Here's a TR i wrote about a recent climb up on the diamond.
http://www.bigwalls.com/forum2/index.php?topic=701.0

Fantastic report and pics, Kent (right?).

Makes me wanna jump on that one. How wide is the crack on that traversing roof flake? It's hard to tell.

A quick comment: I'm sorry you dumped the water. Under the circumstances it was superfluous to you, but it could be life-saving to someone else. Topping even a route like Casual, I was dry and desperately hoping someone had left some water on top. It's out of the way and doesn't have to be significant visual litter...

Very nice!

Leaving water for the next party is a nice offer in theory. However in practice the water bottles just become litter, the labels peel off and go everywhere, the water becomes moldy, and eventually the bottles blister into nothing but trash.

In places like yosemite where there is a steady turn over of people and water bottles, it is not such an eyesore. I imagine that those stashed water bottles on top of el cap have really helped many people out. Those are grade VI climbs though. On top of the diamond where most of the traffic is focused on grade IV day climbs, water bottles shouldn't be expected.

I may have been more sympathetic if there wasn't a moldy belay seat left up there also.

Thats my 2 cents.

it was cool watching you climb on saturday! good job! btw we met someone on the hike out that said he had joined a friend that had been aiding some route, but his friend had the flu. was that you?

Phil,
That was not my partner nor I. Not sure who it was. What were you climbing on saturday?

Great job for your 2nd? ascent of the Diamond. Pretty sure we hung out for a bit on Yellow Wall Bivy ledge when you did the Casual. Sorry for giving you bad beta on the traverse, that pin you were at was new, but definitely the right way to go. Impressive step up for you from the Casual, hope to see you again up there next year.

BTW Andy Donson and Pete Takeda have freed all the moves, but have yet to do the crux pitch without a single hang. So it was good not to bring the hammer, it is going to be a free route soon.

That's bad ass that they have freed all the moves. I have a really hard time imagine anyone freeing some of the thinner sections.

Yeah it was our second time up the diamond, the first being the casual. Thanks again for those clif blocks, they really helped my partner out.

See yah around!

ah ok. I was on the cattle. First time on the diamond. Sounds like you had a lot of fun though!

K.Cooper and I did this in 2007. And we encountered huge amounts of crap on the route.
Fixed ropes, multiple racks and all those water bottles and belay seat.
I think Andy and Pete had an accident up there, thats why the stuff was there..

I love those guys, but I understand that they arent even freeing the crux pitch...thier line traverses left on new bolts to Gear and Clothing....which really avoids the signature pitch of the route.
Oh well, better than I could do!

It made the commitment feel lessened to have fixed lines running down next to you..but it made me feel safer at the time.

We sent in 20 hrs car to car, and it remains one of my best routes ever!

great job guys!

K., Good job man! I did this back in July with Chris Dunbar. I was pretty bummed to come across those water bottles at the top of the route as well. However, since we topped out the route at 7pm and were feeling the pressure to get off the North Face before dark we ended up just leaving them behind. Good on ya for taking them down.

The whole time I was up there I was trying to imagine what the free sequences would look like. Some of it looked pretty reasonable at around .12ish free climbing, but that crux pitch was sheer! I think Pete actually knocked a bunch of his teeth out during said accident. No pain, no gain I guess ...

By chance did you find an old style #1 Camalot up there somewhere? We ended up short one at the end of it all. Part of me thinks it just got left in a crack on the last few pitches somewhere, but we had no way to be sure. If so, consider it yours and well earned.

Adam,
I did find a pre-c4 #1 on the last easy pitch. It was placed but not fixed. Surprisingly there is some rust on it...
Thanks for the gear!

Best,
Kent