Ascent Notes for: The Diagonal - 5.10d Average Rating : 4.50/5

Going by the old Dixie Craggers this route goes for 80' to a "single bolt anchor". From your descriptions it kinda looks like some of you just did the first section to the rappel tat at half height. Pretty sure the offwith proper continues up the slanting corner, past the aforementioned "bail hex", and is solid 10d IMHO with tenuous footwork and technical stemming. This section was suffering from a little seepage even after 4 dry sunny days, so beware.

Also BEWARE - the 'single bolt anchor' isnt strong enough to hang your coat on. Its very old and rusted. There's some rather dubious "death triangle" lower-off slings which did hold (but....). I used a #3 Camelot and #2 friend to set up a solid belay.
Having said all this - its a great route, worthy of its two stars.

The 10 start was wet so I went with the 5.9 which is well protected and has good moves. I started up what is considered to be the 2nd pitch of The Diagonal Direct only to be greeted by a soaked mossy chimney section. Luckily someone had made this mistake before and left a bail hex. Good climb and I would like to see what the harder variation is like on a drier day.

No comment

No comment