Photos:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=219726719/a=38054161/t_=38054161
Monday 5/19:
A friend, Paul Mags, was having a birthday. In true Boulder
fashion, he was going to have a full moon hike up to the base of the
first flatiron and would celebrate there. I thought it would be a
perfect opportunity to do a flatiron climb. Three others joined
up; Erin, Laurie and Julia. None of them had climbed the First
Flatiron before. Erin had never done a multi-pitch climb before
either. Should be a good time!
There was a third group that Paul wasn't aware of; led by another
friend, Bryce. He was coming up just before Paul, so they could
surprise Paul for his birthday.
The day before the climb, several other folks were contemplating joining
us. One bailed, and two others (Mark and Scott) would make the
climb; but they didn't yet know when they would start. We would
coordinate with radios.
I was going to team up with Erin since she was the least experienced of
our group; and then Julia and Laurie would be the second team. We
met at the parking lot around 3pm, did some last minute gear
organization, talked about the climb, etc. We started hiking up
around 3:30pm, got to the base of the climb around 4:15pm and started
climbing. We were hoping to meet Paul's group around 9 or 9:30pm.
The last time I had climbed the First Flatiron with ropes (have more
recently free soloed it a couple of times), I think it had taken me
around 6 hours car to car. That was with a pretty experienced
other climber though. Still thought we had enough slack time.
The climbing was fun, and Erin was doing well. We were just using
a 7.7mm ice floss line; as I didn't anticipate falling, and even if I
did, it would be very unlikely that I would generate a lot of force.
The Flatirons are not a vertical climb. On the way up, a free
soloist lapped us. I commented on how much quicker it was without
a rope; and he took a look at my 7.7mm ice floss line and commented that
what we were using wasn't a "rope" anyway. Funny.
We hit a ledge with a boulder, and waited for the other group to join us
around 7pm. The going was a bit slower than I was hoping. We
chatted and made sure everyone was still comfortable. Laurie
didn't really want to climb in the dark; so we would continue climbing,
and possibly set a rappel so she could jump off when we hit the
ridgeline. We continued climbing and soon it was getting dark.
We still had around 3 pitches of the ridge to do, but Laurie wanted to
jump off. I set up a rappel anchor where she would be able to hop
off. The gals caught up, so I free climbed another pitch while
they were getting Laurie down. Julia then attached her rope to
Erin. So, I would climb a pitch, belay Erin on my rope, and then
Erin would belay Julia on her rope as I free climbed the next pitch.
When I hit the summit, the guys were pretty much caught up too.
Mark was up on the summit pretty soon after I was. He belayed
Scott up, and then while Erin was coming over, we set the rap line with
Mark and Scott's rope. Unfortunately, while I was on the summit,
Paul's group got there, and the surprise group jumped out. Erin
and Julia still needed to make their way over. No worries.
Mark and Scott rapped down, then Erin and Julia made it over. Took
a bit longer than I had hoped, and while Erin and Julia were going down,
many people already had left (it was a school night... ;) Bummer.
I finished cleaning up the top, and rapped down. There were still
a few people down there, so I brought out the huge bottle of wine that I
had lugged up and over the climb; and shared it with the folks that were
still there. Paul cut us some cake and shared ice cream.
There was still other food there including some fresh fruits, plenty of
desserts, etc. Visited for a few, and then we started hiking down
around 11:15pm. It was nice to visit with folks on the way down,
and we were back at the cars around midnight.
It was definitely a fun evening, and a good climb. Maybe next year
we'll be on time for the party; but everyone was safe and the gals had a
good time and enjoyed their first Flatiron climb, which is the most
important thing.
Hope you enjoy the pics,
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=219726719/a=38054161/t_=38054161
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish