Adventure on the Diamond

I high five my buddy in the middle of the lightning, rain, and hail. Sure I am shivering a little bit but this is what makes a climbing adventure well... adventurous. Mount Meeker less than a mile away looks like it is getting hammered with weather.

"Dude, even on the brink of an epic we manage to have a good time" I say to Eric, my climbing partner.

We are sitting at the first rappel off of Table Ledge after climbing the Diamond for the first time. There are about four parties clogging up the rappels in a frenzy to get back to Broadway Ledge and out of lightning danger. We just happen to be the last party and the one most likely to get zapped.

"This is exactly the type of situation we were trying to avoid!" I exclaim to my climbing partner frustrated that we can't be on our way back down quicker.

We both realize that no amount of bickering, swearing, nor complaining will get us down any quicker. Therefore we might as well make the most of the situation. We reflect on our first trip up the Diamond and sit at the rappels waiting for the party infront of us to pull their ropes.

The Casual Route is by no means a casual day, as much as the late and great Charlie Fowler tried to downgrade it. After bivying at the Longs Peak Trailhead the night before we woke up at 2am to Eric's watch alarm going off. Neither of us slept very well at all with the mosquitos sucking our face the entire night. I can never sleep very well anyway before a big alpine climb. We strapped on our pre-packed packs and flew up the trail to Chasem Lake in about 3 hours. After that we soloed up the majority of the chimney to the left of the North Chimney through some of the loosest and wetest rock I have ever climbed. In the middle of that section I looked up to see the alpenglow of the morning sun on the Diamond. Everything was bright orange only for about 15 minutes and then it was gone. Now on top of Broadway Ledge the real climbing begins...

"Lets switch gears now and stay focused on the route." We really wanted to send this route this time. Last time we were up here a stuck rope thwarted our day and we were forced to bail early.

I fly up the D1 pillar to the belay meeting the party one pitch ahead of us. 5.6 has never felt so hard. At this altitude it takes much more energy to accomplish anything. It blows my mind that people are climbing 5.11 let alone 5.13 up here. Eric takes the traversing pitch and gives me a smile and a thumbs up as he starts the traverse. We both know this is one of the best pitches on the route and the day is shapeing up well in terms of time and pace. After he has built a belay he brings me up. The climbing is outstanding. Technical, interesting, and perched on one of the most aesthetic alpine rock faces on the planet. He snaps my picture as I traverse into the belay stance. We swap leads the whole way up. I shock myself by doing the last and crux pitch fairly well. Just as Eric meets me at the top the lightning begins to fall down. Eric does the last sketchy traverse pitch to Table Ledge. I clean the anchor leaving a red nut because I dont have the patience to clean it with armageddon about to set in. We get to the raps and wait in agony as the parties below us slowly descend.

The rappels on the Diamond are tricky and notorious for ropes getting stuck. At this point in the day we can't afford our rope to get stuck for fear of exposure to the impending storm. At each rappel we pull the rope and as we let go of the free end we pray to the mountain gods that it wont get stuck.

We manage to get down in one piece. The storm passes without any more stress and we walk the 2 hours back ot the car in a daze. I call my girlfriend who is panicked to let her know I am still alive as I am way past my estimated return time. Another successful adventure accomplished.