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| Hiking | 12.40 Miles |
1,700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.40 Miles | 9 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.82 mph |
| 1,700 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 27 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I got back to the Canyon for a summit with Pernell, for the first time in a long time.
We left our car camp near Homestead Tank around 5:50 a.m. to begin our four mile hike to the rim. We were able to utilize old roads for almost half of the approach to the rim and then we just walked an azimuth to Mescalero Point. From the point, we began scrambling down at a large cairn, after only a few minutes of descending, we fixed our line to a bit of a scraggly conifer, but a solid one none the less. The rap gave me some pause, as it was a little longer and steeper than I had anticipated and all I had was a single micro trax to “climb” and ascend the line on the way out. Nevertheless, we both committed to the bottom. From there, we traversed to the Diana Saddle, a semi heads up downclimb of a minor shelf presented the first obstacle and then from there it was pretty straight-forward to a secure little downclimb that cleared the final Kaibab ledge and put us on an equal contour with the saddle. From the saddle, a surprisingly nice at times use/sheep trail took us to the talus slopes below Diana’s western head walls. A handful of cairns accompanied our progress as we headed up and towards an obvious weakness in the head wall. We had to navigate a few short shelves along the way, but nothing of consequence. Somewhere near the top, we most likely took a wrong turn, which set us up for the option of three pretty heads up climbs to top out. We chose the lesser of evils and with a little coaxing from Pernell, I was able to follow. My best advice here would be to hang right near the top and don’t end up in the area with the obvious death block infused, chock stone clogged, chimney.
The high point of Diana is on the far northeastern end of the summit. Pernell checked out some views further down and I took a considerable break at the register. The last entry was from April 19, 2022. After linking back up at the register, we extended our break several more minutes and then headed back down to begin our traverse back to the saddle.
Our final climb out was a little spicy at times. I had brought a micro trax to aid/climb my way out. However, I still did not have the nerve to clear the middle and steepest crumbly head wall, so I called down to Pernell to take the "lead." Pernell was able to clear the crumbly little headwall and then put me on belay, which enabled me to climb the steeper, but more solid portion of the little wall. I personally don't like trying to mix ascending a line and trying to climb and I was much more comfortable with just tying in and climbing out in a more traditional manner. In fact, I had Pernell belay me out on the final little top out climb as well. After reaching the rim, we took a very extended break, to refuel and relax some.
The hike out somehow felt a little warm at times and apart from a random pottery sherd it was a generally mundane walk back to the vehicle. This was my 57th Grand Canyon Summit.
Final Notes
I would recommend fixing a static line and brining a full kit for ascending a line and just commit to that method for climbing out vs pushing a micro trax up and climbing, as I attempted. In addition, be sure to use caution in fixing your line, make sure it is clear of loose rock. Bring a helmet. There was probably an easier way to gain the summit of Diana than what we took and I would encourage one to take an extra few minutes near the top to choose perhaps the more traditional ascent route. A pretty engaging summit overall, not a gimmie. |
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