Some crags in this area are closed 1 February to 31 July: MORE INFO >>>
The following crags are closed 1 February to 31 July: First Pinnacle (Gregory Canyon) Second Pinnacle (Gregory Canyon) Third Pinnacle (Gregory Canyon) Third Flatiron Queen Anne's Head WC Fields Pinnacle The Ghetto East Ironing Board West Ironing Board The Fin Green Thumb Jaws
Warren Teissier cranking the 5.7 roof, East Face ...
Description
This is the longest route on the Third Flatiron, and one of the best. The climbing is similar to the Standard Route, although it is nearly twice as long and there are no fixed eye bolts, and no crowds. Due to a general lack of protection and fixed belays, this is not a good route for beginners. Once my wife and I were climbing and a thunderstorm hit us near the roof, and we endured a pounding while hunting for rappel anchors (we were able to get off by leaving only 2 slings).
Leave the Royal Arch Trail about a hundred yards past the Bluebell Creek crossing, thrash down into the creek and cross it, heading up a hill to the base of the face. You can also leave the trail before the creek crossing, but I find this bushwhack worse, and it is harder to navigate to the face. Make sure you do not end up under the Third Flatironette, which is a separate, small Flatiron before you get to the main face.
The start of the route is marked by a rounded rib of rock that angles north below the main east face. Head up this rib, then start straight up the east face towards an overhang which extends across the entire left side of the east face (visible in the lower left corner of the photo below).
You will reach the overhang in about 2 pitches. You can either run around the overhang on the left (south) 5.5, or tackle it directly at 5.7. There are several cracks visible in the overhang, take whichever one looks best to you (we took the left one). There is an ancient bolt with an aluminum hangar about 40' below the right hand roof crack (we didn't climb near it).
Continue upwards near the left edge of the east face for about 500 feet. This section is easier (maybe 5.2), but there is very little pro available. Expect to get in one 2 or 3 pieces a pitch, and choose your belays carefully. Eventually you will reach a rounded summit, the Dog's Head. This point is only about 50' south of the standard route and you will likely hear and see other climbers on this route.
From the Dog's Head, step across onto the next piece of the Third Flatiron, and climb up 120' or so to join the regular route where it crosses the Gash to Kiddy Kar ledge. The last pitch is the same as for the regular route.
The route George and I followed (Roach's description) runs left of the route shown in the scanned picture. We were 3 to 20 feet from the left arete for most of the way.
Also, there are a couple of ways of climbing the roof directly. The bolt mentioned in the 3rd picture (I thought it was a piton) protected the weakness on the right side of the roof. We went for the crack on the left (no piton but good pro). Of course, you can by-pass the roof to the left thus dropping the rating from 5.7 to 5.5
What a grand scramble. We did the right of two cracks, didnt see a bolt here, but did belay from an old funky thing about 160' off the ground. The slab before the roof seemed trickier than thre roof itself which had a horizontal splitter that took good gear. We simul-climbed a lot since there wasn't a good belay very often, and that was nice. Such good views of Willy B and The Thing. The best pitch required running it out about 150' on a stellar hueco ladder. I thought the left crack looked way harder than the right, but to each their own.
The route is 7 pitches with 60-m rope. I agree with Warren, the route goes near the left edge of the face. The edge has some good gear and exciting exposure. Half-way up, the edge has the bolted top anchor of a sport-climb (Shoyu State). There are adequate belays (at least 2 bomber pieces) on every pitch, just don't use up all cams of the same size during the pitch... We used a lot of Aliens and a few nuts, and we wished we had a #2 Cam several times (only brought up to #1). To overcome the overhang, the right crack is easier. The worst runout is in the middle of the climb.
This was my first big free solo, and a on-sight. I followed a friend who took a shot of me totally gripped on the last bit were it ease off but turns into a total friction climb. I'll never forget it.
RSS Feed
Slideshow
