Eldo Easter and Exploring the Flatrions

Until Saturday the only route I had ever climbed in the Flatirons was the traditional East face of the First. That’s a shame considering the wealth of climbing hosted in Boulder’s backyard. On any clear day I can see the waves of rock towering over the city from my kitchen window. Despite the lingering snow, I’ve been determined to hike deep into the maze of sandstone landmarks and find some great lines to climb. Saturday was finally the day. The 40 mile-per-hour wind might have ruined a few climbers’ days, but the woods surrounding the Flatiron’s rocks provided all the protection we wanted.

Icicles hanging along the way to Dinosaur Rock

Even with the new Flatrions guidebook, the area is still very complicated to a first timer. Large rock formations are everywhere. Some have many documented lines, others have none. Saturday Kim and I made a point to do plenty of hiking in order to explore the NCAR area. If something looked interesting we would go check it out. If a slab looked fun, we’d solo it.

Kim solos one of the endless Flatirion slabs

We came across many boulder problems, including a couple underneath the roof of this unique rock.

Don't forget about the great Flatirons bouldering.

We did get a in few harder lines, including Flake and Crack, a 5.10+ and 5.11+ on Square Rock. I led Flake thinking from the look of it that it would be an easy layback. I struggled. I got the line clean, placing #2, #3 and #4 cams, but it made me think twice about leading Crack. I toproped Crack and was glad I did, peeling several times. I don’t know how I would have placed gear. Tough!

Dinosaur Rock and Der Zerkle towering behind Square Rock

We finished on a Der Zerkle 5.11, Touch Monkey. More on Touch Monkey below. Now that I’ve put in the miles and head-scratching to figure out the area, I can’t wait to get back and do some more climbing!

Sunday was Easter and Tyler and I headed to Eldo’s upper West Ridge. We spent all day climbing, completing six routes. Highlights included White Lightening, a beautiful 5.10 starting on thin fingers and ending with fists, and Parallels, a pumpy, tricky 5.11.

A climber leads Duh Dihedral while Tyler tackles White Lightening

A couple routes over the weekend illustrated to me many of the themes Eli touched on in his recent post, On Confidence. Touch Monkey in the Flatirons was a 5.11b sport climb, a little run out and overhung. It wasn’t incredibly exposed, but I felt uneasy the second my feet escaped the ground. I clipped the first bolt and engaged the overhanging section with about 10 feet remaining to the second bolt. With my right hand in a bucket, I tossed my feet on a few smallish, but sticky features and went up with my left hand to an area with numerous chalked up dishes. I found the one I thought was most solid, but felt myself getting pumped. I thought about it for a second or two and reversed the move so I was again hanging from my friendly right hand jug. Unfortunately the steep nature of the route kept me from getting anything back and I knew I had blown my chance at an onsight. I said “take” and rested. On the second go, I went through the moves quickly, not worrying if I found the best hold in the left hand dishes, just knowing that I’ve pulled much harder moves and made much harder clips. I made the clip, no problem and cruised the rest of the route. If I had taken that mentality in the first place, I would have onsighted the route. When I got down I felt disappointed, like I had just let a guy score in a soccer game because I was too lazy and unfocused to play solid defense. I had approached the climb with a loser’s mentality.

On Sunday at Eldo I kept that in the back of my mind for motivation when I hopped on Parallels, also a 5.11b. After bouldering a tricky starting section, I got a good #1 cam to protect the first set of difficult moves. I went into that sequence with calm aggression and found another good piece 8 feet up. I kept the flow going, placing two solid .5s and working through the “technique crux” of the climb with little trouble, but an increasing pump. At this point I was staring the “burly crux” in the face and the last .5 was below my feet. I squeezed in a #1 C3, took a deep breath and went for it, making a powerful move off a crimp to a decent finger lock. As I pulled up on the finger lock I could feel my arms going. A little slip of my foot was enough to send me airborne and I fell with the C3 at my feet. The piece held and my 10 foot fall gave me the confidence that the piece was good. On the second go, I pulled through the crux and placed a marginal .4, then made the last hard move before easier terrain. When I came down I felt great, almost vindicated from the day before. Even though I fell, I really went for it. I could have taken on the .5 or the C3, and gotten the climb after a rest, but then I would have wondered if I might have gotten it clean if I had just bared down. I was also liberated to have taken a fall on a small piece. I’m always telling my friends who are beginning to trad climb that there’s really no point if you don’t trust your gear. Being willing to really push myself on small gear gives me some credit when a sketched-out friend is pondering a move and I’m yelling “Go for it!” from the comfort of a belay.

So what was the difference in the two climbs? I can think of a few things. On Touch Monkey I was  in an area I wasn’t used to. Earlier that day I had climbed a 5.11 on TR that worked me. I also am not experienced with overhung climbing outside. I didn’t have the past success in the situation that Eli talked about. On the other hand, when climbing Parallels, I went into the climb with the mentality that I was going to “cleanse my palate.” I wasn’t happy with my performance on Touch Monkey and I wanted to redeem myself. Beyond the better attitude, I’ve had the past success in Eldo and am building more every time I go. For a while I had a streak of Eldo 5.11 onsights, including Pony Express, so I have a decent feel for what a 5.11 in the area entails and I know I can handle it.

Tyler also got some leads in and pushed himself to get through an awesome dihedral crack, Purple Haze. It’s fun watching him and other friends develop as all-around climbers.

Understanding not only one’s physical strengths and weaknesses, but mental proclivities as a climber will help when faced with issues of confidence.

Tyler navigating the talus field on the way back from the upper West Ridge

Now we’re all turning our attention to Shelf. I’ll see many of you there!