| Report Type | Full |
| Peak(s) |
Longs Peak - 14,259 feet |
| Date Posted | 07/19/2010 |
| Date Climbed | 07/10/2010 |
| Author | Daniel Trugman |
| A Diamond Trip Report: Pervertical Sanctuary |
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Trip Report: Pervertical Sanctuary (5.10d), Longs Peak, July 9-10, 2010 Team: George Perkins, Daniel Trugman Rack: one set of Nuts, a single set of Black Diamond Cams from 00 C3 to #4 C4, with doubles on 1 - 4, Omega Pacific Link Cams: .5, .75, 1, 2. Slings, quickdraws, helmets, 1 60m rope, etc. I hate trip reports without pictures. However, I'm not so good at giving an attentive belay and taking pictures at the same time, so I left my camera at home. After getting back from the Diamond, I got several requests for a trip report from my local climbing buddies. Feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn't give them any photos from this amazing trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, I decided to compose this written trip report and send it to them, hoping it would be some sort of consolation. My good friend Jason Halladay said that the report was pretty good, and suggested that I post it on 14ers.com. So here it is. My trip report. I've included a few photos of the route to get you a feel for the topography of the Diamond, but I would like to emphasize that these photos are not my own. I've included photo credit and links where appropriate. Anyway, photo rant over, commence trip report mode: I have wanted to climb the Diamond ever since I was a little kid. Maybe it's because the quest to climb all the 14ers was such an important part of my childhood, and the Diamond represents a culmination of all those climbs. Maybe it's just because the Diamond is just most magnificent big wall in all of Colorado, and any climber would be inexorably drawn to it. Whatever the case, the same reasons for wanting to climb the Diamond are the same reasons it's such a daunting challenge for mediocre climbers like myself. It's big. It's steep. It's committing. It's hard. Heading out for an evening of cragging in the Jemez Mountains three weeks ago, George Perkins and I were casually discussing our plans for the upcoming weekends. Realizing that we both had a free three-day-weekend in mid July, we decided that it was high time to go for the Diamond. George, an experienced and very talented all-around climber, had climbed the Diamond several years ago via a seldom-done 5.11- route called The Obelisk, and was itching to get back up there. I was just as psyched (and perhaps a little intimidated) to give the Diamond my first try. Plan A was to climb the Yellow Wall/Forrest Finish, a classic route up beautiful golden granite. Though the original Yellow Wall has a few sections of poorly protected 5.11 climbing, the Forrest Finish variation keeps the climbing at (solid) 5.10 by climbing several pitches of sustained hand/fist cracks in lieu of the original crux. However, it's always good to have a few routes in mind when attempting the Diamond, so we went up there also prepared to climb The Casual Route (5.10a), Pervertical Sanctuary (5.10d), and Black Dagger(5.10d/5.11a). After George's in-laws graciously let us stay in their house in Boulder on Thursday night, we hiked in on Friday morning, with George setting a blistering pace (as usual). We set up shop at a nice bivy boulder not too far from the base of the North Chimney, which would be our approach to Broadway and the Diamond itself. We then hurried off to do Directissma, a nice four-pitch 5.10a on the Chasm View Wall, which has great views of the Diamond itself.  Directissma, as seen from the base of the climb. Photo Credit: Kat A. http://mountainproject.com/v/colorado/alpine_rock/rmnp__rock/106197402 I felt shaky on my first lead (5.9), which did not bode well for the next day's challenge, but my confidence improved as we climbed higher and I felt much better on my lead of the 10a "crux" pitch. As a side note, I felt the true crux of the climb was George's second lead, a 5.9+ squeeze chimney. But maybe it was just because I was wearing the pack? Maybe... We descended the Camel Gulley without incident, and lounged leisurely at our bivy, watching a party make slow progress on the Casual Route on the Diamond. They inexplicably decided to rappel when they were just one pitch away from Table Ledge (and therefore from easy escape, via the established rappel route or over the top via Upper Kieners). It turned out that one of the climbers had dislocated his shoulder in the infamous squeeze chimney on the crux pitch. Yikes! What an epic. We heard from these climbers that the Casual Route was still kind of wet, and therefore inferred that our original goal, the Forrest Finish of the Yellow Wall, would also be wet. We decided that Pervertical Sanctuary would be the driest choice within our ability level, so we planned on that. Pervertical Sanctuary follows a striking line of splitter cracks on left side of the Diamond, but just right of the Obelisk column. It is reported one of the finest routes on the whole wall, with solid rock, generally dry conditions, and a great, sustained, splitter crux.  The left side of the Diamond. To find Pervertical, look for the border between gray and gold rock in the upper left portion of the picture. The border itself is The Obelisk (5.11a), one crack right is Ariana (5.12a), one more crack right is Pervertical. Photo Credit: Dave Stewart. http://mountainproject.com/v/colorado/alpine_rock/rmnp__rock/105838282  Climbers on the left side of the Diamond. Photo Credit: Jeff G. http://mountainproject.com/images/47/70/106134770_large_22517b.jpg The next morning we overslept my worthless watch alarm by about 30 minutes, but were still heading up to the North Chimney before 5am. We soloed the North Chimney, which was reasonable, though one section felt a bit hard for 5.4. I was glad I was wearing climbing shoes. We were the first party to Broadway, though three more would soon join us, all via the North Chimney (and not the Chasm View Raps). Two of these parties would climb the Casual Route, and one would end up on Yellow Wall, but would bail from three pitches up. George set off on the first pitch, a long 5.9 that took us to the top of the formation called "The Mitten". The first part of this pitch had a bit of grungy, wet rock, but this improved as the pitch progressed, and the pitch finished with some very nice, steep handjamming and stemming. I set off on the next pitch, a very enjoyable 5.9 crack. It was then George's turn, and he fired off a wild, though short pitch of 5.9 face climbing. This was the hardest pitch thus far, but the business was about to begin. I ate two fun-sized snickers and got psyched for my crux lead, a beautiful, 100 foot, 10d splitter crack. I managed to squeak my way up the first half to a decent though strenuous rest stance, but it was becoming abundantly clear that I was overmatched. The rest of the pitch was continuous 5.10 crack climbing with no real rests. The crux was three or four moves of green-camelot sized crack (rattly fingers) but the true killer was the sustained nature of the pitch. After a few tries at climbing this section in good style, I was totally spent, and commenced my hang-dogging session. My general tactic became to climb five feet, put in gear, hang, back-clean, and repeat. I eventually made it to the belay, and George followed the pitch completely clean. What a badass. The next pitch was the infamous offwidth pitch, a 180 foot 5.10- splitter, mostly #4 camalot sized. We only had two #4 cams, but George onsighted the pitch in good style. It started to snow pretty hard as I followed the pitch. I have little experience with offwidths, so needless to say it was very exhausting at that altitude and in those conditions. It didn't help that I was already tired from my (hangdog) lead of the crux pitch. After that pitch, I downed half of a Red Bull and was able to keep it together for one more wet 5.9 lead, arriving at Table Ledge. From there, it was just a few hundred feet to the summit on 4th and easy 5th class terrain, but it was mildly terrifying in the continuing blizzard. George graciously dropped a rope for me on one particularly slick and scary section. We raced to the summit, spent about ten seconds there, and headed down immediately. We descended the North Face via a couple of rappels, which was kind of miserable because we had to go through several icy waterfalls. The weather began to stabilize as we reached the boulderfield, and we headed down Camel gulley, once again without incident. We got back to our bivy at around 4:30pm, and were heading for the car at about 5, reaching the car sometime around 7, all the while fueled by thoughts of warm food and a comfortable bed. On our long walk back to the car, I kept turning around for one last look at the Diamond. Even after climbing it, it was impossible not to be captivated by the Diamond, Colorado's greatest big wall. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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