Third Flatiron, Nov. 15 November 16, 2007

Aaron agreed to take a personal day off from teaching the finer points of mathematics to sixth-graders in Fort Collins on Thursday so we could climb the Third Flatiron in Boulder. It was his first trad climbing lead, and he did great. I know this because neither of us died. Of course, he was a bit surprised when this guy passed him on the first pitch, free soloing.
Aaron: “What the fuck?”
Me: “That’s just Boulder, man.”
In the guy’s defense, the climbing is about 5.0 almost all the way up the route. Still, the penalty for falling is quite stiff.

I’m goofing around on the third or fourth pitch, executing a heel hook where probably no one has ever thought to do one before. Or needed to.

Me leading the second-to-last pitch.
(Photo by Aaron Fredrick)

Aaron out on Kiddy Kar Ledge, starting up the last pitch.

Aaron snaps a few photos at the top.

Soon to be a MySpace profile pic, I said.

Aaron and the Flatirons.

Trying to look tough.

Scariest part of the day? Aaron on the third rappel off the back.

Flatirons climbing, Nov. 3-4 November 5, 2007

Here’s Lee leading the second pitch of Left ‘N’ Up, an easy route on The Slab, probably the largest (definitely the widest) rock formation in the Flatirons. It’s maybe 500 feet tall, and probably 1,000 feet wide, and most of the climbing on it is really easy. We’re talking about doing the first sideways ascent of the rock sometime.

Here’s Lee on top of the Slab, at the end of the climb. If you squint and look really closely, you can see a pair of climbers on the rock just to the right of Lee, called Pellaea.

Bottom right corner.

Nick and I thought we’d take Robb on a nice easy jaunt on Sunday, but we ended up getting a little lost in the Flatirons, giving up and just saying, “this looks pretty easy.” When I got home, I found out we were on a rock called the Red Devil and had taken Robb up a not-often climbed 5.6 route. Well, he did fine.

Third Flatiron, Aug. 3 August 3, 2007

On a rare Friday off work, Nick and I left Denver at 5 a.m. to climb the Third Flatiron in Boulder. It’s an easy, but long climb, and it would be my first multi-pitch lead climb. Fortunately, we were the first ones on the route at 6:45. Here’s me at the top of the first pitch.

And Nick, shot facing south.

This is Nick climbing the third or fourth pitch of what ended up being seven.

Nick at the last belay, at the top of the sixth pitch. The University of Colorado is the large group of red-roofed buildings on the left.

Me on the summit. The sandstone-colored building on the far left is the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Both of us, with Longs Peak directly between our heads. Not a lot of room up there.

I got two good shots of Nick rappelling off the back of the Third.

This is the other one.

Here’s the approximate route we took up the rock, from the approach trail.

The Third, Second and First Flatirons, from left to right. They look more like Flatirons from other angles.

Pics April 19-29 May 1, 2007

We got Emily up her first full route at Garden of the Gods on April 21. She needed a little coaching, but was quite heroic, and even cocky when she got down. She was very disappointed to find out that this wall was called Kindergarten Rock. Upward and onward.

I took the day off Thursday and got to do some bouldering at Mount Sanitas in Boulder. The route on the far right climbs straight up that wall and tops out at about 20 feet. I was able to scare the shit out of myself, but finish it.

Lee Smith, a guy I met last week, was kind enough to take me up Seal Rock in the Flatirons on Saturday. It was my first trad climb and my first multipitch climb. Seal Rock is the one beneath the red arrow.

Here’s roughly the route we followed.

Here’s the view of the Flatirons at the top of the first pitch.

Me climbing the fourth pitch, following Lee.

Me at the top, with The Goose in the background.

Lee and I at the top. We did not plan the matching helmets thing.

I drove up to Fort Collins after the Salvagetti breakfast ride on Sunday to go bouldering with Aaron. He snapped this pic of me on Tiger Rock. This problem is ridiculous, and I think we actually cheated to finish it.