Climbing Every Formation in the Flatirons?

For the last 6 months or so, I've been working on ticking every formation in the Flatirons. By my count, there are approximately 170 (give or take) formations total, but this is highly variable since it's hard to say what does and doesn't count as a formation. I've pulled this list and made a spreadsheet based on a combination of MP and Jason Haas' Flatirons guidebook. I've referenced Gerry Roach's as well, but there's a lot that's unlisted in there. Does anybody know of a comprehensive list that currently exists as a reference? Furthermore, has anybody completed this before? I'm sure someone has, but haven't heard any claims.

That's sweet, would you be willing to share your spreadsheet template? 

Edit: I'd be happy to join you on this quest. 

We have not heard of anyone else having that objective. 

I don't have any info to share, just tons of stoke for your awesome climbing objective! Best of luck :)

Here's a link to my spreadsheet. https://drive.google.com/file/d/17mWm4JB6P-8lMxtExun0LJILQS2XqneZ/view?usp=sharing

So far I've done 59 of the 171 that I've counted, though I always add and subtract from this list as I discover new ones. They're listed roughly in order from North to South, starting in Gregory Canyon and ending at South Mesa Trailhead. The dates are when I first climbed the formation, but I am considering adding to the challenge by trying to do it all this year alone.

Thanks, Bill! See you out there. 

I think I remember reading a thread about this somewhere, that the traditional "every flatiron" list was considered every one in the Roach book, and that a handful of people had done that. Maybe Tony B has, or almost certainly knows who has.

You should consult Jason Haas. Isn't he the man who has done the most Flatirons?

mike h wrote:

I think I remember reading a thread about this somewhere, that the traditional "every flatiron" list was considered every one in the Roach book, and that a handful of people had done that. Maybe Tony B has, or almost certainly knows who has.

My understanding is a few folks have done everything in the Gerry Roach book, but that’s far from every formation. Jason Haas’ book is the most comprehensive I’ve seen, but even still there are more formations on MP and other sources than are in his book. 

Bill Kinter wrote:

My understanding is a few folks have done everything in the Gerry Roach book, but that’s far from every formation. Jason Haas’ book is the most comprehensive I’ve seen, but even still there are more formations on MP and other sources than are in his book. 

That's fair, but how are you going to define "every formation"? Every boulder in the satellites? Does square rock count?

Roger Linfield climbed every flatiron. His list was likely from the Roach book but I'm not sure.

Bill Kinter wrote:

My understanding is a few folks have done everything in the Gerry Roach book, but that’s far from every formation. Jason Haas’ book is the most comprehensive I’ve seen, but even still there are more formations on MP and other sources than are in his book. 

What are these other formations?  

At some point, there needs to be a rule - like “appears in a well established guidebook” - or things would get dumb real quick.  Several have ticked the Roach guide.

My understanding is several people have already ticked everything (every route, not just every formation) in the Roach guidebook. But there are indeed several formations in the Haas book that aren’t included in Roach’s; I had to borrow a copy that I no longer have, so I can’t reference it at this moment. Beyond that, there’s even a few formations listed on MP that aren’t in the Haas book and vice versa.

I’m sure SOMEONE has done them all before, I just don’t know who and don’t know of any single-sourced definitive list.

Edit: For the record, my list doesn’t include boulders. I arbitrarily defined a Flatiron formation as a feature that itself is documented and has at least one documented route, 3rd-5th class. Some are weird like Square Rock, which feels more like a highball boulder than a “Flatiron”, but I climbed it on a rope a couple years ago so I included it nonetheless. 

I don't mean this as a criticism, but even the arbitrary subjectiveness of your criteria lends to the confusion in "who has done X." I've contributed to enough guidebooks to know even the "documented" criteria can be an author's arm waive.

 Listsofjohn will likely give you a good indication for others going after flatirons and their progress: listsofjohn.com/customlists…

Bill Kinter wrote:

Edit: For the record, my list doesn’t include boulders. I arbitrarily defined a Flatiron formation as a feature that itself is documented and has at least one documented route, 3rd-5th class. Some are weird like Square Rock, which feels more like a highball boulder than a “Flatiron”, but I climbed it on a rope a couple years ago so I included it nonetheless. 

Ryan Marsters wrote:

I don't mean this as a criticism, but even the arbitrary subjectiveness of your criteria lends to the confusion in "who has done X." I've contributed to enough guidebooks to know even the "documented" criteria can be an author's arm waive.

 Listsofjohn will likely give you a good indication for others going after flatirons and their progress: listsofjohn.com/customlists…

No worries; I don’t take it as a criticism honestly. At the end of the day, it’s my own fun little made up project that I’m crowdsourcing info for. Also, none of this really matters ultimately. I’ve referred to listsofjohn before but found even that list was incomplete. I’ve counted at least 30 more not included there. 

Newt Riverman wrote:

You should consult Jason Haas. Isn't he the man who has done the most Flatirons?

Jason, Roach, Myself, Oveson, Bell, Wright, and perhaps a few others have all climbed every route in the roach book.
Jason and I have also climbed every named feature. Bell, Wright, Roach, and Oveson had done so as well, and apparently Lindfield. (and probably Pratter too.)
But since that time, there have been 12 more named formations listed in established guides (IE the Haas guide).
IE: Damascus, Harmon East, Medusa, The Sibling, The Toddler, Chimera, Lost and Found, Isolation Rock, Saqqara, The Devil's Horns...

It's hard to stay on top of when people climb new things, and when Jason was writing the book, we did a lot of undocumented stuff.

The OSMP Falcon closure map is a pretty comprehensive list of all the formations. There's a handful of "unnamed" formations they don't include, but not many. I too hope to some day climb every independent formation over 20 ft tall

Bill you should talk to Peter Bakwin for some laughs - I think he's done a year of gridding the Roach Classics! 

Michael L wrote:

I too hope to some day climb every independent formation over 20 ft tall

It will be interesting to see what definition of 'independent' prevails.
IE: Totally detached, separate summit, or not apparently connected below ground?
Because there will be a lot more formations over 20' that I can think of in the Central and South areas... canvasing that will be tough.

This an awesome goal! Your spreadsheet is super legit too. 

Tony B wrote:

It will be interesting to see what definition of 'independent' prevails.
IE: Totally detached, separate summit, or not apparently connected below ground?
Because there will be a lot more formations over 20' that I can think of in the Central and South areas... canvasing that will be tough.

I break the "totally detached" rule when it comes to the Amphitheatre, where that alone I break down into:

• T-Zero
• First Pinnacle
• East Bench
• West Bench
• Second Pinnacle

Completely contrived, maybe. I did this on the grounds of the Haas guidebook breaking this down into such separate categories, even though they're all connected to some extent. Not that it's in a logistical issue because they can all be done together in under an hour car to car.