July, '01

Stetner's Ledges > Hornsby Direct Finish > Kiener's  with Guillaume and Lisa

    Toward the end of July, Lisa, Guillaume and I set out for a day of climbing on Long's Peak. Our plan was to climb Stetner's Ledges with the Hornsby Direct variation 5.8, traverse north across Broadway, and finish the climb with the upper section of Kiener's Route 5.6. We had a grand time in a spectacular setting. Here are some pictures from the day...

 

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Sunrise over Chasm Lake.

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Sunrise over Twin Sisters Mountain with me visible in the reflection of Chasm Lake.

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This is a shot of Mill's Glacier in the morning alpenglow. Climbing this ice field was the most dangerous part of the day. It was quite hard and Lisa and I had only one trekking pole each. Guillaume had nothing!

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Morning pictures with the Diamond in the background.

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Lisa looking happy (as always) at 6am having already hiked 5 miles and gained 3,000+ feet.

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Guillaume taking pictures of the East Face of Long's in the beautiful morning light.

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This is one of the shots Guillaume took of our proposed route. Stetner's follows the line of shadows that is just left of center in this photo. Believe me, Mills Glacier is steeper than it looks in this picture.

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Lisa took this picture of Guillaume belaying me as I led the first pitch of the climb. Behind him is the upper section of Mill's Glacier.

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Here I am leading the first pitch of the climb. The Diamond is visible above and behind me.

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A shot of me belaying Guillaume as he led the second pitch. Again, the Diamond is visible in the background.

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Guillaume took this shot of me as I approached the top of the 2nd or 3rd pitch. Mill's Glacier is below and Chasm Lake can be seen in the top right.

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Finally on Broadway! This is where we topped out from the Hornsby Direct finish. This is also the crux of Broadway if you are only traversing to the base of Kiener's route.

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Me and Guillaume standing on Broadway. As you can see, it is not always that broad!

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This picture is taking from where I am standing in the previous picture. It is  along way down to Mill's Glacier.

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This is a shot of Teeter Totter Pillar which is another classic climb beginning on Broadway. I hope to climb this route next summer.

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This is a shot of Chasm View Wall. Yet another reason why this particular mountain cirque has some of  the best rock climbing in Colorado.

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Leading the last of the "technical" climbing. This is the 5.6 pitch on upper Kiener's. After this, we unroped and scrambled up the Devil's Staircase to the very top of the Diamond.

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This is me in the Devil's Staircase. Lamb's Slide is the snow couloir visible behind me.

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Lisa, sitting on the edge that marks the very top of the Diamond. A tumble backwards from where she sits would get you a nice 1,600 foot ride... One way of course.  :)

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On the summit! I suppose I could lose the helmet now.

I took the shot on the right on the way down. There is a climber in the middle of the photo and two climbers are visible farther left and above. I took this shot with a 120mm telephoto lens at full zoom. Basically, this picture only shows about 20% of the Diamond! The Diamond is my main goal for next summer. The easiest route up is 5.10a and is called the Casual Route. Somehow I doubt I will find it to be casual!
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