North America, United States, Colorado, Long's Peak, The Diamond, Bright Star
Long’s Peak, The Diamond, Bright Star. Bright Star was first climbed by Ed Webster and named in honor of Lauren Husted. A variation was free climbed by Charlie Fowler and Scott Cosgrove, but they avoided the meat of the route. Cameron Tague and I followed the original Bright Star a pitch farther in 2000, eventually joining The Yellow Wall. Last August I recruited Roger Briggs, the Diamond master who was celebrating his 50th birthday and 89th ascent of the wall that summer. All nine pitches of Bright Star are sustained and somewhat run out 5.11+. Cameron had fallen to his death crossing Broadway, below the wall, a few weeks after our climb in 2000, but his confident image was with me every move of what even Roger feels is one of the finest climbs on the wall. We left the Bright Star name, but added Cameron’s name to the list of Bright Stars.
Topher Donahue