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LONG TIME COMING. My 17-year relationship with Longs Peak. Art and words by Jeremy Collins.
If you have seen it and you are a climber, you know the allure of The Diamond. It’s grand and monolithic, far away from the ice cream, knick knacks and crowds of downtown Estes Park. I began climbing scrappy roadcuts in the spring of 1993, and a passion took hold of me. I wanted to climb everything. As soon as I discovered the great northeast face of Longs Peak, it went to the top of the list. Climbers generally consider The Diamond its own summit. You climb it and you descend, rarely going to the true 14,259 foot top of Longs proper—but, you have to do that at least once. I doubt most people stall 17 years. Here’s a look at my love affair with the peak and the art I made to celebrate it.
1. The Casual Route 5.10 • 1998 – with Patrick Oherron
May does not provide the classic weather for a fun trip up the Diamond. This was soon obvious to us as we kicked steps in crusty snow all the way to Broadway, then cut a body-sized window with our ice axes to gain the route. We climbed 200 feet of soaking wet rock, then descended back to the base.
2. The Casual Route 5.10 • 1999 – with Beejay Bailey
This summer, I went for it in June. We made it a whole 100 feet farther. Yeah still wet. Refrigerator sized blocks of ice went whizzing by our heads. A fist sized chunk punched me in the arm. Enough of that. Down.
3. The Casual Route 5.10 • 2000 – with Andrew Hoskins
Finally. the skies are blue, and the weather stable. Also, it’s August. We top out on Table Ledge at 1 p.m. and decide today is not the summit day. We rappel down.
4. Pervertical Sanctuary 5.11 • 2001 – with Random Dude
Excellent day and a great route with a random dude from the campground. Wish I could remember his name. I do remember he was working on his guiding certificate and placed a piece of gear every 36 inches. Exactly. Rappel from Table ledge.
5. Yellow Wall 5.11 • 2005 – with Travis Donn
Just before getting to the base of the North Chimneys, I slipped on Mills Glacier without an ice axe and I rocketed all the way to the boulderfield screaming like a little girl and digging my fingernails into the frozen early morning ice. I cartwheeled into the boulders escaping with only a bruised hip. I grabbed sharp rock as a natural axe and went back up. At the last wide section of the route, the skies unleashed a heinous hail storm that began filling my jacket, my lap, and my brain. I rappelled off a couple of small nuts, then we raced out in the storm and arrived at the parking lot where Travis’s car was gone. As in gone gone. Our road trip buddy had decided we were taking too long so he drove home. To Missouri.
6. The Obelisk 5.11 • 2008 – with Ben Williams
My favorite route on The Diamond thus far. Perfect rock, great variety, and we had it all to ourselves. We made quick work of it, but still … it wasn’t summit day.
7. D7 5.11 • 2015 – with Tommy Caldwell
I warned him. I was coming from sea level and would get altitude sickness. “Most people do. I’m used to it,” he said. I led the first three pitches as one while TC simul-climbed behind me, then he led the last three as one and I huffed and puffed below. We made Table Ledge very quickly and my head felt like a squirrel was stuck in my brain trying to get out. “Should we go to the summit, man? You look horrible.” I writhed on Table Ledge, half smiling, half dying. “Let’s do it,” I whispered. I followed a blurry blue figure as it naviagted through towers of blocks and shadows. Finally, I summited Longs, and it felt like the right time. Not another soul was on top, and I could see forever.
When Artist/Author Jeremy Collins isn’t climbing, he is drawing, adventuring with his kids, or most recently- doing all three in a series of Ford commercials. His book, DRAWN: The Art of Ascent recently won Best Adventure Travel Book at Banff Mountain And Book Film Festival. You can see his line of clothing and prints including one of this issues Longs Peak at theMeridianLine.com