3 Diamonds in a Day

Ok, so I've been thinking about this link up for a while now and in order to not over think the project I'm just gonna go for it. I figured it would be good to get as much info as I can though to put success in our favor.

I want to climb three routes on the Diamond in a day. I'm hoping to hear from someone who's done it or at least get some route specific beta. The routes I'm thinking of doing are Casual, D7, and Pervetical, probably in that order. They all seem to be nice clean lines that are independent from other routes.

My thought was to bivy on Broadway to facilitate an early start and help acclimate from C. Springs. The timeframe is between Wednesday, August 31 and Friday, September 2nd. Specific plan for the day after sleeping on Broadway:
-Wake up early and climb Casual pretty much in the dark, aim for the top by sunrise.
-Rap down and climb back up D7.
-Rap down and climb back up Pervetical.
-Take a rest day before heading up some other big face in the Park.

Questions:
-How much water to bring. I'm thinking stashing water on Broadway is the best plan but is water easy to find on Broadway or should we stock up at Chasm Lake?
-I haven't been on the Diamond my partner has. Only the Casual, not the other two. How hard is the routefinding on the other two?
-How do the grades compare to some of the others in the Park? I just did the direct Flying Buttress and the Barb and while the routes were tough I didn't have any trouble with them. I've climbed a good amount of 5.11 cracks but I start to get troubled with pumpiness and poor feet. 5.11 is pretty much my onsite limit. I want to do it all free.
-How's the pro? I'll be fine just going for it if there's good pro but the Direct Flying Buttress had me hesitating and stringing together lots of RP's and whatnot. Are the difficult sections pretty much good pro near you for crux moves? Easy placements?
-Does that order seem like the best? Warm up on Casual, crush on D7, and, flame out on Pervetical?
-Are we going to run into wetness on any of those routes? I don't think I can climb the harder routes when wet.
-How are the belays? Nothing brings down the psyche for me more than cramped ledges and no opportunities to take off my shoes. Hanging belays suck!
-Is this crazy? I've been told this is a little too much by people who know me and know the Diamond.

I want some thoughts of people who've done it, tried it, or even people who've climbed the individual routes. I figure Casual will go down easily, Pervetical will be a little tough, especially after having done D7. D7 I think will be obviously the most trouble. Help and comments are appreciated.

Your plan is tough, especially since you have never done any of the routes. A couple of comments.

1) I find climbing on the Diamond to be slow compared to almost any other wall. Something about the steepness and the altitude.
2) Never done Flying Butress, but the Casual Route and The Barb are similar in difficulty with Casual being slower. Lots of easy and less than vertical climbing on The Barb.
3) Pervertical makes the Casual Route look, well, casual and for me is much harder and sustained than The Barb. In my opinion, every other route on the Diamond is much harder than the Casual Route.
4) Don't know about D7, but the gear on Pervertical is pretty straight forward as well as the route finding. Good belays also.
5) The raps are a pain in the ass, and can be slow if you have parties in front of you.
6) Good luck, and let us know how it goes if you try it.

Bring 2L per route to be safe. Not much water on broadway to speak of.
Pro is good on all of those routes, if you're climbing at the grade.
Most of the belays I remember on pervertical and the casual are hanging.
Route finding on Pervertical is pretty easy, except for a little confusion on the 3rd/4th pitches.
The barb is wayyy easier than the casual.
I think its too much, especially if you've never been on the diamond, but I don't know you.

Good luck!

I like your ambition! Unfortunately though, yes your plan is crazy given your experience. I suspect doing just one of these routes will be much more of a challenge than you expect.

The Barb and Flying Buttress are grade III climbs with mostly easy pitches that you did on separate days. Now you want to do 3 grade IV climbs at your onsight limit in one day? You will have 15 double rope rappels to do that day without getting your rope stuck. You will have to deal with the slowest party on your second and third routes, and passing will be impossible.

The cracks are often wet, especially D7. The Diamond becomes very cold after about 11 am so taking off your shoes likely won't be comfortable. I found the crux pitch of pervertical to be steep and pumpy.

Once you get some experience with the Diamond you can come back and do the trifecta. The routes will still be here. My advice is to savor the routes one at a time on this first trip.

yer gunna die!!!! probably not from trying this link up though.

Some uninformed thoughts:
-Start on D7. The casual route will probably not feel like a warm up.
-Pick a day with stellar weather
-Be fit and prepared for long, continuous, and steep crack pitches.
-This does seem like a big objective, but there is very little commitment. You can always bail back to broadway after having climbed 1 and 1/2 routes.
-get psyched

If you are planning on spending only 1 night on broadway, it will be much easier to bivy on mills glacier. There is plenty of water, and awesome bivy sites. It is a quick hour from the bivy to the base of the casual route (assuming you are soloing). You don't want to carry overnight gear up the north chimney for 1 (poor) night of sleep. Ditto on carrying overnight gear up to chasm view and rapping in.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I think Phil pretty much hit it on the head. I'd think a trip up any of those routes would be a prerequisite if you really want to stack the deck in your favor. An easier choice for D7 would be Komito Highway. You better be onsighting a good deal harder than mid .11 if you're planning on onsighting D7 easpecially after already expending energy on Casual. Pro is good on all the routes.

+1 for bivy at Mills. Go get em tiger

Well for starters having climbed on the Diamond might be a good idea before trying a link-up. How do you plan to routefind in the dark on a route you know nothing about? Second, D7 is pretty straight up .12- for an onsite, so if you can onsite Journey to Ixalan you should be set. Third, you have already missed the window for long link-ups on the Diamond IMHO, try early July before monsoons for more daylight/warmer rock. Fourth, I can only remember once that a party bivied on Broadway has gotten the jump on us either hiking in from the trail or bivying at Chasm Lake. Getting your self and your gear up there is work, getting to sleep at 13K is hard, and the bivy is not the best. You can usually fill your water from drips from the snowfield on the left side of Broadway though.

I know that logistically doing three routes on the Diamond is pretty straightforward, you can rap the thing after all. Actually doing the link-up is a different story. Weather, crowds, and wet rock all factor in.

Maybe plan to spend a week in the cirque, climb a route on the Diamond, then try linking up something on the Chasm View wall with a route on the Diamond. If those go good try linking up Directagional to D7 for the semi-hardman linkup. The Diamond has only been climbed three times in a day by a few talented, experienced, and lucky individuals. I am not saying you shouldn't try, just be smart about it.

Hmm...good info coming my way. Thanks for the Mill's Glacier info. It sounds like a good nights sleep is the least of my worries but I'm sure it will help. Any suggestions to avoid crowds? I figure during the week will be easier and by staying ahead of parties on Casual we may have better odds of not getting stuck behind slower parties on the other two. Sounds like that might not be the case, also given it's right before Labor Day weekend. Anyone got a time of how long it took them to rap the face once when they weren't stuck behind other parties. I figured we'd simul-rap.

David, is the wetness just like a little in the cracks here and there or is it running out onto the face and a big pain? I realize the difference in length and sustainedness (is that a word) between the two climbs I mentioned. I'm wondering more how the crux's compare in difficulty. Grade wise both are supposedly harder crux wise than the Casual and about the same for Pervetical but there's obviously a lot of subjectivity there since Phil said The Barb is way easier than Casual. D7 is kind of my obvious crux since it's at or beyond my limit, and there's altitude to contend with. What are temperatures like after the sun leaves the face. I know when we started up Flying Buttress I took my shoes off to warm my feet up because they were too cold to start off with. I run fairly warm overall, but my feet and hands don't always keep up. I seem to climb harder in the snow but I bitch a lot more.

I'm a little torn. While I like the idea of going after the routes individually and enjoying them. I also like big linkups and covering a lot of terrain. Part of the reason I liked D7 in there was because it is a nice independent line. I'd originally thought of doing something like The Obelisk but it's basically like climbing a variation of Pervetical. The other reason I'd like to get them done in a day is then it gives me a chance to do some more climbing. Obviously some pros and cons there.

Thanks for the info. I tend to have eyes too big for my stomach. I'm pretty certain that I can get two done. I've confirmed as much with an experienced Diamond climber who's climbed with me a lot. So it's getting a third one in that's kind of a sticking point. I'm concerned that we'll be totally out of gas and also that the sun being gone will totally sap my interest in continuing. And yes JLP the objective is big, I think going into it blindly would bring an even worse energy to the climb. I'm not trying to get attention, I'm trying to get information. Objectives that are completed or where success is likely obtainable are meager objectives at best. The ones where success is less likely than failure are the only ones that have any meaning to me. What would be the point if I knew we'd succeed? The info is good, keep it coming.

Ha Ha ha, I love postings of big plans. Is this a counter post to the "what climbs should I solo" post that is up right now?
Nicely done!

Hey I've got a post....
I want to learn to trad climb wicked hard routes, what color rope should I buy, what cams should I double up on and what kind of power bars should I eat?

Just go for it! That would be a proud link-up, and even if you don't get three routes in, you'll get some great pitches on a beautiful hunk of stone.

Cheers!

Ben Walburn wrote:what kind of power bars should I eat?

If they still made Malt Nut . . . that kind.

JLP, what size TCU's? Is it like an IC splitter or is it more like a super long version of Gill Crack on Castle Rock? The more I hear about D7, the more I'm thinking that's highly likely to end in failure.

I did d7 back in 2003, and thought it was more of a face climb than anything with a few fixed rp's, and pins when I did it, nothing like the creek or gill crack, more eldo-esque in a way. I had sent my first .12+ mixed trad/sport route a few weeks earlier, and I did not onsight, took a 20 footer instead. It felt like solid .11+, with kind of a scary loose flake before the crux that caused me to waste quite a bit of energy trying to climb around. You will get pumped, really pumped if 5.11 is your limit, and you better have good footwork to see you through on the onsight. The bottom pitches are often wet, sometimes unclimably wet, it depends on how much it has rained recently, its not a constant degree of wetness.

You will be in hanging belays all day pretty much. Don't count on water on Broadway, certainly not in September when the snow has melted. Route finding really isn't very hard on the diamond if you do your homework. I think the crux of the casual route is quite a bit easier than the barb or flying butress, much steeper though and not really slabby at all so hard to compare. The casual route is a harder route than those two, because it is a considerably longer and more tiring day in and of itself. I think flying buttress is one of the quickest routes in the park.

I say go for it, but do the komito freeway instead, much more doable but still a worthy and impressive feat if done.

Kevin is right, all too often things seem logical on paper, hell its only 15 pitches, just like the Scenic Cruise right? Not at all. Try it with the Komito Freeway (.10c, excellent climbing) and you have yourself a goal that is proud and possibly attainable as well. Go earlier and try to onsight D7 to get used to the place.

-Patrick

jmeizis wrote: Grade wise both are supposedly harder crux wise than the Casual and about the same for Pervetical but there's obviously a lot of subjectivity there since Phil said The Barb is way easier than Casual.

The crux on the barb may be more difficult. But the crux is extremely short and the route is easy before and after that pitch. The diamond is at a higher altitude, and is way steeper. You will be drained by the pitches before the crux on the casual.

I still say give it a shot. Worse case you do one route and its too late, or you are too tired to go up again.

JLP wrote: Are you kidding? A one move wonder with fixed gear through the crux vs way long enduro fingers at 13k? In IC, this pitch would get mid 12 and the suggested rack would be 25-30 TCU's.

As Pat says the crux of D7 is mostly face climbing (like almost all of the routes on the Yellow Wall) it has several fixed pieces and is very bouldery. It climbs easily with a single rack to #2, double TCU's and 16 quickdraws/slings, although I would bring more gear for the OS attempt.

Back to the triple link-up.....I guess I am old fashioned but what ever happened to the old alpine standard of off the summit by noon? Not trying to sound like a nanny but I see too many climbers with hardly any alpine experience getting in way too deep up there. This thread is a prime example. Should we really be encouraging people to put themselves in danger ( just do it dude!! ). Lot's of people die on Longs, several have died climbing the Diamond, not to mention the dozens of rescues that occur up there yearly. Weather is unpredictable in the Summer on the Front Range, and splitter forecasts often end in bad lightening storms.

If you want a challenge above and beyond what the average Diamond climber experiences how about climbing the full Yellow Wall to the top of the Diamond, which is one of the best routes up there. Or climb Yellow Wall to Black Dagger to Forest Finish above Table ledge. Either of these routes add about 25% more than most people who climb to almost Table and rap ever get. Instead of doing the raps, head up Keiners to the summit and back down the Camel for a complete mountain experience.

I love link-ups and mega days as much or more than most climbers. I think it is great that you have such ambition. I just feel that the Diamond should be taken seriously because the worst case might not be that you just climb one route.

jmeizis wrote:Objectives that are completed or where success is likely obtainable are meager objectives at best. The ones where success is less likely than failure are the only ones that have any meaning to me. What would be the point if I knew we'd succeed?

Well played, sir.

Simple. Go climb just one route up there. Then, you will be able to answer most of your own questions. So many factors play a role in success up there. Fitness, route finding, weather, water, food, timing, and so much more.

I suspect a solid 5.12 climber (not Indian Creek, not sport), with good fitness, good planning, and good weather may pull it off. The rest of us may need to get some experience up there first.

BTW, it snowed 17 inches up there on August 16 a few years ago.

Personally, I think your post is a bit silly. The guy that can pull this off isn't asking basic questions on the internet. He's got all the logistics already figured out and isn't messing around with stuff like where to sleep and where to get water. You are worried about the wrong "cruxes".

Point well noted on the weather. Yeah, it'd be great if anyone could pull off that much climbing by noon but it's not gonna happen. I think that's a big part of the luck thing. I also think why the window is more at the end of summer than the middle when the weather isn't repeating it self so often. Days are still longer but the weather is less volatile.

Greg, maybe I have more comfort in figuring it out in the outdoors but the camping logistics are easy enough that I don't feel the need to get a huge amount of information beforehand. Even if I'd never been on that trail before I'd feel comfortable just packing the basics and figuring it out when I get there. For all the information in the world we aren't going to know if this is going to happen until that first route. We may do the first climb of the day up Casual and say, "shit, that was a lot more than I was expecting, let's bail." We might make it through two quickly and succesfully with time, weather, and crowds being on our side and say hell, let's go for it.

I know myself very well and I'm willing to give up on something if I know it's not going to happen. I don't know the routes at all, hence the reason I'm trying to get more info on that to give me a better idea of where the unknown stacks against the known. D7 sounds like it would turn this into a shit show. Off to work I am.

David Appelhans wrote:I like your ambition! Unfortunately though, yes your plan is crazy given your experience. I suspect doing just one of these routes will be much more of a challenge than you expect.

+1 The other thing to factor in is the weather can shorten your day significantly making it tough to get in even one route.

well said, Kevin.