I had to make a second trip to the Third Flatiron, so I could lead the odd pitches of the East Face route. Earlier this summer, I did the even ones and was robbed of the true summit by an afternoon summer storm.
When Kris suggested an outing up the famed slab, I was all too excited. Woo-hoo!
The weather Sunday was just dreamy. I thought that I was still asleep when I stepped out of my car at Chautauqua!
A very slight chill, but warm ambient air. I was super psyched. I knew the rock would be warm, and looking around, we might even be first to the crag!
Kris showed up very nearly at 7am, and we immediately started hiking. About 40 minutes later, David (a nice dude I met in the parking lot) and his partner, passed us…oh well, starting in 2nd place isn’t bad either! There’s way more than enough rock to go around.
It took us about 1.5 hours from the parking lot to rope time.
By 8:45am, I exclaimed, “Climbing!” and Kris said calmly, “Climb On”. I was so excited I could hear my heartbeat. Good thing I carry walkie talkies, it helps to hear my partner above my own body rhythms (not to mention the voices in my head-doh!).
I digress.
I stopped at the first bolt, as a line had formed at the base, and I wanted to allow other parties the chance to start climbing.
I belayed Kris up to me and then handed over a few nuts & slings. He headed straight for the second ring bolt. I was thrilled he was into swinging lead. Even though he admitted to not having much experience with trad stuff, it goes so much easier when both people swap lead.
Also, I was confident in his abilities to climb and what a great place to learn! Kris put in a few pieces and before I knew it he was at the next set of ring bolts. My turn!
I cleaned his three pieces, and had a little trouble with one of the cams (it was quite wedged!). His placements were all solid, and I even tested them out a bit before I cleaned them. Excited for his accomplishment, I headed to the anchors.
I grabbed a few pieces of gear, and took some pictures at the second ring bolt, and then I took off for the third pitch. What fun!
I ran the rope out almost all the way, and set up the 3rd pitch anchor about 15 feet to the right of the 3rd ring bolt. There is a crack which fits (most perfectly) a #1 BD cam and either 0.75 or 0.5 BD cam.
Kris starting climbing up to me, soon after I finished chatting with the soloer (see below). I could now see mobs of people climbing everywhere. It was like the flatiron was infested.
I took a picture of this dude soloing.
It was around 10am, and the sun felt great. I was climbing in a tank top, in October, after our first snow! What could be more fun???
Here’s a picture of Kris & I hanging out on the super comfy 3rd Belay ledge:
Kris disappeared around the corner, leading pitch 4, in search of the ellusive 4th ring bolt.
He found it and hunkered down.
The fifth pitch was interesting. I had not climbed this way before (due to the thunderstorm, we had last time continued straight up from the traditional anchor and finished after the 5th pitch.
I dropped into a gully, and then continued up a face (You can see the 5th pitch in the picture behind and to the right of Kris, above). I thought the 5th pitch was a bit more challenging than the others on the climb, but it was still really superb. I placed 3 tri-cams on this pitch, my first time placing tri’s. I think I fell in love. Those little tri’s are just perfect for the rock of the flatirons, the curved back and the little point really work well. How satisfying!
At this point, I built a little anchor on a ledge as I was nearly out of rope.
Kris climbed up to me, freeing a monumentally wedged tri-cam, and then continued on to the last pitch and the summit.
He topped out 15 minutes before 11am. Excellent time!
We took a few pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Set up the rappel, and then headed down.
It took about an hour to complete the three rappels, so we were off the climb at 12pm. Back to the parking lot around 2pm.
Wonderful day of climbing, and a great sense of accomplishment. It’s not every day I get to ascend 1200 feet of vertical climbing after half a day’s effort!
Tags: Boulder, CO, East Face (5.6), Rock Climbing, Third Flatiron