Yesterday I was up on Longs Peak, one of Colorado's most climbed Fourteeners or 14,000-foot peaks, and the location of The Diamond and the East Face of Longs Peak--the best alpine cliff in the United States. It was a clear but windy day, with sharp gusts swirling over the ridges and chilling the air.
Leaving from my truck at the Longs Peak Trailhead, I hoofed up the Longs Peak Trail to a cut-off spur which climbs into a huge glacier-carved cirque below the East Face. Nestled below the immense cliffs is Chasm Lake, a deep glacial lake. Beyond towered a vast, silent, and imposing amphitheater of granite and ice.
The 900-foot-high Diamond, with a million-square-feet of sheer granite, looms above the lake. The wall, looking northeast, rises abruptly from Broadway, a ledge system splitting the East Face, for almost 1,000 vertical feet. The Diamond offers rock climbers 35 major routes and a bunch of variations to climb during the short good weather window between early June and mid-September.
From the lake, I scrambled up the boulder-strewn south face of 13,281-foot Mount Lady Washington to make some photographs from its summit of The Diamond for a book I'm currently writing about Rocky Mountain National Park. From my lofty perch, I counted five parties climbing The Diamond, their shouts of "On belay" echoing across the gulf between us. I would have traded my Nikon at that moment for a harness, rock shoes, rope, and climbing partner high on the steep shaded wall.
It's not too late yet to get up and climb a route on The Diamond or trek up the spectacular Keyhole Route to the 14,259-foot summit of Longs Peak. As I descended back down the trail, I kept company in the late afternoon with dozens of footsore hikers and climbers. I just may get back up there to crank The Diamond yet this year.
Read more about Longs Peak:
Longs Peak: Highest Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park
Climbing Longs Peak: Keyhole Route Description
Photograph: The Diamond rises high above Chasm Lake in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park. Photograph © Stewart M. Green
Comments