Casual Route

Overview

The Diamond. It's famous. It's hard. Grade IV and V and every route is 5.10a or harder and you have to walk for a few hours to get there. If you can accept all those facts and they make you excited then keep reading.

Getting There

Start at the Longs Peak trailhead which is on the Peak to Peak highway (highway 7 I believe) south of Estes Park about 5-10 miles or north of Ward 21 miles. There is a brown national park sign it's fairly obvious even at 1:30 AM. Then take the trail that goes between the visitors center and bathrooms. Continue past the lit up trail register on the left after 50 feet that they keep for statistical purposes. Follow the trail for like 3 miles until you get to the junction for Chasm View Lake and Boulder Field. It's maybe a half mile after you get above treeline. There is a really good privy 100 feet to the East of the junction with toilet paper. Take a left toward Chasm View Lake and go a mile or so passing a ranger station on the right and a privy on the left after maybe a half mile. Continue up the bluff and be sure to go RIGHT (North) around the lake so you don't get cliffed out. Continue West up the scree and talus to the base of Field's Chimney which is a buttress/right facing corner with some snow below. Expect the whole way up to take at least two hours probably more like three.

Route Description

From the bottom of Field's Chimney or the more stable North Chimney simul-climb up to broadway or go 3-4 pitches or free solo although at least two people have died crossing the top of the chimney along Broadway and lots of loose rock can fall down from the diamond or other people in the chimney. 5.5 Alternatively you can rappel from Chasm View although that most likely requires spending the night at Boulder Field.

1. Climb the buttress or arete that starts 20 feet to the left from the exit of Fields Chimney. Run the rope out to a ledge you can stand on with a sling belay around a horn. 5.6

2. Climb up the crack above for 30 feet (5.9) then take a left at a small ledge with a piton and traverse left for almost the rest of a 60 meter rope to a hanging sling belay. This part of the route was first climbed at A3. Watch out There can be a wet spot near the end of this pitch (5.7-8).

3. Climb up the right facing dihedral slightly to the left for most of a rope length to either a small grass ledge or 10 feet higher to a sloping stone ledge with a sling belay. 5.8

4. Climb up past the slings to a right facing dihedral for a long pitch up the dihedral to an alcove with grass. The best belay of the route. 5.8

5. A short pitch up to the left over a large flake brings you to the yellow wall bivy ledge about 1 foot wide. 5.7

6. Go up the two very shallow dihedrals on the right side of the ledge 5.9 to a foot wide squeeze chimney with sparse protection 5.8 continue out of the chimney up past a bulge (10a crux but remember this is about 14,000 feet after 1500 feet of climbing beforehand) to belay at two pitons and a fixed nut.

7. Go left on small ledges along table ledge crack then drop down 6 feet and angle back up, not the greatest protection, to the grass on table crack ledge and easily spot the beginning of the bolted with chains rappel anchors. From here you can rappel down the Diamond on park service maintained bolted anchors. However, they are camouflaged and not directly vertical. 5.8

Scramble or simul-climb up left around the corner and up the gully following the top of Kieners through the staircase and then take a left to the summit above the apex of the diamond. Descend the North Face or the Keyhole.

Essential Gear

Standard rack. We brought all 13 BD stoppers, 4 smallest Camp tri-cams (white to red), 7 Metolious cams (00, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 I think), 1 trango max cam like 1" size, then 3 BD camalots 2, 3, 4 I think the old style ones, and the two largest BD hexs (we didn't use either of those). For slings we had 3 quickdraws and 15 about standard length alpine draws and 3 double length but never used a double length. We also had two standard 7mm cordlettes but only used two as we usually used the sling belays with a piece of our own backing them up. We also brought some smaller hexs in case we had to bail but we left them in the backpack.

External Links

Mountain Project page: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/colorado/alpine_rock/rmnp__rock/105748496

Rock Climbing page: http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/Colorado/Northern_Colorado/RMNP_-_Lon...eeker/Long_s_Peak_Area/Casual_Route_79979.html

Weather forecast: http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:coz033

Rocky Mountain National Park: High Peaks: The Climber's Guide: http://www.amazon.com/Rocky-Mountain-National-Park-Climbers/dp/0964369850

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