Jutting up from the foothills west of Boulder Colorado are a series of uplifts affectionately known as the Flatirons. Paul and I climbed the First Flatiron in May, 2001 using the Fandango route (5.6). It was 6 pitches up and 3 across to the summit and took about 4 hours. Beautiful day! Light breeze, 72 degrees and a few fluffy white clouds around noon. Click here for pictures of the day.

3rd Flatiron
The 3rd Flatiron is the southern most pinnacle and one of the most popular. Joel and I climbed the 5.4 East Face or the Standard route route in September 2004. We arrived at the parking lot about 7:00AM only to find it very crowded. We swiftly gathered our gear and took the short hike to the base of the Flatiron. The trail was well marked and well used!

We beat most of the crowd to the base and quickly Joel took the lead. The straightforward Standard route was a total of five pitches. In my opinion, the rappelling was the best part of this climb in that it was two 70′ drops. The intermediate stop was on a smallish ledge where you had to be careful to select the right bolt to set the rap otherwise you ended up dangling from the end of your rope with another 50′ to go!

Once we made it back to the base the 3rd was filed with climbers some who had waited over two hours for the route to clear! Click for some pictures