Crack of Delight

Notice the large shadow in the center of the picture. Crack of Delight climbs the crack system beneath the shadow. Instead of climbing into the shadow, step left for the chimney on pitch 3. Sep 1, 2002

Well, Went to climb the D7-FF and found 4 parties in the chimney before us, and some on the wall. We got a 2:30 start, passed 5 parties on the way up, at the lake by 4:30, and were feeling like we would be first on Broadway, haa, naive. Basically you have to bivy to get first choice. The chimney is not bad but it is a gamble, hence we opted to climb the crack of delight to get to Broadway, avoiding possible head injury from rock fall. The climbing was full value for 5.7. I am glad I put my rock shoes on and roped up because I was considering soloing it to beat the other parties to the climbs. Three long leads and one 100 foot lead gets you to the Broadway. It was not quicker than the chimney, so forget it. Hence every rout that I was prepared to do was taken, but I learned allot about how to get this peek badged. This is the type of traffic you can expect on the week end. Two on the casual route, and two in line at the base , two on D7, one in line, one on YW, two on Pervertical. The parties was not moving at all, especially on the casual route. Chilled for about 40 min then bailed mumbling bad words under my breath. It is the tragedy of the commons on Long. Sep 3, 2002

The fixed rappel route from Broadway goes down near this route, although I've not done it so I'm not sure exactly where.

This route is directly below the start of the Casual Route, and I've seen big rockfall come down it. I'm not sure it is any safer than the North Chimney. For that matter almost any route on the Lower East Face can have rockfall.We had a close call once on Stettner's Ledges. Apr 21, 2003

I've only been going up to the Diamond for the last 7 or 8 years, so my experience is relatively limited. I have seen much more rock fall EVERYWHERE up there with the receding snow levels the last two seasons.

Given the choice I would rap the Crack Of Delight everytime over the North Chimney. I remember pre-bolted raps, and never having a good time going down the North Chimney. Funny side-note...my first attempt up there I owned no synthetic clothing, had never climbed outside of Lumpy Ridge, and learned to tie a prussik the night before. While rapping the chimney in a monster storm we dislodged a HUGE boulder with dozens of slings on it, both of us clipped to it,and by the grace of Allah it didn't roll down hill and we didn't plummet

Bolts, less snags pulling the ropes,decent? stances. BOLTS. I do remember being worried about a knot catching spot on the first or second rappel????

Remember if you decide to climb under someone else, you are accepting responsiblity for THERE actions and trundling...know the game and play it.

I rapped it this winter and it looked like COD, with freaky snowand melt, could form a worthy mixed endeavor.

George, other than topping out Long's, what is the safest decent IYO? Apr 21, 2003

I was just trying to point out that the Crack Of Delight route still has significant objective hazard. I once watched some suitcase sized blocks pass within 20' of some people on these raps. Brent is right the North Chimney is probably even more dangeous, especially in a storm. The COD raps are probably the safest exit from Broadway in a storm. I've had to do this once, but the COD raps weren't there then so we went down the North Chimney and it was no fun at all.

Most of Broadway seems piled with loose rocks, anywhere below it has rockfall hazard. The Diamond itself is steep enough that it seems pretty safe from rockfall, at least from what I've seen. There are several big gullies above the Diamond on the right side that dump over it, but the wall is so steep the debris impacts on Broadway. Don't pause in this area if coming from the Chasm View raps! Apr 21, 2003

Brent, it's interesting what you say about getting the rope stuck...I've *twice* gotten the rope stuck after either the first or second rap (unfortunately I can't remember which), once after rapping the whole face, and once after retreating--and I've *never* gotten the rope stuck after a rappell anywhere else in my entire climbing career that I can recall! There must be something up there that likes to eat ropes, or maybe it's pure coincidence. This is just one of the reasons that I prefer to top out and descend N.Face rather than rappell.

As far as the loose rock...I first climbed the N.Chimney in July of '99, and most recently in June of '02, and I can't say I've personally noticed any increase in loose rock in that time...although now I always try to avoid climbing below another party in the chimney. Apr 21, 2003

I too have gotten my rope stuck rappelling from Broadway on the bolted/rap descent. I believe it was on the second rap, I remember climbing back up a steep, somewhat wide crack, about 5.7 in difficulty. Just a note, it was in a hail storm so this information is suspect. I was using a figure 8 with half grapevine backups at the time and now use the now popular overhand ( I don't know the official name of this knot) to join the ropes. This was probably in 1997.

Last August, 2002, when I rapped down from Chasm View to get to Broadway for a climb, our rope lodged behind a boulder which caused a lot of rocks to tumble down the North Chimney. Luck would have it, nobody was coming up the lower East face at the time, this was on a Monday. At the time I had the thought there was a lot of loose dirt and rock on the rappell. After finishing the climb we traversed the North Face to the Cable rappells and I noticed an area of fresh rock slide. Then during the rappells and nearing Chasm View there were more boulders and debree and signs of a slide.

I believe some rock on the North Face cut loose and some slid over Chasm View to the east side and down the raps and Broadway and the North Chimney. Anybody else know of a slide or think the same? May 8, 2003

Can be rapped with two 50m ropes. Aug 30, 2015

For the adventurous, it's possible to rap the COD in two long raps on using 70s with down soloing to the first station. There's ~5-10 feet of 5.easy downclimbing after the rope runs out with an anchors off to the right. From there, it's one more long rap to the ground. Jun 29, 2016

This is a fun alternate approach to Broadway as opposed to the death chimney, I mean North Chimney. It's two fun pitches with a bit of simul on the first. The rock is bomber, and it's relatively safe from rockfall. Jul 18, 2016

This route deserves 2.5 stars at least, well, when dry. Great rock, fun climbing, especially compared to the death chimney.

We did four pitches: 70m, 40m, 68m, 40m. All pretty sustained 5.7 with some 5.8+ moves here and there. Std rack to #3, doubles if you don't wanna run out those long pitches. We used the rap bolts as belay anchors on two of the four pitches. Can be climbed in 4 pitches with a 70m but cannot be rapped. Way better than waiting behind a crowd in the shooting gallery next door. Aug 28, 2017