Normal rack for first flatiron

Also, because of the low angle and importance of your feet, the Flatirons are good climbs to rack on your harness rather than a gear sling. I'm a gear sling guy and most the way on the Flats, I'm more comfortable soloing than leading, because the gear hangs down and in front of you, obstructing sight of your feet and getting in the way.

Like everyone has said, take what you are comfortable with.

I was in town with a light alpine rack after bailing off of a peak a few weeks back and decided to go for this with my partner in our tennis shoes.

Our largest piece was a #1 C4, we had the pink, red, blue, and brown tricams, #4 and #5 metolius power cams, every other size from a rack of camp nuts, 4 single length runners, and 4 double length runners. We never ran out of gear or felt like we needed anything larger.

Good luck with your climb.

Don't sweat it too much, if you are ok on the first pitch to the second bolt you will be fine on the rest of the route. The first two bolts are far apart on friction climbing with no gear inbetween (it's only 5.6 though!). After the second bolt take a hard left to the obvious flake (most people go straight, then left with little to no gear)that will take plenty of gear. The rest of the route will take more than enough gear and is substainally easier than the start. Remeber you are comfortably on your feet the whole time!

Start looking for a belay with plenty of rope left, as somtimes they are a bit hard to find.

I placed a number #3 camalot on every pitch!

I place gear every 2ft on an eldo 5.9 and had no problems with the run-outs on the first!

Have fun!

AntinJ wrote: +1 Evan, Your climbing ability and level of comfort with regards to run-out have alot to do with your question. If you are indeed "breaking into" 5.10 gear routes, you will have no trouble at all with the moves on the direct route on the 1st Flatiron. With that said, I recently climbed that same route and was very comfortable with the following rack: 1 full set of stoppers 1 60M cord (gets you down the west face from the summit in one rap) #1 C4 #2 C4 #3 C4 2 QD's 4 AD's 2 double length Runners (great for the natural pro available) 2 Cordelettes 2-4 lockers Let us know how the trip goes! J

I will! I don't do much friction climbing, so those portions of the climb will be interesting, but really fun.

Here's another sort of side question-having not done much friction climbing, I'm not really sure what shoes would be best. I only have 2 pairs of shoes (both are which just slightly oversized bouldering shoes, I walked around in them to take the downturn out for trad climbing) and I'm not really sure which ones would be best for this type of climb. I have a pair of 5.10 V10s and La sportiva miura VS. Both have relatively the same comfort level (although sometime I slip off the heel in between pitches). Which pair of shoes would make the better friction climbing shoe?

Oh and I think I've settled on taking eight cams, #1 MC through The #6 Dragon cam, a full set of nuts, and the pink and red tricams. Thanks for the tips everybody.

cheifitj wrote: If you are comfy in the 9 range, cut your rack in half, you don't need any doubles. Set of nuts, pink, red and brown tri cam, a couple of cams, .5-3 and maybe one or two smaller ones. The hardest pitch to me has always been the first and the only gear is the eye bolt anyways. Save the weight and bring an extra jacket as it may be cold tomorrow.

+1. I might suggest leaving the #3 at home and taking the 0.4 instead. Don't bother doubling any cam size or bringing anything huge (eg, the #4). I've placed tricams, others hate them. I would say 5 cams, nuts, and 3 tricams is as much as you will need. Maybe a half dozen slings. There are definitely flakes and other things you can sling too, where you don't need any pro at all.

you are going to want some bolts.

My normal rack is blue and yellow tcu, .5 to 2 C4 and some nuts. The nuts are only useful in a few places but they're light so might as well take them. They're great if you do the slot pitch. Tricams are handy (pink, red) but if you have a couple small cams they go in the same pin scars (tcu/c3's). Take a bunch of runners for extending and tieing off holes and chickenheads.

If you take more cams, you'll probably find a place to put them. There is one more bolt on route above the 2 on the first pitch, just after the section of broken blocks (you'll know when you see them) up and to the left maybe 10 or 15 feet. Makes a fine belay spot though I usually go higher with a 60m to the big flake. There are a couple old pins on the route that are probably even good but good luck finding them. Haha.

Update: Route has been sent. Thanks for the gear advice everybody. It was definitely in my list of top three favorite climbs.

J. Thompson: You owe me a dollar. Not once were we off route.

Some things i noticed. Pitch one: getting to the second bolt is ridiculously scary. After that, hanging left offers some pretty go pro options. That being said, three placements on a hundred foot pitch? Wow.
Pitch two: Where is the pro? There was a spot for a #4 mastercam about 30 feet up, then we ran it out to the piton. Two placements for another hundred foot pitch. Absurd.

I feel like off-width gear would be pretty useful. Why does no one opt to do that? I kept looking around going "Wow, wish I had a #6 camalot". Just a thought.

Friction climbing. A whole different animal than other types of climbing I'd done. First pitch felt like I was going to fall off at any second, after that I got pretty used to it.

As for pro. Well I can see how one could think there's no point in bringing a regular rack up the Direct, but after the second pitch there are placement options almost every five feet. At that point though the climbing was pretty easy so running it out wasn't a bad idea. I placed my #6 dragon cam on every pitch I climbed. It was by far my most used piece. Nuts I could have done without almost altogether. Tricams were mainly used for anchors, occasionally I'd plug one in a pocket somewhere when there was nothing else to place, so i was glad I brought them. Slings, ah slings. I wish I would have had 10 of them. I was connecting the dots on my pitches, I'd use the four shoulder length slings and 2 four foot slings I had pretty quickly and then prayed quickdraws would decrease rope drag at least a little. Holy crap rope drag sucked because of our lack of slings.

We decided to do simul climbing for the ridge. My opinion: Didn't really like the ridge too much. It was too "extreme hiking", not really climbing.

If you see a petzl attache at the base, I'd kinda like it back. I dropped it at the first belay trying to stick it in my grigri. But booty rules are booty rules.

Overall, I had a blast, the rappel was awesome (MP says 3 rappels? We made it in one) and I couldn't be more pleased with the climb. Definitely a great day. If you open up the ascent log at the top near the eyebolts, look for Evan and Matt.

chalk bag and shoes and get yourself in a good head space, if u want take some cord to make an anchor and chill for a minute or to belay up your second

Evan Sanders wrote:My opinion: Didn't really like the ridge too much. It was too "extreme hiking", not really climbing.

That's why some people leave the rope at home; plus, no rope drag! :p

Evan Sanders wrote:Pitch one: getting to the second bolt is ridiculously scary.

Haha! I have led this route four times and above the first bolt I think the same thing every time.

Evan Sanders wrote:Pitch two: Where is the pro? There was a spot for a #4 mastercam about 30 feet up, then we ran it out to the piton. Two placements for another hundred foot pitch. Absurd.

Be sure to get the placement just ten feet above the belay to avoid factor two exposure. The second pitch is run out, but there are gear opportunities. Flatiron climbing definitely challenges you to try more placement techniques.

Evan Sanders wrote:I feel like off-width gear would be pretty useful. Why does no one opt to do that?

I carry a #7 tri-cam (huge but relatively light) to beef up the first and second belay stations. Obviously, many do not feel this is necessary.

Evan Sanders wrote:Slings, ah slings. I wish I would have had 10 of them.

Bring eight double length slings and a few standard length slings and you will tame the rope drag. I have found this to be true on many Flatiron routes.

Evan Sanders wrote:Didn't really like the ridge too much. It was too "extreme hiking", not really climbing.

Many folks solo the ridge, but I find it is a great area to practice simul-climbing.

Try Fandango sometime. It is not quite as run out but has some really fun climbing. You don't have to climb as much of the ridge too.

Evan Sanders wrote: I feel like off-width gear would be pretty useful. Why does no one opt to do that? I kept looking around going "Wow, wish I had a #6 camalot". Just a thought.

Because then you would have to carry a number 6 camalot up a flatiron, which is absurd.

There is not one point on that climb you would want to fall, so bringing one more piece of gear is pointless.

Well I always bring to much gear as I'd rather have it and feel good than not.

Tri-cams are a great choice in the flats. I've never placed a stopper on either the 1st or the 3rd though. Most of the placements are better suited to cams or tri cams due to flares or shallowness IMO. LONG RUNNERS! Double and I toss in maybe 2 triples.

Another reason I like too much gear up there is the amount of people. I've had to build anchors in less than desirable places with more gear since there were parties fighting for the belay spots. So if I got a 4 piece micro anchor, I'm glad I have something for the climb still.

The ridge...rope drag hell. Protect only to keep your second from taking a massive swing. Probably better off bringing them up to the first section and simuling or soloing depending on the comfort level.

Again I like to have more gear because it makes me feel comfortable. Who really cares if anyone thinks that's overkill. You'll be run out in places anyways.

Evan Sanders wrote:J. Thompson: You owe me a dollar. Not once were we off route.

There's a specific route that you're supposed to take while climbing Direct? :)

Evan Sanders wrote:Pitch one: getting to the second bolt is ridiculously scary...Two placements for another hundred foot pitch. Absurd.

It can't be that absurd if you made it up and down the route alive! :-P

Evan Sanders wrote:Friction climbing. A whole different animal than other types of climbing I'd done. First pitch felt like I was going to fall off at any second, after that I got pretty used to it.

Good work on your first long friction climb. Once you get used to them, you'll realize they're not nearly as scary when you get proficient with your slab technique and build endurance in your calves (if you haven't already). In time, you will discover exactly what you can/cannot stick to with your shoes and how to adjust the angle at which you approach footholds.

There are several places around the country that routinely sport runouts as long as the ones you encountered on the 1st that protect climbing from 5.10 up.

Evan Sanders wrote:I feel like off-width gear would be pretty useful. Why does no one opt to do that? I kept looking around going "Wow, wish I had a #6 camalot".

Climb a long route that you don't absolutely need off-width gear on, and you'll probably change your mind in a hurry. :)

Congratulations on your first long friction route. The next time you climb it, will your rack be bigger or smaller (other than slings)?

--Marc

Marc H wrote: The next time you climb it, will your rack be bigger or smaller (other than slings)? --Marc

I'm not sure. I was pretty happy with the eight cams we took, I'll probably ditch the stoppers except for a couple, keep the four tricams we took, and maybe leave the smallest two sizes of cams we took (#0 and 1 mastercam) and double up in the #4 camalot equivalent.

This is a great thread! Since you now have a taste for runout friction climbing go hit the South side of the 5th flatiron East face and Pellea East Face. They'll get your heart pumping.

I always wondered what would happen in a fall on a low angle East face route. A year or 2 ago I found out when I discovered the old approach shoes I was wearing had degraded rubber that was pilling as I smeared. I decided to continue on leading, East face routes are not that hard right? About 25 feet off the ground I suddenly found myself skiing backwards on the balls of my feet. I then fell flat and slid. Lost some skin. My belayer caught me with my feet 3 feet off the ground. He then said "What's that smell?" (sniff) (sniff). Burning rubber! I let someone else lead most of the pitches. My arms have never been so tired climbing, I didn't trust my feet for the rest of the day.

Or this one:
mountainproject.com/v/color…

Evan Sanders wrote:Pitch one: getting to the second bolt is ridiculously scary.

Yep, it sure is! Most other Flatiron climbs will feel easy now, as that is one of the most sustained bits of climbing.

Evan Sanders wrote:That being said, three placements on a hundred foot pitch? Wow.

Yep, welcome to the Flatirons! The security of climbing in the Flats is not the pro at your feet, its knowing that its "only" 5.1-5.4. Be confident in your skills and keep a cool head. It will become very enjoyable even if its scary. Soon, you won't even bat an eye when you've got one piece in a hundred feet.

Evan Sanders wrote:I feel like off-width gear would be pretty useful. Why does no one opt to do that? I kept looking around going "Wow, wish I had a #6 camalot". Just a thought.

I've always felt that the spots for a really big piece were bigger flakes which never seemed as solid or the rock quality was sub-par. Or that said flake was such a large feature, it offered very easy passage, without feeling the need to protect. Been a while since I've been up there, though.

Evan Sanders wrote: Slings, ah slings. I wish I would have had 10 of them.

Funny how even a 24in sling feels inadequate up there:) I usually bring 4 48in and 3 24in. Leave the standard quickdraws at home.

Noice job gettin' it done!

Evan Sanders wrote: I'm not sure. I was pretty happy with the eight cams we took, I'll probably ditch the stoppers except for a couple, keep the four tricams we took, and maybe leave the smallest two sizes of cams we took (#0 and 1 mastercam) and double up in the #4 camalot equivalent.

good on ya. It is nice when you gain the confidence in the gear, your placing abilities and the rock (for giving you options) in order to show up to various routes and know that a standard rack will suffice. Of course the "standard rack" changes for different areas, but a set of cams, stoppers and slings usually works.
I wouldn't leave out the stoppers, just look for the more. Also, don't bother with quickdraws. Slings will do that job plus help at rope drap/building belays/emergency ascenders etc.

Go do it again. Next time only place passive gear...