December 16, 2017
Boulder, CO
Laura climbed the third flatiron with her father and uncle when she was just a kid, maybe 7 years old or so as she recalls. She says she didn't scream when they lowered her from the upper rappel bolts but I bet her dad tells the story a bit differently.
For the last month I have been resting and working on healing a nagging foot injury, so I had been climbing in flip flops rather than actual climbing shoes. Comfortable up to about 5.8 or so without shoes, I knew that Laura could get some good practice leading on easier terrain so that's what we've been working on.
We have been back from Patagonia for almost a month now. I am becoming restless and Laura keeps taking about needing to get into the mountains again. I felt like it was time to give actual climbing shoes a go so we decided to try out a few classic rock climbs on Boulders famous flatirons. Short approaches and climbable in flip flops if need be, these would be a nice way to get out again.
We opted to test my foot on the easier third flatiron - the one Laura climbed when she was just a kid. It was a chilly day so the usually crowded route had only one party in front of us. They climbed the first pitch as we geared up. Laura took off while I was lacing up my tennis shoes, still unsure about trying climbing shoes. We simu-climbed past the group in short order and lead in two blocks to the summit of the iconic rock formation. Almost like going back 30 years, Laura told stories about her father climbing in the Boulder area often. We were excited to go do more routes that he climbed and still talks about.
It was 1 pm and we still wanted to climb the slabby and run-out 10 pitch classic line on the first flatiron. Over we headed and Laura began the climb as hikers watched on. It had snowed just a few days prior, so the rock was running water in areas making the climbing quite difficult. Laura slipped on the upper portion of the first pitch and got a gasp out of the tourists. Luckily, her foot caught before taking an actual fall! We swapped leads and stretched out the entire 70 meter rope each time, occasionally needing just a few feet of simu-climbing to reach a solid belay spot which are quite difficult to find on this particular route. Making the route in 6 rather than 10 pitches, we reached the summit of the flatiron within just a few hours. We rappelled to solid ground and hiked out as daylight slowly faded, slipping and sliding down the now icy path back to the car.
