Bill Wright about 50' up the South Face Route on t...
Description
This is the second easiest route on the Maiden. It is "spicier" than the standard North Face route and will test your route finding skills. But it is nowhere near as hard as the East Ridge or West overhang.
Scramble up the south side of the rock, and look for a ramp which rises diagonally (left, facing the rock) onto the south face. Also look for a thin crack (the route South Face), which starts about 50' east of this route. Begin near a big block, and climb the ramp, until the terrain above it steepens and you can see a good place to move back right. Belay here (slings visible from below).
Here is where many people get lost. The face above is steep and unprotected and it is not obvious the easiest way to climb it. Move up and right, following a weakness past a (very) small tree (you can belay here at a flake or continue).
A few feet above you should see an old bolt. Clip it and contemplate your fate. From here a ramp ascends up and left, ending at some slings where people have bailed. This is not the way to go. If you look straight up, you will see what looks maybe like a knob/jug(?) on the skyline. This in fact is a jug and marks the end of the crux. Move straight up, placing a TCU in a crack. Ponder your moves carefully and fire up 10'-15' to the jug. It is not really that hard, but the two times I have done this route I was not sure this was the right way.
Belay on the East Ridge, and do one more easy pitch to the top. Enjoy the raps down. Both the raps can be done with a single 60m rope, although the first will end with less than 10' of extra rope.
Just to update/add some beta for fixed gear on this route, there are several fixed pins on the first traversing pitch, two on the second (rising traverse) pitch, and three, count em, three nice bolts for the 5.8 crux over the bulge. Also, the final rap station has a CMC marker that says 105' to ground, but a 60m reaches fine. You may have to swing slightly left to higher ground though.
I'll add my own pocket change here. Pitch 2 traverses right probably 40-50 feet with maybe 10 feet of total gain in height, so THAT tiny tree. Nice double bolts on the spire just above the tree provides a good belay ledge for the crux pitch.
IMO, the crux pitch is still a serious pitch. The three bolts are in a horizontal line, only a few feet from each other, directly to the right of the two-bolt anchor at the top of the spire above the tiny tree. Because of their horizontal orientation and proximity to each other, they are largely redundant. I suppose having three of them might keep you from swinging back into the spire, but one bolt (the original?) would have sufficed. (Could they have been placed for a rescue? Otherwise, they look ridiculous.) Besides, I felt that the crux was just beyond the bolts, and above that there is a short runout on steep terrain with small holds and lichen. A leader fall here would be serious, as you would hit the sloping ramp below the bolts.
By the way, a couple of feet above the first bolt, I found a fixed pin, as well as both a small nut and cam placement. (I had been wanting to do this climb for a while, in its condition before the added bolts, so I led this pitch using only one of the bolts.) Also, there is a two-bolt anchor at the end of the this pitch at the notch on the east ridge.
I did this route again last Thursday to see how it has changed. Two bolts were added to the third (crux) pitch since 1994. These are the second and third bolts on that pitch, which are only about 3' apart and head up diagonally right from the belay (and first bolt).
Before these bolts were placed, it was not clear which way to go. My original description (followed in my ascents in 92 and 94) goes straight up from the first bolt (the same bolt as the one in my description above). Now the new bolts lead one right of this line. The hardest section is around the 3rd bolt.
After the 3rd bolt, you can follow an awkward (and unprotected) ramp back left to the hold mentioned in my original description. However, this time I tried something new and moved up and right from the 3rd bolt, then up and left on an easy slab. Done this way, this pitch is probably still 5.8, but much less serious than it used to be.
What disturbs me most is the apparent blatant disregard for the bolting ban in the Flatirons. It reflects poorly on all climbers if Boulder Open Space managers discover that anybody has been secretly placing new bolts (but I am for replacing unsafe old bolts).
I've clipped the bolts, but don't have much in the way of personal knowledge of their history.
Though this fact is not widely known, it *is* possible to obtain a permit and legally replace fixed hardware in the Boulder Mountian Parks. Darran is a stand-up guy - if he replaced these bolts I strongly suspect that it was like-for-like and with a permit.
I agree with George Bell in that the "S" rating should now be taken away. I did this route back in 96 before the two additional bolts were added and it was damn scary then. I just repeated this route on Saturday and found it much easier. I did not know however when I started this that they(the new bolts) were there, but I did find comfort in them being there because I did not forget how scary it was the first time.
Since my last comment I have talked with Darran Bornn, and I now believe he DID simply replace existing bolts. According to Darren the bolts I thought were new were old chopped studs, it makes sense I might not have noticed them, I don't remember even going over to where they were. Anyway Darran has replaced bolts on many Flatiron routes (with a permit and approval from the ASCA) and he has done an excellent job from what I have seen. For this reason I take him at his word when he says he replaced studs on this route. My previous comment should be crossed out, I do not believe anyone has placed new bolts on this route.
Old message deleted! Brad, once I figured out that I could delete old comments, I got rid of the story about Marvin. He would have agreed with your posting and also was put off by the whole trad vs sport thing. Thanks for your input! (March 3, 2007)
There was at least one other fatal accident on this climb - I don't think it's the same one mentioned above, but I could be wrong. I climbed it in the early 90s and when I got back someone told me that they'd read in the paper that just 1-2 days before someone had fallen from the first pitch (where it traverses right after diagonalling up left). I was a beginning leader when I did it and I probably woudn't have done the climb if I'd known I was following on the heels of an accident. I also remember being a little scared traversing there, because the last piece was back down in the diagonalling part, and there were quite a few traversing moves well above this piece. I think in the accident the leader fell and pulled enough gear to make it a ground-fall. Does anybody else know anything about the accident I'm talking about? Sorry I can't be clearer about the date, but it was probably '91 or '92.
Exciting route, We both felt still spicy even with new bolts. The first pitch seemed much more challenging than it looks to be from the ground. I found the runout on P2 to be exciting, as was the crux above the bolts. Continuing up the E face in nuclear winds was great fun, a really exposed step around to get started....
I went straight up instead of right on the second pitch. Kept going thinking I would run into a bolt that I couldn't see. No chance. Fell 30 feet to my belayer and proceeded to fall another 30 feet past my belayer advoiding the ledge. Broke a biner that was attached to a fixed piton that was about 7 feet above the belay. Plus, my partner called me that next day saying he couldn't move and asked me to come pick him up and take him to the Chiropractor. This happend in the summer of '91 or '92? Thought I would just add that to the comments.
The first pitch is no joke at 5.5, particularly just before the end of the pitch. However, the second pitch really gets you thinking. Clip the pin just right of the belay, then go straight right with good feet and bad hands, until you can reeeaccch a good yellow Alien placement. Once you get this the pitch is basically over. I was reassured upon seeing the double-bolt anchor below the 3rd pitch, along with 3 protection bolts; however once you get past these there's nothing until just before the anchor. Don't be a 5.8 climber and try to do this thing, there are many places where a fall would be nasty/lethal! I can't imagine the FA party back in the day when men were men, w/o sticky rubber, micro-cams, and 3 fat bolts at the crux, where there is no possibility for other gear! Several of the chopped bolts I saw were in logical places that would make the route quite safe, yet the second two bolts at the crux can nearly be clipped from the first bolt! Still r-rated for me!
By percious From: Arvada, CO Feb 24, 2008 rating: 5.8 R
There are three bolts heading right from the pitch 2 crux. I am not sure why these huge bolts are there, but I think the climb actually goes straight up. There is also a pin next to the good TCU placement.
Indeed, this is a very serious climb for a 5.8 climber. I would say the first pitch goes at 5.6, it is a pretty serious lead as well, as it traverses with PG gear placements and possible ground fall should your placements fail.
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