Diamond in winter speed record?

What is it? Fastest I can find is Jonny Copp and Kelly Cordes (I think) in 14 hours car to car.

Any idea if that includes summitting or just getting to the top of D7 and rapping?

Has anyone been on the staircase in winter? How was it?

Has anyone been down the cables in winter? Is it a pain to find if you haven't done it more than once or twice?

Colin Simon wrote:What is it? Fastest I can find is Jonny Copp and Kelly Cordes (I think) in 14 hours car to car. Any idea if that includes summitting or just getting to the top of D7 and rapping? Has anyone been on the staircase in winter? How was it? Has anyone been down the cables in winter? Is it a pain to find if you haven't done it more than once or twice?

Define "winter". Calendar? Conditions? So may variations in conditions that it will be difficult to compare apples to apples for a record.

I'd be doing it in calendar winter. Probably between Dec 22 and Jan 4.

I figured winter conditions on upper Kiener's and the cables descent are fairly consistent that deep into winter...

I've been up D7 in summer, but I'm curious if anyone has had any bad experiences with cracks icing up in winter.

It's typically so cold up there that time of year that there's very little ice. Most of the ice sublimates away leaving you with dry, unconsolidated powder snow and rock.

Retarded.........

Good luck...........

Can't wait to hear about this adventure........

Basically if your asking these type of questions at all, ALL you should be doing is thinking about this......

I wouldn't be worried about the ice in the places you suggest as much as you should be worrying about the winter snowpack and avalanche conditions on some of the slopes you are suggesting to be on and will have to travel on, too and from the D that time of year. Weather and snowpack should be your go no go factors and not so much the route conditions. My 2 cents.

Bonne Chance!

Jim Amidon wrote:Retarded......... Good luck........... Can't wait to hear about this adventure........ Basically if your asking these type of questions all you should be doing is thinking about this......

Awesome....
Glad to see people interested in pushing limits and conditions...
Sarcasm is the wit of the small mind....
Oops, guess I'm just another lame MP flamer

JLP wrote: Also, it's quite often really fucking cold and windy. 60-100mph windy. Not sure what that works out to in windchill. Have fun. Be sure to take some pix and write us a nice little TR. It won't be the comparable sex on a tropical beach that is El Cap in winter, for sure.

If NOAA is at all accurate, tomorrow is supposed to be a nice 29deg w/ wind about 50mph and gusts to 85... according to them that equates to about -19deg.
+1 for the El Cap analogy.

JPVallone wrote:you should be worrying about the winter snowpack and avalanche conditions on some of the slopes you are suggesting to be on

and

JLP wrote:you'd want a snorkel and flippers to get through the "snowpack". It's all windblown deposits from the W side

Which slopes would you expect to be either a pain to get through, or dangerous?

And yes, I'm fully aware that this is not El Cap in winter =)

Thanks for the support!

Good luck Colin! You got your friends cheering you on, watch out for the east facing aspects :)

Well, I've made it as far as Broadway on multiple occasions and up to table ledge on one occasion, and have never encountered snorkel deep snow conditions, or even high avalanche danger. Pick a time with low avalanche danger overall, and combine that with good route selection, and a good knowledge of avalanche safety, and you'll probably be fine.

Just saw this on the Neptune site -- Longs in winter slideshow in Jan:

Thursday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m.
Longs Peak in the Winter
Join Gary Neptune as he shares his films on winter climbing on Longs Peak. Highlights include the second winter ascent of the Diamond, February/March 1973, and the Notch Couloir, in 1974.

"There's actually often quite a contingent of people up there New Year's eve..."

One year I told my friend I would go up to the top of Long's and make an igloo with him for New Year's (if we could find enough snow). 3/4 the way up my friend forgot the igloo maker ..... it was really funny.

"I figured winter conditions on upper Kiener's and the cables descent are fairly consistent that deep into winter... "

Dude, the cable route has no support and this is your avi concern.

Having only had two experiences on the Diamond, my hat is off to you! What a bad ass goal. I think whatever route you climb should be one you have done multiple times in fair weather.

My primary climbing partners have climbed the cables in the winter, so I can ask what it was like getting down. They had a 12 hour ordeal, so I'm guessing it wasn't a cake walk getting down.

Good luck! =)

Colin Simon wrote: and Which slopes would you expect to be either a pain to get through, or dangerous? And yes, I'm fully aware that this is not El Cap in winter =) Thanks for the support!

There are a ton of posts about the cables route in winter conditions. From me, this is third hand info: Avalanches on the cables route slide over the diamond.

That sounds like a poor descent route to me, but I have zero avalanche education.