs spent a lot of time up there working on routes. I think it's in that short where there is mention that he likes reading tarot cards. Doesn't seem to be available on YouTube.
He'd always been one of the climbers I looked up to, since first seeing that picture of him at Castle Rock in Godfrey and Chelton's CLIMB! When we were in our young teens, we wanted to cultivate super defined calf muscles just like Roger Briggs. I only met Briggs once, at an AAC dinner that Chouinard spoke at a few years ago. Sat right next to Roger, and was surprised to find that he was just a tad on the prickly side. Straight up asked me to justify my presence, as a climber in general, and why I should be invited to such an esteemed soirιe! What a hard-ass, I thought. Perhaps if I'd just said that, he'd have warmed up to some conversation. I'm thinking his interpersonal style is what some might neutrally characterize as that of a straight shooter. I was actually excited to meet him. At least there was plenty of Silver Oak Cabernet to quaff, and Briggs just looked down his nose at me as I sipped my wine. Ha! What are you going to do? Probably my own fault. Chouinard presented well that night.
I'm acquainted with Eric Doub, of the Doub-Griffith, an elegant 5.11 next to Super Slab in Eldorado Canyon. I spoke with him briefly during his stint working things on The Diamond with Briggs. Eric is sturdily built, with a firm jaw line and a square chin, but with soft eyes and an introspective, intellectual bearing. As to Bob Kamps and Dave Rearick doing the FA of The Diamond, it's easy to forget that Rearick was originally a Californian, so storied is his history as a Colorado climber. Also, that Briggs is only four years younger than Pat Ament: this is surprising to ponder. I was also unaware that he apprenticed under Ament. Some of us last a lot longer at the vanguard of the sport. Even in the 90s I was surprised to see Briggs at the climbing gym. Clearly, he still had it! Good for him. Then I read about The Joker and other exploits on The Diamond. It's a good bet he still has it.
Wayne Goss, who I have climbed with some, and know fairly well, has held up really well and is a very polite, considerate, friendly human being. Billy Westbay was one of the best. Cancer is a bitch. Climbed Black Walk in Eldorado with Jim Logan in 1990. He's a kick! Identifies (sometimes?) as a woman now, and I think he goes by Jamie. He was at the same AAC function where I had dinner with Briggs, and while the rest of us were wearing suits and ties, as required, Logan, who came up to me wearing an open fuchsia colored shirt and lipstick, the first thing he said was: "I did The Emperor Face of Mount Robson with Mugs, I don't need no stinking coat and tie!" Okay, he didn't say stinking, I just put that in for effect. The few times I've run into Logan, it sounds as though he's still hitting it. 'Love hearing that from people!
So in the article, dating back to 2007, Tommy Caldwell is listed as the youngest climber to do The Diamond, at 12 years of age. According to hackey47, we can now update that to Stella Noble, aged 9!
Duncan Ferguson I'm only acquainted with, but know through his good friends that he's a class act. I once spotted Chris Reveley trail running in RMNP during the mid-90s. I always imagined him to be a bad ass climber, and pretty much heard as such. He freed some OW on The Obelisk with my late friend Bill Roos. Billy said it was an impressive display on Reveley's part: too bad Roos isn't here to straighten me out on the details, something about poor anchors and no gear.
Only now do I recognize that Tobin Sorensen along with Bruce Adams, who sometimes posts here in the forum, free climbed Pervertical. Of course I knew that Bachar and Westbay had free climbed D1. Didn't know that Briggs and Carrigan had freed Directagonal-Yellow Wall linkup together on The Diamond; but they did so in 1980, the same year I had the good fortune of climbing Hot Line with Carrigan. That guy was a world-beating powerhouse. Though in that year, he was still focused on trad climbing, prior to his leading position as a sport climber in the mid-80s. He'd also done an early ascent of the PO Wall. That Kim Carrigan character is versatile, superstrong and sharp as a tack.
Then, from 1985s King of Swords with Dan Stone, the narrative really heats up, because we begin to realize this is when Briggs begins to own The Diamond! Too bad about Goukas: I'd met him briefly when he visited California, both in Joshua Tree and Yosemite. He had huge lats and wore a pair of fairly menacing looking beatnik era sunglasses, liked to smoke dope, and really played up the part of being a climber in a very sincere and endearing way.
Chip Chace, with whom Briggs first tried Eroica, likes scotch and movies. He was my Chinese doctor when the wheels first started coming off. One of the lines he bagged with his wife Monica that I've always coveted is called Ziji, something they did on Bridger Jack down in Indian Creek. The line features dark black Wingate patina, multi-pitch, with stunning sections of 5.12 fingers. He's also got a really good sense of humor.
I was hoping to hear more detail about Roger Briggs ascents of things like The Joker with Steve Levin, and some reportage of those years when he spent a ton of time up there at altitude by himself, receiving and hanging out with a rich variety of partners and working on freeing those 5.12 climbs. He talked about that in the film short I referenced above. It would be really cool to see Bernard Gillet's list of everything Briggs has done on that wall. Hope to find that video someday!
Go Briggs! You are the MAN!
.............................................
This is also tangentially related:
https://www.climbing.com/news/jim-logan-the-emperor-of-mount-robson/
https://estespark.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Reveley%2C+Christopher
ABSTRACT: Dr. Chris Reveley is a luminary of the Colorado free climbing community. His interview includes myriad of names of the pioneers Colorado climbing. Chris' climbing career began in the early 1970s in Eldorado Canyon and Boulder Canyon when he attended the University of Colorado. Chris became part of the Estes Park climbing community and served as a Ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park prior to attending medical school. He is credited with multiple first assents in Rocky Mountain National Park and held the speed record for the round trip climb of Longs Peak at two hours and four and a half minutes in 1979, a record which stood for 31 years. This interview is insightful as Dr. Reveley shares the deep emotions of the climbing experience. His descriptions include the fear, exhaustion, exhilaration, sense of companionship, and creativity associated with his many climbing adventures. Dr. Reveley retired in Estes Park in 2009.
Here's a transcript of an oral history with Chris Reveley, likely the one referenced with an abstract just above.
This kind of stuff, to my mind, is truly priceless:
https://archive.org/stream/ChrisReveleyOhTranscript/chris%20reveley%20oh%20transcript_djvu.txt
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john hansen
climber
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May 19, 2018 - 07:35pm PT
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Tarbuster, don't you mean Bob Kamps and Dave Rearick on the FA of the Diamond?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 19, 2018 - 07:37pm PT
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Probably... Let me check and fix that straightaway. Thanks.
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L
climber
Just livin' the dream on the California coast
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May 19, 2018 - 07:41pm PT
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...but here's a halfway decent short of Steph Davis Soloing Pervertical:
Beautiful video, Tar....and my hands are still sweating!
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hacky47
Trad climber
goldhill
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May 19, 2018 - 11:28pm PT
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not according to me....page 159 of the Rossiter 17' RMNP guide...Fredrik Marmsater photo and caption gives Miss Noble her due...Alpinist got it wrong!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 20, 2018 - 06:39am PT
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Did they get it wrong or was it just an earlier publication?
The Alpinist article, circa 2007, predates the publication of the more recent Rossiter guide/Fredrik Marmsater reference by 10 years.
Without access to dates of the ascents, I am wondering if Stella Noble climbed The Diamond after Tommy Caldwell, in the intervening years between the two publications.
So you, via Rossiter/Marmsater, have provided either an update, or perhaps a correction, and yes it is a fun fact, that a nine-year-old girl climbed the wall: thanks!
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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May 20, 2018 - 08:47am PT
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I've been up the Diamond 10 times in 11 tries over the years. At the risk of repeating some hints, here are my thoughts.
 It's a long day at altitude. I recommend slogging up a couple of 14er's prior to acclimate and prepare. Doing a route or two on Spearhead is also an excellent way to warm up to a Diamond day.
Overall IMO, Diamond in a day requires more effort than Hulk in a day. More hiking, higher altitude, more weather issues.
Highly recommend NOT following another party up the North Chimney, many accidents have occurred here due to rockfall. Consider going up Fields chimney instead if there are crowds. Only a touch more effort and safer IMO.
Strongly recommend week days only. It's gotten really busy up there and weekends can be a true alpine cluster.
Consider Pervertical, Yellow Wall, D7 or Black Dagger instead of the Casual route, better climbs IMO and fewer people, but harder climbing.
Make sure to start early and bring enough calories and clothing.
In my experience, most routes will have wet sections until some time in July unless it's been a very dry winter.
Taking 2 ropes makes rapping and/or bailing much more efficient, but obviously there is a weight penalty. Also consider going 'old school' over the top for the full experience.
Have fun!
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spectreman
Trad climber
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May 20, 2018 - 09:07am PT
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listen to BrassNuts!
I've done the Diamond 14 times in about 20 tries. I'm 11/11 at the end of that run because I started watching the weather more closely. Do not go if there is monsoon moisture streaming into the Park. Go in high pressure with 20% or less chance of rain. I've only done the Diamond once in June, all other ascents being in July or August. Did the Casual Route that once in June and it was wet but doable.
Bring gear for Yellow Wall as a back up to Casual. Harder climbing, for sure, but you can always french free. The altitude always kicks my ass on the 5.10 and 5.11 pitches. It feels way harder than similarly rated pitches along the front range. I've done it several times with a single 70m rope then go over the top and down the N. Face to the Camel Slide, or once I went down Clark's Arrow route, really cool but longer day. Some of the coolest days I've ever done, summitting Longs after a Diamond Day.
Absolutely worth it though. Amazing just to be on that wall.
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hacky47
Trad climber
goldhill
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May 20, 2018 - 09:14am PT
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alpinist 19 page 40... Tommy's article on The Honeymoon is over....he writes that he was 12 years old the first time he climbed the diamond with his dad....he does not write that he was the youngest..i would guess that he knows who Stella is...perhaps a local guides kid?...Alpinist has very good editors and thus errors are rare!
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spectreman
Trad climber
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May 20, 2018 - 09:20am PT
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I was on the Diamond the day that Tommy red pointed the Honey Moon is Over. It was amazing to watch him climb those pitches. I've never seen a climber try that hard in my life. That guy knows how to dig deep.
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