I feel lucky to have psyched and fit climbing partners and thus got out in the alpine a lot the summer with them. Highlights included climbing Birds of Prey, and a link-up day of the Saber and Petit. I also did A Walk in the Park as a solo adventure C2C in 12H. Wow, what a summer!
I had been wanting to climb the Diamond in 2019, but partners / conditions didn’t work out. I was psyched to take my friend Dani up this route in early July. Despite a 2AM start from Boulder, we were the 7th party on the route and waited an hour at each belay. I was headstrong about bailing, especially because we had a clear weather window. This shaped my motivation for the rest of the summer…
One of my favorite days in the alpine. Being able to swing leads with Don felt different than him taking all the hard pitches, although he did get the crux. Runout alpine slab was a rewarding head challenge, although I don’t think I will climb this again until the bolts are replaced. We didn’t leave the parking lot until around 7, but arrived back at the car before dark. I love an efficient day out climbing.
Not my favorite day out climbing. I was tired and partner dynamics were a little forced - wasn’t climbing with one of my regular partners this day. Also didn’t find the route to be 4 stars. Maybe it was because I did Birds of Fire the day before and it was hard to live up to that.
One of the easier classics in the park I’ve never done, fun to get this one.
With my friend Krystoff. Once again, we got a not-so-early 630-ish start but were able to pull this off. We did the SW corner of the Saber which was a really fun route. I ran into my friend Don freesoloing the Petit as we were climbing the Saber, which was also fun and memorable. Next time we will get the sharkstooth in this day, too.
See my separate post for pictures of this one.
