BURSTJust before winter ended, Jesse Huey, Matt Segal and Quentin Roberts made an all-free mixed ascent of D7 on the Diamond of Longs Peak. They used tools in the cracks and on edges and wore climbing shoes. This was a multi-year project for Huey, who first attempted it in 2018.
D7 is a classic Colorado route that was first climbed in 1977 by John Bachar and Richard Harrison at 5.11c. It’s been climbed in winter before, including by Bill Wright and Phil Gruber – read the trip report here, but never all free.
Two years ago, Huey, Segal and Jordan Cannon made the second free ascent of Cowboy Direct, an alpine 5.13 on Trango (aka Nameless) Tower in Pakistan. In 2022, Roberts received a Piolet d’Or for a new route with Alik Berg called Reino Hongo, an 1,100-metre M7 AI5+, on Jirishanca in Peru’s Cordillera Huayhuash.
The Diamond was first climbed by Dave Rearick and Bob Kamps up the route D1 in 1960. The route was included in Allen Steck and Steve Roper’s influential book Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. The Casual Route, the easiest on the Diamond at 5.10, was first climbed in 1977.
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