I guess I enjoyed Boulder, Colorado so much the first time, that I had to go back again! It was the University of Wyoming's Homecoming. For some reason, I was not feeling the urge to celebrate and partake in this 'Rite of Passage' college experience. I think I was so spoiled with the University of Delaware's Homecoming Festivities during and after my time there, that I really did not feel the urge to celebrate here at UW. So, off to Boulder, CO I went! I just love it down there. It is so beautiful, lots of awesome hiking and climbing, and I just really enjoy the vibe, atmosphere, and community down there. I think it might be the next calling...but I am totally getting ahead of time and the purpose of this entry.
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The FlatIrons
From Right to Left: The First, Second, and Third! |
Marc was already in Boulder at an event for one of his friends, Matt. But we decided to make our stay for the long weekend to do some exploring. Friday morning, we decided to go climb the Third Flatiron. The Flatirons are part of the Fountain Formation - a rock unit that stretches along the eastern margin of the modern-day Front Range. The formation was deposited in rivers and stream roughly 300-million years along the flanks of a mountain range that geologists refer to as the Ancestral Rockies. The Flatirons were tilted into their present position by the Laramide mountain-building episode approximately 70-million to 40-million years ago.
The Third Flatiron is a popular pastime for local climbers. It is the fastest known time for free-soloing the 1,200-ft East Face (timed in at 5-minutes & 59-seconds). Don't worry, I didn't climb it that fast nor free soloed it! From what Matt has stated, the Third Flatiron is one of the best multi-pitches to do and the technicality is a 5.4-5.6.
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| Getting Ready to Ascend...But Let's Take a Selfie First! |
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| Smiling and Excited...and Nervous! |
For the ascent, we hiked part of the Mesa Trail for the approach where it connected to a steep and bouldery climber's trail that led you to the start of the climb on the Third. Matt has led and free-soloed this climb, so he led the route for us. The route was the Standard East Face route. I went in the middle of Matt and Marc, even though we had a double rope where Marc and I followed up Matt.
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Marc Taking Butt Photos of My Ascent Up the Third
Photo Credit to Marc Sweet |
The views as we ascended were so beautiful. We were able to see the whole city of Boulder, as well as Denver in the distance! We had perfect, sunny weather, clear skies, and beautiful scenic views, however, as the views got more appealing, the look down got more terrifying. I tried to not look down as much as possible. Hey, this was my first real big climb and my first multi-pitch, so of course I was nervous of the height!
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| The View Around Us. |
We climbed up 5-pitches to where we reached the summit. There we were greeted by a few climbers who had free-soloed it and were about to rappel down. So while we waited, we were able to take a breather from the climb, take in the view, and for Marc and Matt to 'teach' me how to rappel.
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The First and Second Flatiron From the Summit of the Third
Photo Credit to Marc Sweet |
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| Happy He Made it Up! |
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| Panoramic From the South (Left) to the North (Right) |
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| What a View! |
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| A Marker In the Rock! |
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| Waiting to Rappel...Yes I Was Nervous! |
So the idea is to rappel down three pitches. Well....this was my first rappel, and on top of being nervous and never rappelling before this climb, I was incredibly nervous. And well, as soon as I got into the rappel rope, I looked down, and well, I didn't rappel. I was so scared, practically broke down into tears. I cannot just perform an action without practicing it first. So, with the awesome flexibility and patience from Marc and Matt, they helped me top-rope me down two pitches. So in the diagram below, we did the first two yellow rappels in one, then did the third yellow rappel instead of the long red one. After the third rappel, we hike back around the Third back to the Mesa Trail.
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| The Descent Route |
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| Cannot Believe I Climbed That! |
I know, I did not rappel down, but I was able to climb up without a problem. Marc said that he would take me to a not-so-high climbing area and actually give me a rappelling lesson. So, I will be rappelling soon enough! Maybe just not a 200+ first time rappel. Other than the rappel, I really enjoyed the climb and adventure today! Really appreciative and grateful for two flexible and supportive people to climb with! :)
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| Summit Posing At the Summit of the Third! Duh! |
TheChristyBel
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