East Face Left 

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.

Fun climb if you're willing to run it out. Great views of Boulder. Beware of the afternoon storms!

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.

Marc and I hiked to the 'traditional route'. But there were four parties on the bolted route, another party 40 feet left, and two more waiting to depart. So we headed for the East Left Face. We rappelled (full 30 meters) off the dead tree to the gully (right of the 3rd Flatiron), and hiked to the lowest part of the east face. It's slightly around the corner (left) from any human activity. For the first 700 feet of the left face, didn't see any of the crowd. The crux of the 5.5 is traversing left around the roof. But there is decent cam placement in the under cling. The rappel down might have the best signage in the country! We're going back to do the 5.7 roof next time!

In response to Warren's comment, I believe there is a ring piton when you hit the roof, then if you traverse right there is a bolt about 1/2 way. It's been a while, so don't rely on that beta, but I remember being happy clipping both.

Hey guys, I was planning on free soloing it tomorrow, never done it before, but two questions,
1. do I need a rope for raping off or is there a walk off/chill downclimb to where I don't have to downclimb the whole thing if I don't bring a rope?
2. anyone wanna go? I'll be headed out that way around noonish, just moved back to the Front Range and lookin' for some chill people to climb with.
Chris

You can downclimb the SW chimney, see the description under that route. I've done it, but I prefer to bring a rope and rap because there is one spot that is a little slippery and holdless. I don't free solo any route except the Standard Route any more.

I climbed this on Tuesday, 11/22/11, with Jason King. It was my first time on the Third, and I can't believe it took me so long to get on it. We climbed the 5.7 roof, which has an old bolt right below it. I recommend this variation. Just pull up on some good edges and get your left foot up high and out left. We simul-climbed the whole route in one long pitch in about 45 minutes, and then down-climbed off the side/back to get off. Super fun and highly recommended as a traditional belayed route, simul-climb, or free-solo. Enjoy!

Made an attempt on the east face left Dec. 16th. We post-holed through knee deep to get there. Started our climb with small ice falling on us (nothing too dangerous, so we went for it). There was a serious amount of ice on the route. After leading the first pitch on 4 pieces of gear, I set a belay under the 5.7 roof. The second pitch we traversed right to the Standard Route and bailed off to the East Side Beach due to the amount of ice on the route. This route is already run-out, but when the cracks you want to protect are filled with ice, you can imagine how it was. All in all, it was a good "mini epic".

I am curious to know if any one has any idea how long the pitches are after the roof but before the gash. I am not concerned about the runout or lack of gear but would prefer not to simul-climb and would like to know how and where the belay stations are.