D1 (Longs Peak)

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D1
Fall05-LongsPeakCU JPG RSZ md.jpg
East face of Longs Peak also known as the Diamond.
Location Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA
Coordinates 40°15′17″N105°36′55″W / 40.25470°N 105.6153°W / 40.25470; -105.6153
Climbing Area The Diamond, Longs Peak
Route Type Trad/Alpine
Rating 5.7 A4 or 5.12a
Grade V
First ascent Dave Rearick and Bob Kamps, 1960.
First free ascent Bachar/Westbay; Achey/Briggs

The D1 is the original technical climbing route up the Diamond of Longs Peak. In 1954, when National Park Service was petitioned to allow climbing on the Diamond they responded with an official closure. Climbing on the Diamond was banned until 1960. When the ban was lifted later that year, Dave Rearick and Bob Kamps were the first to climb the Diamond via a route that would come to be known simply as D1. [1] This route would later be listed in Allen Steck and Steve Roper's influential book Fifty Classic Climbs of North America . [2] Today the route is not necessarily regarded as the best of its grade on The Diamond, some consider other routes to be of higher quality. The easiest and most popular route on the face, the Casual Route (5.10-), was first climbed in 1977.

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References

  1. Gillett, Bernard (2001). Rocky Mountain National Park: Estes Park Valley – The Climber's Guide. Earthbound Sports. ISBN   0-9643698-4-2.
  2. Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America . San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp. 201–205. ISBN   0-87156-292-8.