The perfect, early autumn alpine climbing conditions on Thompson Pass had me back for another weekend (9/15/18) of “Splitter Choss.”  Well, maybe it was just “Shattered Choss” for the first objective of this trip: the presumably un-climbed NE ridge of Mount Diamond (5.6 IV, Alaska Grade 3, D).  Diamond (or Dimond) is perhaps the crown jewel of Thompson Pass.  It’s the highest peak along the road corridor, and during the snow season it has classic big mountain ski descents on multiple aspects.

Without snow, it’s a seldom climbed peak in a seldom traveled area.  That should change (at least traveling into the area in the non-snow season).  Diamond may well remain a seldom traveled peak during the non-snow season; it’s a serious Chugach Choss Fest with much of the route exposed to significant objective hazards (steep and loose rock, black ice under scree, a big route with no easy egress).  But, there are at least two decent alpine access trails on the south side of the Richardson Highway: the Cracked Ice trail (see the upcoming trip report, and Peakbagger for the trail GPS) and the Diamond area trail behind the Tsaina Lodge (see Peakbagger for the trail GPS).  These trails open up vast expanses of wild Alaskan alpine terrain.  The alpine trekking through these zones is absolutely world class and there are many options for multi-day, semi-technical (glacier travel) traverses.

Diamond was about a 12 hour day for Taylor Brown and I.  Since we could find no info, and our ascent route is likely a first, we brought along the alpine “bag of tricks.”  However, the only technical gear we really used were crampons and a single ice tool.  We did wear harnesses, and I did end up anchoring into some black ice with an ice screw while routefinding on our descent as a steep scree slope exfoliated while I was on it and I needed to put crampons on to extract myself from the terrain feature.

The route consists of ~1.25 miles and 1000′ on a rough trail that starts obscurely behind the Tsaina Lodge and takes one up to ~2500′ west of Small Creek.  Two miles and ~1500′ of rough Chugach trail-less alpine takes one to the base of the NE ridge below Peak 5132.  Heading north through third class terrain for ~1000′ and less than a half mile brings one to the start of the more serious climbing.  Beyond Peak 5132 the route becomes predominantly 4th class, with short sections of extremely exposed and loose fifth class and a bit of steep neve.  Don’t underestimate these vast choss gardens.

After a six and a half hour summit push from the road, we balked at the prospect of down-climbing what we had just climbed.  Judging from the map and what we could see through the passing clouds, descending the huge scree slopes down the east face to a subsidiary NE ridge seemed promising.  Between 6000-5500′ we found a gully below the east face that seemed like it would drop us into the valley east of Diamond, rather than taking the subsidiary NE ridge.  About halfway down this gully are the remnants of past glaciation: a steep firn slope for several hundred feet with patches of black ice (especially a long streak on the skier’s left side).

I knew I’d get into this, but was hoping it wasn’t as steep as it ended up being.  I also did not expect as much black ice to be superficially buried under loose scree that readily exfoliated downhill when disturbed from above.  I was glad to be wearing a harness and have an ice screw handy when this happened, as crampon application for extraction would have been a daunting process without the anchor.  Taylor quickly realized not to descend into the super steep and icy terrain, instead traversing skier’s right to a 4th class spine that allowed us to bypass most of the steep ice and firn except for a short traverse across it to a wide scree slope leading down to the rock glaciers in the valley.  It was a good decision not to try and take the subsidiary NE ridge that seemed reasonable from the contours on the topo; it was wildly gendarmed.

Once in the valley we headed north and around Diamond’s NE glacier up mellow slopes behind Peak 5132 to a prominent east-west col.  We had planned on descending the couloir from this col west back towards the trail.  It was a one-at-a-time affair due to the steep, channeled terrain with copious amounts of loose rock.  I was 80% down and on the skier’s right apron flank when Taylor started in and sent some death biscuits rocketing down slope.  Between the rockfall, general sketchiness, and fatigue after a long day; he scurried back out and headed back up towards 5132 in search of a mellower ascent gully.  He found one not to far to the north (Carrot Couloir).  We rendezvoused at ~4500 below the west face of 5132 and stumbled back to the Tsaina Lodge being as loud as possible so as not to become a pre-hibernation smorgasbord for our kin from the Ursidae family…

Taylor getting a glimpse of the route (the jagged NE ridge of Diamond above him):Taylor moving through 4th class terrain beyond Peak 5132:Taking big bites out of the Gnar Bar:

Taylor catching a short break from the heady 4th and 5th class terrain:Mat moving through a bit more 4th class before a steep neve section:

Taylor booting up the steep and exposed section of neve:

After a long section of 3rd-4th class choss above the hard snow the summit comes into view:

Taylor on the summit, and in the notorious Chugach murk:Taylor working his way up the long, mellow slopes leading up to the east-west col south of 5132 for our egress:

Video of the day:

Gear:

• Scarpa Rebel Pro GTX boots
• Outdoor Research Voodoo pant
• Outdoor Research Helium Hybrid jacket
• Patagonia Alpine Houdini pants
• Patagonia Capilene long underwear
• Patagonia Capilene boxers
• Patagonia R1 fleece hoody
• Tech t-shirt
• Black Diamond Hot Forge Hybrid hoody
• Black Diamond Terminator gloves
• Black Diamond Torque gloves
• Black Diamond Vision harness
• Black Diamond Venom ice axe
• Black Diamond Camalot Ultralight
• Black Diamond Stoppers
• Black Diamond pitons
• Black Diamond Oz alpine draws
• Black Diamond Dynex runners
• Black Diamond Nitron locking carabiners
• Black Diamond Blitz 28 pack
• Black Diamond Revolt headlamp
• Edelrid Micro Jul belay device
• Beal Gully Unicore 7.3mm 50m rope
• Petzl Irvis Hybrid crampons
• Petzl Laser Speed Light ice screws
• Petzl Spatha knife
• J-Snare v-thread tool
• CAMP Speed helmet
• Julbo photochromatic sunglasses
• 6mm cordelette
• InReach
• Repair & emergency kit