Accessing the Diamond: Chasm View Rappels vs North Chimney?
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Hello Colorado & Rocky Mountain Region: |
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I've done the Chasm View raps and thought they were pretty cool. The first anchor off the edge is a little spooky to set up, but after that the rest are fine. |
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I've done the North Chimney and didn't find it too spooky. It helps considerably if you're the first team up in the morning because then you only have to worry about knocking things down (which is obviously still something to be concerned about!), and not getting bonked from above. The climbing is very reasonable though and as long as you pay attention loose rock shouldn't be a problem. |
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hardly anyone seems to do the chas.raps. |
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I have done the chasm view raps to climb the CR. It worked out pretty well if you're willing to carry bivy gear all the way up to Chasm View or the Boulder Field. We had a nice bivy at Chasm View and were able to rap first thing in the morning and start the route very quickly. One downside is that if you have to bail, you still need to get back up to your bivy gear if you left it up there and that almost happened to us. I guess you could leave it on Broadway if you plan on coming back down that way. We came down the N face cables and collected our bivy gear and hiked out. Kind of long. I'm not sure I'd do it this way again since it seems much longer and took more effort, but I think it worked out well. |
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Eventually, you will do them both. The Chasm View way means you get to sleep a lot more. |
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i strongly discourage approaching via chasm view raps. lots of loose rock that will inevitably be knocked loose while pulling your ropes on the raps. all loose rocks then go down north chimney onto parties coming up. |
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I was out in RMNP two weeks ago and I will never do the Broadway approach the morning of again. It was VERY easy and super simple HOWEVER, we were still behind people that came down from Chasm, and with the weather the way it was (and the fact that they were doing a pitch every 2 hours) there was no way we were going to send without getting rained off the wall. |
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I've done the raps. Would have worked well if we didn't end up bailing. We got to Broadway Ledge while it was still dark. |
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We did our route car to car, so no bivy gear to haul. |
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We approached via the Chasm View raps recently... I think it's a good plan (especially for those doing it car-to-car in a single push), as you can potentially get more of a jump on parties bivied down below. Also being above loose rock is better than below it, and for me is worth the extra effort of hiking up to Chasm View. North Chimney just seems like a death funnel to me if you're below people with less experience. With a Chasm View approach you can then descend via the North Face / Cables route to retrieve your stuff on the way down, versus being in the queue for rappels. But obviously you have to make it up the Diamond before you go down that way, so start as early as you can possibly imagine. Be rapping in before first light. |
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kirkadirka wrote:i strongly discourage approaching via chasm view raps. lots of loose rock that will inevitably be knocked loose while pulling your ropes on the raps. all loose rocks then go down north chimney onto parties coming up. if your going to be slow, go up the night before and sleep on broadway.I can without a doubt say that my rapping down Chasm View knocked far less rock down the N. Chimney than did the party climbing up it...and there were parties below them. The beauty of coming in from Chasm View, we beat them all to the route and never had to climb below anyone. |
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kirkadirka wrote:i strongly discourage approaching via chasm view raps. lots of loose rock that will inevitably be knocked loose while pulling your ropes on the raps. all loose rocks then go down north chimney onto parties coming up. if your going to be slow, go up the night before and sleep on broadway.+1 Most of the rockfall you heard was probably knocked down by people traversing across Broadway from the Chasm View raps. The diamond can be a shit show either way with people that have no business being there, but the North Chimney is the way to go for those in the know. |
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David Appelhans wrote: +1 Most of the rockfall you heard was probably knocked down by people traversing across Broadway from the Chasm View raps. The diamond can be a shit show either way with people that have no business being there, but the North Chimney is the way to go for those in the know.i was actually speaking from first hand experience, having descended via the chasm view raps. but i agree, the traverse from the the base of CV raps to the base of the left side of the D is equally as loose and shitty. |
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+1 for N Chim approach. Stay out of the gully on climbers' R and chances of being hit by rockfall are far lower. |
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kirkadirka wrote: i was actually speaking from first hand experience, having descended via the chasm view raps. but i agree, the traverse from the the base of CV raps to the base of the left side of the D is equally as loose and shitty.I agree CV raps are loose in two respects and should be avoided. I've done the Chasm View raps a couple times too (during the descent) and had similar experiences. When you pull the ropes there is inevitably a bunch of loose rocks that want to get pulled down on your head. Usually you can hide behind big boulders, but frankly why hike all the way almost to the elevation of table ledge, only to rap down and then climb back up again. Seems like the antithesis of what I'm looking for when climbing in the mountains. Plus finding them and crossing Broadway in the dark for the first time isn't a cakewalk. Experience talking here. |
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There are a lot of pros to the chasm view raps, but if you have to bail and your bivy gear is still up there, you will be very sad. |
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I have done the Diamond approach both ways several times each and I believe that the North Chimney is my favorite way. |
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I heard a rumor you can do a single line rap (fix the line off the first rap station) with a 70 meter rope down Chasm View. Then do normal raps down to Broadway with a single 70. Can anyone confirm? |