Diadem Peak, Humble Horse IV 5.7 W4

Weather: 15C Cloudy with sunny breaks. Little wind.

Peak: 3371m

Time of Departure: 0645h (Late alpine start!)

Time of Return: 0115h

Total Time: 19h30min

Approach: 8km (Gain of 1345m)

Climb: 610m

Return: 13.5km (Loss of 1955m)

Because of our late start, I had little hope of actually climbing and thought we were out for a scouting mission to get familiar with the approach to do the climb tomorrow. From the parking lot, we forded the Sunwapta River (crotch deep!) and walked up and along Diadem Creek. We reached the moraine and trended right to head up and reach the glacier. It took us five hours to reach the base of Diadem Peak. On the approach I had low expectations of actually doing the climb due to our late start. Once at the base and looking at the route we decided to give it a shot. There was a 300m snow slope that steepened up to 55 degrees as we climbed. Crossing the ‘schrund was easy with supportive snow bridging it. Our steps in the snow came to boot top and was supportive. We then roped up for the first pitch. Carsten led the first 60m pitch of mixed rock which also involved digging through a foot or two of snow. We opted to climb to the left of the suggested couloir because it was lower angled and we thought to go through it quickly. Instead the protection was scarce. Two more pitches of easy rock and little protection brought us to the first pitch of ice. This was the first alpine route where pitons were a must to help make belay stations and place as protection during the climb. The following pitch of ice was great and kicked quite steeply for a few meters. The thicker ice was about a foot wide and varied in depth up to 6 inches. Another stretch of 55 degree ice reached steeper mixed grounds. The last pitch was a fun mix of rock and ice which thinned out and topped out onto 5.7 rock. To reach the summit we opted to contour bellow a big menacing cornice and traversed onto some more rock to get around and above.

To descend we walked down to the Woolley-Diadem col and passed next to big seracs. We got off the glacier around 2230h just before darkness set in. We walked the Woolley creek drainage out towards the highway and forded the Sunwapta river once again to reach the highway. The following 6km along the highway to reach the van was dreadfully long. I’d close my eyes from time to time and walk in auto-pilot mode. An hour and a half later and we made it to the van where our sleeping bags called on us.

It was interesting to see how my mentality changed as I realized we were going to commit to the climb with a later start. Overall the climbing was great with mental challenges coming from runout sections.

The route follows the couloir directly to the top.

















Heading up the initial snow slope.























Carsten heading up the first mixed pitch.




Summit photo!




Walking towards the Woolley-Diadem col.
Mt. Alberta in the background