Climb all Flatirons in a Day? Weekend?

How feasible would this be? Partner and I are looking to get out there next weekend, flying in Friday morning and staying through Sunday. I'm not very familiar with the area but know the climbs are easy enough to be more or less completely simuled by us. What I don't know is the descents/hikes down and how long those would take to get to the next one. Any advice? 

That'd certainly be a lot of hiking... Additionally, you may need to keep your goal to the "main" formations, as the Flatirons as a whole has many formations spread across a large area.

KyleSmith wrote: That'd certainly be a lot of hiking... Additionally, you may need to keep your goal to the "main" formations, as the Flatirons as a whole has many formations spread across a large area.

Yes, I meant just 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I know 4 is wholly unexciting but, ya know, completionism or whatever. How bad are the hikes? 

It's not too difficult to link the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in an afternoon. The third is the only one you need to rap off.  The First is an easy downclimb and the 2nd dumps you off in a hiking trail. I would recommend climbing them in that order too. Depends on how fast you hike down, but plan on 25 minutes to get from the top of the 1st to the start of the 2nd.

If you're just doing the first 3, do 1 -> 3 -> 2. Coming off the 1st you can run between 1st/2nd to the main trail, and past the 2nd to the 3rd. Solo the 3rd and then you can take a rope to rap or you can downclimb SW chimney (5.4). Get back on the trail and start running back, bang out the 2nd, and the trail from the top cuts straight back to Chatauqua without going back to the base of the 2nd at all. Also this starts off with the hardest and ends with the easiest.

It's a big day to do all the numbered Flatirons, I think this has been covered in other threads with some good tips but it might map out like this:

Park at Gregory Canyon, hike in to the base of the First on the bluebell baird trail - 20 minutes.
Climb the First Direct East Face to the North Ridge and rap or downclimb the South Ridge - 2.5 hours since you may want to pitch out the beginning
Hike down to the base of the Second via the access trails - 15 minutes
Coil the rope and solo Freeway on the Second to the trail - 20 minutes
Hike back down the same trail to the Royal Arch Trail, hike up the approach to the East Bench on the Third - 45 minutes
Climb the Standard East Face (7 pitches) rap off back - 1.5 hours
(eat lunch, drink water - 20 minutes)
Hike down to the north of the Third, turn right on Royal Arch, hike over to the Fourth and approach, maybe 45 minutes?
Climb the East Face (this is not a Flatiron Classic) - 1.5 hours
Bushwack down and around to the Fifth (messy) - 1 hour
Climb the East Face Left, cool descent though the hole, bushwack down to the trail - 1.5 hours
Crawl back to your car or call for rescue - 1 hour

10-12 hours total maybe? I'm sure people have done it in 4-5 but probably ropeless. Altitude may be an issue if you are coming from sea level.
Have fun!

Thank you everyone! Much appreciated. I think a good idea would be to plan 1, 2, and 3 for Friday on arrival then four and five on Saturday to avoid crowds. I do think coming in from about 100 feet above sea level is going to make the grunty part a little worse. 

David House wrote: It's a big day to do all the numbered Flatirons, I think this has been covered in other threads with some good tips but it might map out like this:

Park at Gregory Canyon, hike in to the base of the First on the bluebell baird trail - 20 minutes.
Climb the First Direct East Face to the North Ridge and rap or downclimb the South Ridge - 2.5 hours since you may want to pitch out the beginning
Hike down to the base of the Second via the access trails - 15 minutes
Coil the rope and solo Freeway on the Second to the trail - 20 minutes
Hike back down the same trail to the Royal Arch Trail, hike up the approach to the East Bench on the Third - 45 minutes
Climb the Standard East Face (7 pitches) rap off back - 1.5 hours
(eat lunch, drink water - 20 minutes)
Hike down to the north of the Third, turn right on Royal Arch, hike over to the Fourth and approach, maybe 45 minutes?
Climb the East Face (this is not a Flatiron Classic) - 1.5 hours
Bushwack down and around to the Fifth (messy) - 1 hour
Climb the East Face Left, cool descent though the hole, bushwack down to the trail - 1.5 hours
Crawl back to your car or call for rescue - 1 hour

10-12 hours total maybe? I'm sure people have done it in 4-5 but probably ropeless. Altitude may be an issue if you are coming from sea level.
Have fun!

And thank you for the detailed beta!

For his birthday last year, I took my housemate up all five numbered Flatirons. I found him to be a natural (much to my chagrin). I also found the Fifth, Northside to be the crux. Fourth is a ton of fun if you go through the arch, then out of the glory hole, then find the offwidth on the last piece. It's def. a favorite of mine (which skips a lot of the crappy parts). Here's a stupid video we shot:

You can see a map/GPX track on Strava and Caltopo.

If you get done with that, you can do the, "Eight Summits of Green Mountain" which links up a few Flatirons in a tidy way to get basically a mountaineers route to the summit. Strava for that, and my writeup (of sorts).

Happy slabbin'. When in doubt, run it out!

David House wrote: 10-12 hours total maybe? I'm sure people have done it in 4-5 but probably ropeless. Altitude may be an issue if you are coming from sea level.
Have fun!

The record is 1h 46m 22s. Fun thing to ponder.  

Here's Brian Crim's trip report for linkup of 1,2,3,4,5 in about 7 hours: http://www.brianinthewild.com/quintfecta.html

Sarah Meiser wrote: Here's Brian Crim's trip report for linkup of 1,2,3,4,5 in about 7 hours: http://www.brianinthewild.com/quintfecta.html

Ha! He was such a noob back then. He could probably do it sub 3 fairly easily now.

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Just saying per above though: Freeway ends shy of the Second, with most doing ultra-lame backside hiking to summit. Free for All, Freezeway, and South Sneak are all better options which summit and work nicely in various linkups. 

Just remember..  If it is crowded, you can climb mostly anywhere.  Don't get sucked into climbing the donkey trail. Many variations available.

Ryan Marsters wrote:

Ha! He was such a noob back then. He could probably do it sub 3 fairly easily now.

Well, I think we know he can do the Trifecta in 1hr9, and that's throwing in The Spy and Gregory ridge.  So yeah, I imagine.

So even a mere mortal can do the trifecta in about 1hr40min, ropeless.  The Quitifecta is a lot more though - particularly as the 4th takes a lot longer than the others and takes some doing to get back down from.  But yeah, you can easily do "all 5" in a day even roped.
It is a lot of hiking, indeed, but it's a good time!

Hayden, I moved from Dallas to Boulder a year ago and climb the flatirons a bunch.  Doing the first 3 in a day roped is definitely doable but would take a long time unless you're simul-climbing.  It goes really fast if you're soloing but it really helps to know the descents (the downclimb from the 3rd is kinda tricky).  

The most efficient way to climb the first 3 and minimize hiking is 2-1-3.  Hike to 2, climb it, exit directly to the trail and go down a short way to the start of 1, climb 1, then take a secret climber's trail directly to the start of 3.  It helps to have someone show you the shortcut because it's not obvious.  Doing it this way saves 20-30+ minutes because the only uphill hiking is on the initial approach to 2.

Doing all 5 is twice the effort if not more because the hike to 5 is long and 4 is very involved.  Happy to provide more beta if you DM me.

Also, contrary to other posts there is no bushwacking on the approaches or descents for 4 and 5 if you do it correctly.  The trails are steep and faint in spots but established.  The trail to 5 goes up to the right just as you reach the royal arch formation.  It's further up than you'd think.  4 starts just off the trail and the descent follows a faint trail down the north side of the formation.

Here’s all the inspiration you need:
​Flatirons Fastest Known Times​​​

Kevin Dahlstrom wrote: Also, contrary to other posts there is no bushwacking on the approaches or descents for 4 and 5 if you do it correctly.  The trails are steep and faint in spots but established.  The trail to 5 goes up to the right just as you reach the royal arch formation.  It's further up than you'd think.  4 starts just off the trail and the descent follows a faint trail down the north side of the formation.

Depends on the route. To access East Face South Side, you are correct. To access East Face North Side (which is usually used for the Quinfecta as NS is the "Standard" route) ...not so much. 

The trail down from the Fifth is... ...a trail, but basically as crazy as a social trail can be. Class 3 dirt and Class 4 tree trunks.

And random PSA: follow the One Rule of the Flatirons: don't descend between the Fourth and Fifth Flatiron.

The 4th is a once in life time climb.  I will never climb it again after doing 1->5.  A fun ~5000ft linkup would be Angel's Way, right side of the 5th, left side of 3rd, 2nd, then a route on 1st. If doing it with a partner, you can rope up or simul the harder parts.  The advantage to this order is Angel's Way gains most of the elevation to the base of the Fifth.

It's easy to poo poo the Fourth, but it's really just that third piece that gets a bad rap. Get through the grunge of the beginning of the third piece and be rewarded with interesting scrambling on clean rock. The summit is high, the views are good, and one can even elect to exit north before the start of the third piece to get up Challenger, then Takin' Care of Business - and then finally continue onto the third piece. A good linkup.  

Quintessential Flatiron experience, if you ask me.

Long Ranger wrote:

Depends on the route. To access East Face South Side, you are correct. To access East Face North Side (which is usually used for the Quinfecta as NS is the "Standard" route) ...not so much. 

The trail down from the Fifth is... ...a trail, but basically as crazy as a social trail can be. Class 3 dirt and Class 4 tree trunks.

And random PSA: follow the One Rule of the Flatirons: don't descend between the Fourth and Fifth Flatiron.

Thanks, Long. Local etiquette or just a pain?