The Diagonal, East Face of Longs Peak. The “Diagonal” spans the east face of Longs Peak between Stettner’s Ledges and Craig’s Chimney. This smooth, vertical or overhanging face rises diagonally to an altitude of 13,200 feet. In 1958 George Lamb and I twice got a few hundred feet off the glacier only to be forced down by violent hail and electrical storms. By mid-July last summer, Layton Kor and I had made two attempts on the wall, but although each try pushed the route a little higher, both had been cut short by a storm at mid-day. On every assault, however, every foot gained was secured by leaving a continuous series of prusik ropes as we rappelled down.

Our first 1959 try had gone very well. We had passed the horizontal overhangs and pushed the route upwards several hundred feet before we had to rappel down. On our second attempt, having prusiked the entire distance secured by the climb the week before, we once more pressed deep into unknown territory, alternating leads. By eleven o’clock I had completed what was probably the most difficult lead of the climb, some 600 feet above the glacier. Over us a vast sheet of running water above an overhang provided two choices: several days of driving expansion bolts up this polished, crackless mess or a traverse around it before we started upward again. We chose the latter and climbed delicately across an area worn smooth by centuries of flowing water. Before long we reached a point from which we could start upward again. A new problem arose. The overhang would require wide-angle pitons, but we were nearly out of them. Once more, less than 300 feet from the top, we started down.

On July 19, the ebbing darkness saw us prusiking upwards. After gaining our high point, we pushed upward and to the right. Before long we were beneath the overhanging corner that ran diagonally upward to the end of the climb. The sun disappeared around noon and storm clouds began closing in. Off and on all afternoon the storm hammered us with its jarring winds, lightning and driving hail. This easily tripled our time on the now hazardous rock. Late that afternoon we finished the last lead and then ambled across the gentle terrace of “Broadway.” The “Diagonal” was complete.

Raymond E. Northcutt