Sorry, no photos on this one...
Friday 7/31:
I had tried several times this week to do a connecting climb on two of the flatirons. I wanted to go up Freeway, and traverse over and down a ramp to the trail. From there, it was a really short hike to the start of Baker's Way. I had done a couple parts of Baker's Way before when I did other climbs; but never had done the entire route. I had never done the hardest part, which is right at the start. It's still only supposed to be a 5.4 climb; so not too tough.
I was planning on trying to get out on the rock early, but a four hour conference call delayed my start time. It was also raining again at 5pm, so the later start didn't really matter. I figured, worst case being, I'd just enjoy a hike around the flatirons if the climb was still wet. I drove over to the flatirons, and it looked like there was a weather window. There was sunny and clear skies over the flatirons with all the storms now to the East. I hiked up to the base of the second flatiron, and the rock looked pretty dry.
The sky still looked pretty good, so I decided to give the climb a shot. I was free soloing (climbing without a rope), but still took a small rack (rock protection) and a thin rope; just in case I needed to bail from the climb. The freeway climb was pretty dry, and the climb went quickly. It was less than a half hour to the diving board. Made the jump and the traverse, and was at the start of Baker's Way. It was now around 8pm; so I was going to be losing daylight in around a half an hour. There was also another set of clouds that I could see; which means there could be some rain.
I had a rope, where I could bail. I also had a headlamp, as well as rain gear, warm clothes and more. There was also a bailout point at the top of Baker's Way. I knew I'd be safe, so I gave it a go. I was thinking that I could make the summit and be down before dark, and hopefully the rain would hold off too.
The starting move on Baker's Way definitely made me think a little since I didn't have a rope protecting me; but it still wasn't too bad. I would have put it at a 5.5 rating, but maybe it was just the psychological factor. There was one more move that was a little tricky, but soon after, I found myself at the top of Baker's Way.
There was definitely another storm moving in. The winds were picking up. I met up with two other free soloists on the ridge to the summit, and we all pretty much went the same speed and fought the winds up to the summit. At the summit, I was prepared to make the rappel since I brought the rope and we were starting to lose light. They had done the downclimb before though, so I asked if they would mind if I followed them.
They didn't mind, so I followed them. Definitely an interesting downclimb, especially when light is fading. One of the climbers, Nick, knew of a spicy finish. It's a little bit of an overhanging traverse, which is pretty exposed. There are big handholds, but it still was pretty intimidating. We just finished that move when it started to rain. We finished the downclimb to the ground, and while we were changing out of our harnesses and shoes, it started to rain harder.
Since we were already on the ground though, it didn't really matter. I got out my headlamp, put my climbing gear away in my pack, and enjoyed the hike down in the rain back to the truck. Got to the truck around 9:15pm. Two hours and fifteen minutes isn't a bad time for around 11 pitches worth of climbing. It was a great night out, and a fun climb with two new sections for me; the full route on Baker's and the downclimb.
Hope you enjoyed the trip report. I'll take pics on the next flatiron climb. I promise. ;)
A.J.
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