"Hiamovi Tower it is." That was the plan earlier in the week when Marc called me. It was to be a three man attempt on a tower in the IPW. Saturday rolled around and Marc called again. This time it was to explain that he had left his cell with a friend who happened to live near me. "Could I pick it up? And, oh by the way, what do you think about the Keyhole Ridge?" At first thought, I said "No thanks, I have no intention of climbing Longs by the standard route unless forced." Then the word "Ridge" clicked in my head and it was game on.
I arrived at Marc's place at the agreed upon time, early Sunday morning, only to find no answer at the door. After some ringing of the doorbell (no answer), a quick drive to the end of the block, a decision to go back and try one more time, Marc finally answered the door. For some reason he thought he was on time, until I informed him that I had been trying to wake him for 45 minutes. A few coarse words, a hurried jumble of gear in the back of his truck, and Marc, Baba, and myself were headed for the TH.
As we sped towards the parking lot, Marc informed me that he banged his knee earlier in the day while climbing and was feeling gimpy. Baba was nursing a bum leg as well. And I hadn't really slept. So things were going to plan so far.
We finally hit the trail at about 4am, making quick work up to Chasm junction. At this point, Baba turned and made his way back to the car, limping and dragging his leg. It wasn't in the cards for him today. Marc's knee however didn't seem to slow him down as he flew up ahead of us.

The mounting wind chased clouds from the surrounding peaks

As the sun rose, we rounded the corner and had our first glimpse of both the route and the Diamond from across the Boulder field.

The Diamond and Cables

The Keyhole Ridge

The wind began to howl as we approached the ramp. Thankfully we would be staying on the east side of the ridge for the better part of the climb.

We generally followed the highlighted route

courtesy of www.mountainproject.com

It didn't seem to matter though as the wind simply blew (pun intended).

Heading up the first pitch was no big deal, other than some cold fingers and toes.

Looking back

We turned up towards the top of the first tower where we were greeted with a wonderfully expanding crack.

Marc on top of the aforementioned crack

Sean making his way up

Boulder field below

Once on top of the first tower, we set a quick rappel on an already placed biner and webbing.

Looking back into Glacier Gorge

This dropped us straight into the teeth of the wind. We moved quickly to cross the notch in the ridge on a running belay.

The 4th full pitch was probably the most interesting, as we progressed into a traverse up/down and around a small outcropping. What began as easy hands and feet, smoothed out and traversed down at an angle. It left us spread out and on a toe-width ledge over the most exposure of the route. The pitch ended on a nice ledge where we observed the Dove snow field below and aired out our feet.

The final pitch was fairly straight forward and straight up. We ended up sitting at the base of the Class 3 terrain, where we put runners back on and made our way to the summit.

Sean topping out

Marc enjoying his perch

Back down the Ridge

Marc picking his way towards the summit

We spent little time on the summit even though we had it to ourselves. Heading back down the Homestretch into Clark's Arrow, up to the Loft and back down into Chasm.

I love seeing this tower

As we headed back out it, the clouds that had been looming for some time, finally let loose a small shower of styrofoam snow.

All in all, a fantastic route and a fantastic way to see a mountain I love.