After rescheduling the trip a few times over the preceding months due to weather and other concerns, Tracy and I settled on doing the snow and ice route called Martha on Mt. Lady Washington.
Looking at the Diamond from just below Chasm Lake.
The Diamond of Long's Peak is the the back end of the cirque that contains Chasm Lake. To the right as you look into the cirque is a rocky ridge full of blocky terraces of rock and very little else. Cleaved into the side of this rock wall is a deep gully that is this climb. The shadow to the far left is the gully.
Tracy at the entrance of the gully.
Gearing up. We noticed footprints in front of us and started to hear voices.
The first part is wide, easy snow with a tad of ice at the bottom. No real need for much pro. We place some pickets and cams as needed for belays.
We swing leads and start to gain on the people above us.
Smiles on the way.
Come on. This is SERIOUS.
Logjam at the ice pitch! Tracy realizes that she knows some of the people above us. Later I find out my friend Charles had loaned them some gear as well. Small world, of course, and the usual case. Despite the leader before us claiming to be new to leading ice, he dispensed with the pitch quickly and protected it well.
Final snow pitch.
Looking East from the top of the gully.
We eat chocolates and chat with our new compadres and decide on a descent route.
Hey, a summit shot of both of us that doesn't look like we used a self timer.
We settle on going down the back side and joining the Longs Peak trail. The snow is perfect for that, keeping us out of falling under the many boulders on the way down the ridge.
Ha! Just a few, grueling miles to hike back to the car with some refreshing post-holing.
The Sun got both of us a bit, with Tracy getting snow blindness from not having sun glasses and not wearing her ski goggles as they were too bulky. I sunburned under my nostrils, which is always a good reminder of a fun day out.
