The following trip report is copied (and reformatted) from another page for my 2014 trip to RMNP (my second ever trip to RMNP, before I lived in Colorado). My original 2014 trip report also includes a climb of the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak and Sykes' Sickle on Spearhead.

I didn't really plan on doing any climbing in the Colorado Rockies this summer, but thundershowers in Wyoming (where I was at the time) and just a whim for new and unplanned adventure drew me down there. Like everywhere in the West it seemed, the area was experiencing a period of rain storms but there looked like there would be some windows for climbing. Despite its impromptu nature, this ended up being a successful trip, involving climbs of three popular RMNP objective: Longs Peak, The Diamond, and The Spearhead. This page provides a trip report for my climb of The Diamond. I definitely feel I need to come back to the area and climb some more!

My primary objective in the Park was the Diamond, which is the vertical wall of granite on the east side of Longs Peak, quite renowned for its climbing and full-on nature of the routes. I made a post on MountainProject.com looking for a partner. While I waited for a response, I hiked to the top of Longs Peak via the Keyhole Route (2nd and 3rd class). This was a great way to acclimatize and familiarize myself with the area, as well as bag the highest summit in RMNP (which is also a 14-eer). Moreover, since most routes on the Diamond top out on Table Ledge rather than the summit of Longs Peak, this relieved the pressure of tagging the summit after climbing a route on the Diamond (you can continue on to the summit from Table Ledge). The hike to the top of Longs Peak took me 6 hours car-to-car and was much more fun than a morning run.

My MountainProject.com post for a Diamond partner generated a few interested climbers, and Nate Beckwith was available right away. We met at the trailhead parking lot that evening, got acquainted, chose a route, organized gear, went to bed, woke up, and then spent the next 16 hours climbing the Diamond. While my partner post on MountainProject.com had mentioned an interest to climb The Casual Route or Pervertical Sanctuary (the two "easiest" routes on The Diamond), Nate voted for a more difficult undertaking: Ariana, a Grade IV+ 5.12a route on The Diamond; Ariana ascends the awesome thin crack splitting the Obelisk column on the left side of the Diamond wall. Ariana shares three 5.9 pitches with Pervertical Sanctuary and has two crux pitches (5.12a and 5.11c). This would be my first "alpine 12a". The climbing was superb. Moreover, the athletic nature of the climb (burly 4+ hour approach, non-trivial route-finding, vertical rock, long sustained pitches, 5.12a and 5.11c cruxes, cold and windy belays, brief hail storms, 9-double-rope-rappel route, 16-hour car-to-car-I'll-sleep-well day, strong partner) was just the sort of thing I love. Thanks Nate for a great day!

Below is my trip report for Ariana, my first (and certainly not the last) climb on the Diamond. These are the sorts of full-on-great-climbing-great-exposure-never-quite-comfortable-long-day-athletic-challenge-great-partner-great-objective days of climbing I love.

In 2014, I was on a climbing road trip through Wyoming that had somehow ended up in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. I had a couple of days free. I paged through a guidebook for the area and came across an image of a pretty phenomenal looking wall. It was called The Diamond. Okay, I wanted to climb that for sure. I made a post on mountainproject looking for someone interested in climbing the Diamond. Given the committing and difficult nature of the objective, I don't think I actually expected anyone to respond, so I decided to spend the day running up and down the Keyhole Route to the summit of Longs Peak. On the summit, I checked my email, and lo and behold I had an email from a Nate Beckwith interested in climbing the Diamond the next day. I emailed him back to confirm I was good to go, and ran back down the trail to get ready for a typical pre-dawn start. I assumed we would just climb the Casual Route (this is the easiest route up the Diamond, but at 13,000+ feet and with the alpine weather and athletic approach, thinking it's a casual route is what gets people into trouble). But when we met at the trailhead in the wee hours of the morning, Nate proposed we climb a route called Ariana. I hadn't heard of this route, but not wanting to raise any worry that I was not up for the Diamond, I think all I said was "Sure! Sounds good!" And off we went. Long story short, that day was probably a turning point in my climbing career and perhaps in my life path in general. It was awesome. Climbing 5.12a at 13,000 feet capped off with being pummeled with hail just as we reached the top of the route. I was blown away. THIS was the kind of climbing I wanted to do. Over and over. And over. More than once I have been grateful that Nate Beckwith took the risk to climb with me that day.

Five years later, in June 2019, I had moved to Boulder. One reason was for grad school. The other reason was now I was positioned a little less than an hour from the trailhead leading to the Diamond. I proceeded to climb the Diamond several times, but always had it in the back of my mind to climb Ariana again. But 5.12 (or even 5.11 for that matter) leading on the Diamond is not really my thing, even though I highly enjoy following it. In July 2021, my crusher climbing partner Lynn was psyched to climb Ariana, so up we went; Lynn did an impressive job leading the crux pitches while I enjoyed the ride and led the easier pitches. Both of us got every move on the route free, and Lynn just took a couple of short lead falls while figuring out the 5.12 crux while I slipped on the initial 5.11 move and also slipped off into a 4 second hang on the 5.11+ pitch. Thanks Lynn for an awesome day out. What an amazing route!

(As a side-note, in August 2020, I had blown out my knee, resulting in knee surgery in September 2020 for a new ACL and and meniscus repair. A few months into my recovery, my physiotherapist Rob asked me to name a goal fo the upcoming summer and I told him "to climb Ariana", figuring I was being quite unrealistic of what to expect out of my knee by the following season. But then here I am, 10.5 months post surgery, climbing a 5.12a on one of the more rugged alpine walls in the country. I guess physio pays off. Coincidentally, on this same day I climbed Ariana, my physiotherapist Rob was also on the Diamond climbing Hearts and Arrows. )

Photos from our climb below. Enjoy!