The Diamond

I’d like to climb the diamond. Been leading trad for 6 months and am comfortable on the majority of 5.10s. I am definitely conditioned enough altitude-wise. So, what am I missing? My multi-pitch/technical skills are pretty good. Can I give it a shot when the weather warms up again in 2021? 

Pop quiz, can you tye a butterfly knot and what are some of the uses of said knot. Quiz for funzees 

Sounds like you’re asking in jest, but yes I can tie it. It can act as an attachment point, glacier travel (obv. doesn't apply here), but more importantly can isolate a damaged section of rope.  

Boom, that was fun. And I'd say if you're confident in your knowledge and experience go for it! That being said I personally haven't climbed the diamond, so I'm not the best person to reply to this. Just loved the opportunity for a pop quizzical 

If you can lead a majority of trad 10s, have good multi-pitch skills, and are in good shape (especially altitude-wise), sure, you can do it (imagine you're thinking Casual R.)  (You don't really need to be able to lead hard 10, but you should be very comfortable and somewhat fast at, say, 5.9.  That usually correlates with being able to lead solid 10 or harder)  But consider:  For every pretty new trad climber who thinks they're ready for the Casual, there seem to be more who get up there and basically cause a shitshow.  While I suppose it's anyone's right to be up there, it's a limited resource.  There's a fine line between reasonably pushing yourself and getting into something you're really not qualified for.  If you go up the Diamond and cause a shitshow (on virtually any good weather day in season), you're not just going to have a bad day, you're going to give a lot of other people a bad day, including people who have put in a lot of time and training to obtain the skills to make it up in reasonable style.  So my suggestion--don't start off on the Diamond, do a few somewhat shorter and less committing routes in RMNP first.  If they go well, great, then you should be ready.  If they go less than well, you'll learn what you need to work on in a less committing place where you're not clogging up a super popular route.  (For example, even getting to the base of the Diamond is a committing, dangerous task in its own right.) 

Edit:  the next guy's comment is a lot shorter and probably more accurate and helpful for most people than mine.  I'm giving some allowance to the fact that some people just pick up climbing quickly and get good (relative to, say, the Casual Route) quickly.  I wasn't really one of those people :)

E F wrote:

I’d like to climb the diamond. Been leading trad for 6 months.... So, what am I missing? 

A dozen or two alpine routes and a hundred or so pitches at that grade on granite.

Sounds like you'll fit right in.

Philip Magistro wrote:

A dozen or two alpine routes and a hundred or so pitches at that grade on granite.

That requirement seems a bit excessive, but definitely do a few less committing alpine routes first. I did Sharks Tooth, Petite Grepon, Hallett, and Flying Buttress all before getting on the Diamond. Pitch difficulty isn't usually the issue, but rather managing the long day, route finding, anchor building, weather, and decision making when things go a little "off". Sometimes it means retreat, sometimes not. All of this comes with experience, best had with a mentor.

ygd

Make sure you have a solid partner, that can be the difference between a good day and an epicly miserable one. I agree with picking a couple other alpine objectives (not 2 dozen) and do them with that partner.  Lastly, climbing at altitude is a lot different then hiking a 14er.  Just be ready for a long day, but hopefully you'll be done in time for burgers.

Jonathan S wrote:

That requirement seems a bit excessive...

Which is why the Diamond, and the Casual Route in particular, has evolved into such a circus over the last decade.

A solid base of experience goes a long way toward staying alive in the mountains, and moreover making the experience enjoyable for you and the folks below you on route.  I would argue that the kind of experience the OP is in fact missing in terms of preparation for the D is not gained in a single season, unless you happen to be the type who knocks out two dozen alpine routes in a summer.

Jonathan S wrote:

That requirement seems a bit excessive...

That advice is coming from someone who's job it is to scrape up the bodies of climbers (and hikers) who fucked up all summer in RMNP so it's probably worth a fair bit. It's one thing to be able to do an objective barely skating by but a whole different story to be confident and crush it. Another prime example of a classic objective is the Nose and how most people bail off it. I find it hilarious that lots of people approach big climbs unconfident and hoping for the best. I learned this especially from BASE jumping but climbing as well, my experience has shown me that if you aren't sure if you are ready then you likely are not.

Go climb a bunch of routes in the park at the same grade to see how fast you are and how you feel. The Casual will feel harder when you take into account the hike, altitude, likely kicking steps in the snow, the 500 ft solo to Broadway, and beating the afternoon storms. Enjoy your summer.

The diamond was so crowded and a junk show the last time I went up there my partner and I just bailed from Broadway and climbed something else that day, neither of us have been back since. I think that was over four years ago now.

There’s no rush to get up there, have fun building your skills on less popular routes, and by the time you make it to the diamond you can climb something besides the casual and feel like a crusty elitist like the rest of us. 

I don't think its been mentioned so I'll add on here - I would think self rescue skills are as valuable as strong climbing ability and fitness (speaking as someone who's done maybe 10 routes that would be considered alpine objectives and doesn't feel anywhere near ready for the diamond).  The 'butterfly knot' question alluded to it, and of course I'm making assumptions, but leading trad for 6 months doesn't seem likely to translate into knowing what to do when things go sideways.  If you can't answer the question 'what do you do when the leader fell, they're unresponsive, out of view and and you're alone 400 feet off the ground?' (or if your answer is yell for help) take a self rescue course and really drill those skills.

In about 10 years of climbing I've done two self rescue courses and as you start getting into bigger, more complex objectives, you'll be glad to have those skills in your tookit, hopefully they only ever get used in practice.

You crushed that butterfly question. I say you are ready. 

Thanks everyone. This past summer I met two women on the cables route who were rapping down and had just completed the casual route (they were on their way to finishing the last leg of the LP triathlon!). One of them followed every pitch and told me she had been climbing trad for less than a year. Of course following is quite a bit different than leading, but still, hearing this of course made the goal seem pretty realistic. I’m confident in my sharp-end skill set, but will keep climbing as much as possible and see where I’m at when the weather is right. 

E F wrote:

One of them followed every pitch and told me she had been climbing trad for less than a year. Of course following is quite a bit different than leading....

^ This.  If you can hike Longs in, say, less than 8 or 10 hours car to car and confidently follow 5.10 and scrape your way up 11s, you'd likely have no trouble being guided up the Diamond by the right partner.  Maybe toss in a little snow travel experience for good measure.

I made my suggestions under the assumption that you were trying to be at least an equal partner if not lead the majority of the Casual.

Philip Magistro wrote:

I made my suggestions under the assumption that you were trying to be at least an equal partner if not lead the majority of the Casual.

Your assumption was correct, I’d like to be an equal partner and lead at least half of the pitches. Just thought I’d share an anecdote, whether or not it really applies. I really appreciate your advice! 

What this thread is tiptoeing around is the idea of margins. The alpine in general has much thinner margins than many other climbing environments. It's all fine until it isn't, and it can get that way pretty damn quick. The Diamond would be a less than ideal place to be in a thunderstorm, and summer weather means a storm is very possible in the afternoon. Do you have the fitness, movement, technical, and mental skills to move fast enough to have plenty of buffer time against lightning? It's not so much just the rock climbing as it is the whole package and greater "mountain sense." How will you know a storm is brewing if you can't see the clouds coming in from the west since you're on the east side of the mountain? Will you have the fortitude to bail before you even start when there's way too many parties up there already? Will your partner know how to save your ass and vice versa when it all goes sideways? Can you cruise the 5.9 and feel super solid on the 5.10? Have you whipped on enough gear to actually know what a good placement is? Or do you just think you know what a good placement is? (My local experience this summer in the Wasatch seeing lot of ripped gear and a lot of SAR calls is that most folks don't.) Can you finish sending the pitch in the pouring rain? And have you practiced that skill?

A lot depends on your background. That person you met might've been hiking, backpacking, trail running, and scrambling in the alpine for a long time and developing some of that mountain sense before heading to the Diamond. But even then, that's a hell of a lot of trust to put in the lead partner if you're basically gonna get guided up there. It also matters what "6 months" means. Is that weekend warrior style, so maybe 12 days? Is that lifer style, so 120 days? What does a day look like? 3 pitches total? Or 10 pitches, with half of them at 5.10 or better? Those could mean vastly different amounts of experience and practice.

In summary, I think the advice to work up to it on other routes is the way of it. Climb at Lumpy as soon as possible and keep it up all summer while making regular forays into the park for smaller objectives: spearhead, sharks tooth, petit, hallett, etc. and build the experience. Probably a doable goal at some point, but I'd put some intermediate goals in the mix.

I completely agree, Derek. I recognize that it’s hard for people on the internet to tell how ready I am. I have spent a ton of time in the mountains, far more than what I’ve spent while climbing and do consider myself to have a good “mountain sense”. I’ve been climbing and learning with people far more experienced than me, and am not planning on just “getting guided up”. So again, I feel confident in what I DO know, and I appreciate trying to help me figure out what I DON’T know. 

I thought i was pretty good at 6 months in too. Now at 10 years in I look back at myself at 6 months in and realize, I got away with some shit that could have been really bad...