Pervertical Sanctuary - Long's Peak - USA
Long's Peak (4346m) is one of Colorado's iconic "14ers" with its summit standing at a proud
14, 259 ft above sea level. Growing up in its shadow, my eyes often drifted from the soccer field to its daunting east face, known as "the diamond". When I was concentrated on running up and down a flat field while chasing a soccer ball, I always wanted to know what it was like up there. What it would be like to be up there, among the clouds, storms, ice, snow, granite. Previously I had only run up and down the standard class III Keyhole route which is documented in a previous post. While Long's Peak is well known for this moderate though serious trekking route, its true notoriety comes from its dead vertical east face. The Diamond is a storied alpine wall in American climbing, perhaps the most notorious of any in the lower 48 states. The price of admission is 5.10 via the Casual Route. From here there are a plethora of routes with differing levels of commitment and difficulty all the way up to 5.14, thanks to Tommy Caldwell and Joe Mills with their completion of the Full Dunn-Westbay. To see what climbing 5.14 at 14,000 ft looks like check out this video of Tommy working the route.
So, my partner Mark Ferguson and I decided to go climb the well-known route, Pervertical Sanctuary. This beautiful line has it all, some face moves and lots of crack climbing (obviously!) from thin hands to a little bit of off-width. This route has also been free soloed by Derek Hersey and Steph Davis (see video here).
Here are some photos from our climb ;))
14, 259 ft above sea level. Growing up in its shadow, my eyes often drifted from the soccer field to its daunting east face, known as "the diamond". When I was concentrated on running up and down a flat field while chasing a soccer ball, I always wanted to know what it was like up there. What it would be like to be up there, among the clouds, storms, ice, snow, granite. Previously I had only run up and down the standard class III Keyhole route which is documented in a previous post. While Long's Peak is well known for this moderate though serious trekking route, its true notoriety comes from its dead vertical east face. The Diamond is a storied alpine wall in American climbing, perhaps the most notorious of any in the lower 48 states. The price of admission is 5.10 via the Casual Route. From here there are a plethora of routes with differing levels of commitment and difficulty all the way up to 5.14, thanks to Tommy Caldwell and Joe Mills with their completion of the Full Dunn-Westbay. To see what climbing 5.14 at 14,000 ft looks like check out this video of Tommy working the route.
So, my partner Mark Ferguson and I decided to go climb the well-known route, Pervertical Sanctuary. This beautiful line has it all, some face moves and lots of crack climbing (obviously!) from thin hands to a little bit of off-width. This route has also been free soloed by Derek Hersey and Steph Davis (see video here).
Here are some photos from our climb ;))
Jesse Huey at the crux of the Yellow Wall, 5.11b R
Columbine Flowers
Madaleine Sorkin working on The Honeymoon is over, see video here!
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