It seems appropriate that my 7th time up to the Diamond was
D7. It was also probably the best route I had climbed so far on the Diamond.
D7 features beautiful, solid rock and good cracks all the way up. It was originally an aid climb, so there are lots of pins.
I climbed
D7 with Nate Arganbright. We'd had an adventurous day on
D1 the previous weekend, and it was nice to return the following weekend (Labor Day Monday in fact) for another day on the Diamond. Nate climbs
D7 at least a few times a year and has climbed the route in all conditions (soaking wet, filled with ice, ...), so he was easily convinced to add another lap to the year's tally. We climbed the route in just under 4 hours, with me leading the odd pitches and Nate leading the even pitches (Pitch 4 is by far the hardest pitch of the route, involving pretty sustained 5.11-ish climbing and an 11c crux section). It was one of those unusually warm and calm days on the Diamond, and we climbed in t-shirts as we managed to stay in the sun the entire time. It was not yet noon when we reached Table Ledge, so we decided to continue up to the summit via Kiener's Route (we had not left any gear on Broadway Ledge to give the option of continuing upwards). We descended via the Cables Route and then down Camel Gully back into Chasm Lake Cirque. This was the first time I had been down Camel Gully, so I enjoyed the opportunity to collect some photos of this connector option between Chasm View area and Chasm Lake area.
All in all, probably my favorite route and most enjoyable day on the Diamond to date. Thanks Nate for being psyched to climb this route again!
Photos from our climb below. Enjoy!