How the heck are people climbing on the diamond via north chimney & finishing before noon

My input of agreeance to comments above, from lots of time up there and on the face in winter and summer from all approaches and descents--

- Bivying above Chasm Lake is pretty rad, and a great experience.  IF you're up there when its quiet.  

- Chasm raps are not a good idea

- Soloing anything below Broadway is not a good idea (its loose, and wet).  You dont wanna die on accident cause you slipped or someone above knocked a rock onto your noggin

- Crack of Delight is wet and heavily vegetated 

- Topping out Longs and rapping face is absurd, and nobody would want to expose themselves so.  Rap down N Face

- Its gonna be midafternoon when you top out if youre efficient.  Top out, dont rap out.

- Directissima is HARD!  But hardly anybody climbs on Lower E Face

- Chasm View Wall is rad and quiet

- Bailing off Casual at any point aint difficult

Ellen Swrote:

 I have no problem sleeping at altitude (altitude insomnia is a problem that affects men worse than women) and always notice a nice acc boost after 1 night sleeping high. Have proven to myself time and time again that bivying as high as possible reaps rewards 

A single day or (especially) single night at altitude objectively does not acclimate you even slightly and will statistically just rob you of a good nights sleep as the exclusive result. I suppose there could be a psychological placebo effect anecdotally from not knowing that but from a biological perspective it’s not physically possible to produce any meaningful change in that short of time 

I’ve bivviied, started from Denver at midnight, and slept in my car in the parking lot illegally.

The car option is the best. It gets you approximately 2 more hours of sleep and gets you into alpine mode.

The bivvy, without exception, you will see headlamps walk past you while you are still warm and comfortable in your bag. They are probably going to be ahead of you on your planned route.

As a beginner, one of the people who taught me a lot about climbing, always talked about The Diamond and how he simply wasn’t ready. He didn’t feel fast or efficient enough. Even though he’d climbed extensively in the park and in the winds. Maybe he was being dramatic but he had a good amount of respect for the challenge of The Diamond. Related to his advice, I always approached the Diamond with a “bring a gun to a knife fight” mentality.

Once I got up there, I was climbing cracks 2 full grades harder than the intro routes up there. It allowed me a great buffer to easily keep moving. By the time I attempted routes closer to my limit,  had the place wired enough that I was able to move rather quickly except for the cruxes.

I didn’t listen to my advice once. I’d just finished school, had only been sporadically sport climbing, hadn’t been at altitude, and figured I could still waltz up on muscle memory alone. My partner for that trip did similar due to other factors in his life. 

We probably set a slow speed record, endured rain and snow, and got to hear and feel our bodies buzzing as we nearly connected with the lightning. I think we started the hike back to the car just as it got dark.

Moral of the story? If you aren’t sure you’re ready, you’re probably not.

This photo popped up from my last time guiding the Diamond in August 2008, all racked up and ready to go on what was another 12 hr car-to-car day on the Casual.  

The only gear not shown that I bring are shoes, 60m lead rope, 60m tag line and helmet. Tag line is for bailing if necessary and I also prefer to use the tag to haul packs up the last vertical pitch of the chimney and crux crack as it makes it much faster and easier.

Steve Levin wrote:

Also, if your strategy involves leaving approach shoes on Broadway make sure the marmots can’t steal them or it will be a memorable hike out.

Or EAT THEM!!!  Anything that has salty sweat on it, such as a shirt or the insoles of your shoes, will get eaten.  

John Byrneswrote:

Or EAT THEM!!!  Anything that has salty sweat on it, such as a shirt or the insoles of your shoes, will get eaten.  

Once watched a marmot drag a pack across Broadway and toss it down Field's Chimney!

It sounds like your main concerns are time and the North Chimney. 

Definitely going to be an unpopular opinion for those below you during the day but the best way to mitigate your concerns is to bivy at Chasm View. Get up early (an hour before first light) and do the Chasm View raps. The rap stations aren't hard to find but the raps aren't the greatest. Also, there is a ton of loose stuff in there so when rapping/pulling ropes, take care not to dislodge loose blocks as they fall directly into the North Chimney which is full of climbers. The four rappels shouldn't take you more than an hour ad since you're not walking in that day, you'll be feeling fresh. You can pack a lot too since you'll be walking in casually (no pun intended) the day before and can grab your stuff on the way down. 

From the base of the Chasm View raps, it's a quick traverse across Broadway with one exposed move near the top of the North Chimney (can rope up and throw a piece in) to the base of the Casual. From there, it's just the Casual Route to Keiners. If I recall, you can link the first two pitches (not hard). Then you have the pin traverse. You can link the next two pitches (stellar, steep, 5.8 hand crack with face and footholds galore) to the base of the crux pitch. The crux is short and usually has a ton of fixed gear; a steep pull on decent edges. Traverse table ledge to Keiners and scramble (unroped) to the summit. Take your selfie and head down to the cables route. Downclimb or rap the cables route, grab your stuff, and head back down through the boulderfield. 

For those who don't want to go car-to-car, I think this is the most efficient way in terms of time and energy expended. 

Chasm view bivy and raps seem silly. If you need to bivy, bivy at mills glacier.

Pick a good weather window and try to climb mid-week.

Simul climb the N. chim at first light.

Climb the route and enjoy it. If a party stacks up behind you let them pass. Otherwise just revel in the experience of climbing steep 5.8/5.9 on the diamond!!!!

Ellen,

You are over thinking this. You've got the experience. just get up there. Proficiency at climbing at altitude is the most important thing.  I did the Chasm View raps, not a big deal, imo. I've heard too many horror stories about the N. Chimney, friends who got life-changing hurt. Just be agro about it. Get after it.

TheBirdman Friedmanwrote:

Definitely going to be an unpopular opinion for those below you during the day but the best way to mitigate your concerns is to bivy at Chasm View. Get up early (an hour before first light) and do the Chasm View raps.....

I've used several strategies on the Diamond:  Bivvies at Chasm View and Chasm Lake, and on Broadway/East Face routes. I've done the North Chimney and the Chasm View Raps.  I've been standing at the base of the the North Chimney on too many occasions with rockfall raining down from folks descending via the Chasm View raps to realize that I do not like this option. IMO there is a greater risk of a rockfall incident from this, than in the North Chimney. So, if you do choose that method, be extremely careful.

Stileswrote:

- Crack of Delight is wet and heavily vegetated 

Yup.  Kor was being sarcastic when he named it.  I had to dig out some of the dirt and vegetation with my nut tool in order to get pro in.  NOT delightful.  

- Chasm View Wall is rad and quiet

Yup, and a good way to get first-hand experience up there.  You can walk down the Camel descent back to your gear.

- Bailing off Casual at any point aint difficult

(sarcasm on) Thousands of climbers can't be wrong! (sarcasm off)

Hello everyone

I just wanted to let you know that I have climbed the diamond MANY times, and I typically climb it much faster than you. I am very cool and brave. I also have many totem cams and C3s, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany/used climbing shoes. 

Thank you,

John Byrneswrote:

Yup.  Kor was being sarcastic when he named it.  I had to dig out some of the dirt and vegetation with my nut tool in order to get pro in.  NOT delightful.  

Off topic---l always thought Crack of Fear (Lumpy- Kor et al) and Crack of Delight in a day would be something to enjoy a beer over.  I reckon you could pull CoD to D1 Direct

Stileswrote:

Off topic---l always thought Crack of Fear (Lumpy- Kor et al) and Crack of Delight in a day would be something to enjoy a beer over.  I reckon you could pull CoD to D1 Direct

If you could get picked up by a helicopter on top of the Owls and flown to Mills Glacier, it'd be real popular!   

are people needing traction to get up the snow at the bottom of the north chimney recently?

Somewhat tangential, but the La Nina weather pattern this summer has been a huge boon to alpine days - who needs a 4am hike in if it's going to be bluebird all day (or at least until 3-4pm). Get it while it's hot!

Ellen Swrote:

are people needing traction to get up the snow at the bottom of the north chimney recently?

That’s from this morning. I walked up the snow with my approach shoes w/o issue as it was nice and soft. When it’s harder I’ll use a rock/tent stake/nut tool as an ice tool of sorts to get up, personally have never used traction.

Charles Vernonwrote:

Edit #2: Ellen--whatever happens, please post a trip report! It would be good reading, and the rest of us would probably learn something about our predictive abilities :) 

Climbed on Saturday 8/17. Although our time was slow, I consider the climb a success because we didn't get into any sketchy situations or take unusual risks, didn't endanger anyone else, and weren't a nuisance to other parties on route(passed 1 and got passed by 1 party + 1 soloist amicably, and made a party wait for ~30mins while we climbed the crux pitch but the next party ended up climbing that pitch just as slow as well.)

Not the best style, but I've been dreaming about climbing the diamond ever since i first started exploring the Colorado mountains 4 years ago, and I'm proud to at least have got it done semi-competently this year. Climbing it in better style (faster & leading crux) is the next goal for a future season. 

Briefly the strategy 

• I bivied below N Chim Friday. Partner wasn't able to get Friday off work, so joined me on Saturday but at least I was able to get most of the group gear up & provide water up there so his pack was light on approach.
• Soloed N Chim in the dark & in fact climbed p1 in the dark too. 
• Rapped cables, partner hiked straight back to car, I took '5th avenue' descent back to bivy.
• 1 rope, no hauling, beal escaper just in case.

Time breakdown

• midnight partner started from TH 
• 3:30 base of N Chim
• 5-9am climb p1-5 at pace of 40mins/pitch. Didn't link p2-3 because I accidentally belayed too low in the dark on p1 
• 9-9:40 hung out on top of p5 to let a party pass. Didn't link  p5-6 which is out of my control but worked out fine because it provided a good opportunity for them to pass. 
• 9:40-10:30 climb p6 + brief rest. 
• 10:30-12:40 climb crux pitch. Yes it took this long mostly due to the first 5.9 section being soaking wet, and squeeze chimneys are just slow climbing. The actual 'crux' move was easy.  The next party had to wait 30 mins for us, but they didn't climb any faster either. Good thing there were 'only' ~5 parties on route, because these delays are bound to happen when you have 1 hard pitch on top of easier pitches.
• 1:30 top out casual (some routefinding time on p8 to get to Keiners)
• 2:30 Longs summit
• 3:30-6 Descend cables -> 5th avenue
• 6-7:30 pack up, filter water, wait out an extremely violent storm in bivy
• 7:30-10:30 hike out 

Biggest beta I can share is: Most of the route is shaded by dihedrals and chimneys! For me, this meant that my hands were numbing out until ~9am and again on the crux pitch where they were soaked by cold water.  means that my previous concern about afternoon shade is irrelevant, but even worse, apparently you need either a heat wave or to start late in order to have climbable rock temps.  Showas were great to have for belaying and climbing easy stuff. & toe warmers in my climbing shoes.

things I would do the same (for my party, not general advice for everyone):

• bivy. Yall are crushers for being able to do that approach and still feeling fresh to climb a hard route. 
• Choose N Chimney over Chasm view raps. N Chimney really wasn't that bad, it was easy not to drop rocks, and regardless no one was below us. Other posters in this thread are correct that the chasm view raps are a death trap, there was an insane amount of rockfall.
• Climb N Chimney in the dark. It was fine. This is what allowed us to have a head start & not make others wait on us. Routefinding was straightforward (as long as you have these pictures) and the darkness didn't cause any problems. Ended up soloing because we didn't find anything we wanted a rope for.
• Choose a "good-but-not-perfect" weather day. Those days have way less crowds than perfect-weather days.

Things I would do different next time

• Just bring the spikes instead of spending extra effort to go cut steps the previous day. imo traction is necessary early morning if there's any snow below the N chim, which can be learned from chasm lake alltrails. If I didn't have to cut steps, I could've bivied lower and taken the regular Camel descent back to my bivy, instead of taking 5th avenue back to my high bivy. 5th avenue ate some time with loose rock and routefinding. 
• Belay higher on p1 (NOT 1st 2-pin anchor) to enable linking 2-3 
• In hindsight p4-7 were not good Beal Escaper terrain. So don't count on Escaper-ing your way out above p3. Either top out, or bring 2 ropes, or leave anchors every 30m.
• For climbable temps, aim for >45F overnight low. Starting late would also solve the temps problem, but of course starting late requires perfect weather, and perfect weather results in insane crowds even on weekdays, as I witnessed on Friday. 

Finishing p1 with many parties in/below north chim 

10pm Friday (perfect weather day) party just finished rapping + party on table ledge. They cited crowds as the reason for delay. In contrast Saturday (less-than-perfect weather) there were fewer crowds, last party was on crux pitch at 4pm.

Weather forecast for this cold, breezy day (from this page)

Hell yeah!  Strong work!!  And thank you for sharing your experience.  

Ellen Swrote:

Climbed on Saturday 8/17. Although our time was slow, I consider the climb a success because we didn't get into any sketchy situations or take unusual risks, didn't endanger anyone else, and weren't a nuisance to other parties on route(passed 1 and got passed by 1 party + 1 soloist amicably, and made a party wait for ~30mins while we climbed the crux pitch but the next party ended up climbing that pitch just as slow as well.)

Not the best style, but I've been dreaming about climbing the diamond ever since i first started exploring the Colorado mountains 4 years ago, and I'm proud to at least have got it done semi-competently this year. Climbing it in better style (faster & leading crux) is the next goal for a future season. 

Briefly the strategy 

• I bivied below N Chim Friday. Partner wasn't able to get Friday off work, so joined me on Saturday but at least I was able to get most of the group gear up & provide water up there so his pack was light on approach.
• Soloed N Chim in the dark & in fact climbed p1 in the dark too. 
• Rapped cables, partner hiked straight back to car, I took '5th avenue' descent back to bivy.
• 1 rope, no hauling, beal escaper just in case.

Time breakdown

• midnight partner started from TH 
• 3:30 base of N Chim
• 5-9am climb p1-5 at pace of 40mins/pitch. Didn't link p2-3 because I accidentally belayed too low in the dark on p1 
• 9-9:40 hung out on top of p5 to let a party pass. Didn't link  p5-6 which is out of my control but worked out fine because it provided a good opportunity for them to pass. 
• 9:40-10:30 climb p6 + brief rest. 
• 10:30-12:40 climb crux pitch. Yes it took this long mostly due to the first 5.9 section being soaking wet, and squeeze chimneys are just slow climbing. The actual 'crux' move was easy.  The next party had to wait 30 mins for us, but they didn't climb any faster either. Good thing there were 'only' ~5 parties on route, because these delays are bound to happen when you have 1 hard pitch on top of easier pitches.
• 1:30 top out casual (some routefinding time on p8 to get to Keiners)
• 2:30 Longs summit
• 3:30-6 Descend cables -> 5th avenue
• 6-7:30 pack up, filter water, wait out an extremely violent storm in bivy
• 7:30-10:30 hike out 

Biggest beta I can share is: Most of the route is shaded by dihedrals and chimneys! For me, this meant that my hands were numbing out until ~9am and again on the crux pitch where they were soaked by cold water.  means that my previous concern about afternoon shade is irrelevant, but even worse, apparently you need either a heat wave or to start late in order to have climbable rock temps.  Showas were great to have for belaying and climbing easy stuff. & toe warmers in my climbing shoes.

things I would do the same (for my party, not general advice for everyone):

• bivy. Yall are crushers for being able to do that approach and still feeling fresh to climb a hard route. 
• Choose N Chimney over Chasm view raps. N Chimney really wasn't that bad, it was easy not to drop rocks, and regardless no one was below us. Other posters in this thread are correct that the chasm view raps are a death trap, there was an insane amount of rockfall.
• Climb N Chimney in the dark. It was fine. This is what allowed us to have a head start & not make others wait on us. Routefinding was straightforward (as long as you have these pictures) and the darkness didn't cause any problems. Ended up soloing because we didn't find anything we wanted a rope for.
• Choose a "good-but-not-perfect" weather day. Those days have way less crowds than perfect-weather days.
• Make sure to be first in N Chim and on route. Ask to go ahead of slower party. 

Things I would do different next time

• Just bring the spikes instead of spending extra effort to go cut steps the previous day. imo traction is necessary early morning if there's any snow below the N chim, which can be learned from chasm lake alltrails. If I didn't have to cut steps, I could've bivied lower and taken the regular Camel descent back to my bivy, instead of taking 5th avenue back to my high bivy. 5th avenue ate some time with loose rock and routefinding. 
• Belay higher on p1 to enable linking 2-3 
• In hindsight p4-7 were not good Beal Escaper terrain. So don't count on Escaper-ing your way out above p3. Either top out, or bring 2 ropes, or leave anchors every 30m.
• For climbable temps, aim for >45F overnight low. Starting late would also solve the temps problem, but of course starting late requires perfect weather, and perfect weather results in insane crowds even on weekdays, as I witnessed on Friday. 

Finishing p1 with many parties in/below north chim 

10pm Friday (perfect weather day) party just finished rapping + party on table ledge. They cited crowds as the reason for delay. In contrast Saturday (less-than-perfect weather) there were fewer crowds, last party was on crux pitch at 4pm.

Weather forecast for this cold, breezy day (from this page)

So rad!  Well done and thanks for sharing the trip report.