Type: Trad, Alpine, 900 ft (273 m), 5 pitches
FA: unknown
Page Views: 49 total · 7/month
Shared By: Nate Haebig-Kerber on Oct 14, 2024
Admins: Mike Snyder, Taylor Spiegelberg, Jake Dickerson

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Description Suggest change

This proud linkup ascends the central pillar of the Diamond (Diamond Central) to the diagonal ledge, and from there hooks into Diamond Express, climbing through one of the overhanging dihedrals on the upper wall, topping out 30 feet below the summit (easy scrambling to the top). I believe the upper part of this line may be described as "Left Over Direct" in the description of the Red Spot – I referenced Skip Harper's website, which is much more helpful than MP as it currently stands.

Route-finding can be occasionally tricky but I found it to be largely straightforward - go up! As with all routes in the diamond, it is extremely loose and a fall in several sections would be very, very bad. All that said, we found this line to be extremely enjoyable, with almost every style of 5.9 movement represented on varying terrain, with only one pitch out of 5 being entirely forgettable.

P1 - The Pillar (65m): The technical crux of the route. Begin with easy 5.7 face climbing with occasional hand jams in the transient crack. The crux comes a third of the way up, as the right hand crack narrows to a knifeblade seam. I jogged a bit left into another crack system for ~15 feet before making a delicate traverse back right across a diagonal rail to rejoin the now fist-sized crack. A #4 C4 would fit well here or after a couple baggy fist jams you can reach a brief horizontal crack that took a green camalot perfectly. From here, push upward and slightly left - the right side face would be the most aesthetic line but looked increasingly desperate. Eventually the left hand crack system becomes a bombay chimney - some wild stemming ensued here - there are good (though creaky) jugs to grab but little in the way of solid gear. With a 60m rope you could escape out to the left and belay on a ledge, or push up to the top of the pillar (preferred) with a 70. Take extreme caution, this ledge is incredibly loose, and your belayer is directly below. I was happy to sling one microwave-sized block that seemed solidly attached to the pillar, there was little other gear.

P2 (60m): From the top of the pillar I think the 'standard' route traverses far left to a dihedral system - this is a very choose your own adventure style route and I opted to head straight up and slightly right for a while before jogging left. Face climbing, a couple easy overhangs, and a brief chimney-ish feature are what I remember of this mostly forgettable pitch - plan for massive run outs on easy terrain if you don't want to fight heinous rope drag. I think I placed 6 pieces in 200 ft. I belayed off hand sized pieces in a crack just right of the arete.

P3 - The Staircase (25m): from the previous belay we could have moved around right and fourth-classed up the diagonal ledge to the base of Diamond Express, but I pulled into the unknown around the arete and ended up in a short and sweet traverse with unbelievable, staircase-like incut holds on surprisingly solid red quartz. Fairly easy climbing, but occasional finger-sized cracks can offer good gear to protect the follower. Pull a baby roof on hero jugs to the diagonal ledge and find a good block to sling for your anchor. Be sure to give your chosen monolith a proper shove before you commit to it... very few of them are actually connected to the ledge.

P4 - The Spur (60m): From the ledge, I walked uphill 30ish feet until I found a seam in the face that looked to have gear high above. Another large runout on largely cruiser face holds ensued. Aim for the looming, right-facing red dihedral hanging above. About halfway up this pitch I found an excellent, slightly overhung finger/fist corner very reminiscent of the crux on Green Spur in Eldorado Canyon. After pulling through this section continue up the path of least resistance to an old steel cable at a triangular belay stance. I thought this cable would make for an annoyingly low masterpoint and opted to build a belay in hand sized cracks just above it.

P5 - The Roof (35m): From the 'crow's nest' belay move up and slightly right into a thin offset seam. I think you could stay hard left and wrap around the true inside of the overhung dihedral, but the gear looked nonexistent and the roof lacked positive holds. Push up as the right hand side of the seam drops back and it becomes a devious arete - I pulled a tricky move on small crimps with bad feet onto the face just below the roof. From here, take a deep breath and pull through the roof on hero jugs to a vegetation-filled crack. Stem out left when you can and do an some easy but committing mantle, and it's over. I jogged right and belayed off a massive horn so I could take some photos of my wife through the roof (she crushed it!), though there is a bolted anchor 15 feet directly above the roof (no view of the follower).

From here, climb up 5-10 more feet of exposed, blocky 5.0 to a shelf next to the memorial plaque for Wyoming Alpine Club members who died in Baffin Bay in 1995. A few 3rd class moves will deposit you on the summit of the Diamond, 500 feet east of the descent trail.

Location Suggest change

We parked at the Lakes TH and followed social trails to the talus. 20 minute approach. The route climbs the large pillar perhaps 100 feet north of the blob that marks the beginning of the red spot route. It is visible from the road, and is cut by railroad track-esque cracks on the right hand side. Our descent took about 45 min - down the MBP trail and along the paved path next to the highway afterward, staring up at the line we had just come down from!

Protection Suggest change

We took a rack of 0.2-2 Friends, with doubles 0.4-2, and a handful of small micro and offset (!) stoppers. You'll want at least 10 slings.

Photos

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