10/6/2003

Monday both Amy and Charles took off work so we could continue climbing together. The plan was to climb one of the flatirons. These are a bunch of sandstone slabs which run along the western edge of Boulder. Geology has conspired to make most of them 50 degrees inclined or thereabout, so the climbing is generally fairly easy. The first, second and third flatirons are some of the defining mountains on the Boulder skyline. They are also the most accessible and most commonly climbed (I had climbed the 900’ tall first flatiron on a previous trip to Boulder). We decided to do something a bit more obscure.

The flatiron we picked is called the Maiden (5.7). None of us had ever been there before, but we could see it from the road where we parked. The hike in was exhausting. We hiked for three hours carrying all our climbing gear. Most of that time bushwhacking off trail and up a very steep slope. Route finding was difficult, but all things considered we managed a fairly direct route to the climb.

The Maiden is different from most other flatirons. It is the same 50 degree slope, poking out of a 30 or 40 degree hillside. In addition to that, it has this giant cobra-like projection which shoots out of the center and looms 100’ above the main slab. That cobra was our goal.

The cobra isn’t the only weirdness. The climb starts on the uphill (western) side of the rock. Remember, the hillside slopes away nearly as steeply as the rock, so you start climbing near the top of the main slab. The first pitch is a short, easy, unprotected jaunt to a belay with a beautiful view. The next pitch goes down for a full rope length. Very, very odd. So as a leader it is an easy climb. You climb down with the belay rope above you ready to catch any fall. Of course, the poor second is now risking a lead fall above every piece of protection. Unusual. Lauren, who doesn’t lead, was placed in the position of being above her rope for the first time in her outdoor climbing career. She handled the task quite well, and on a challenging pitch.

By this time we were actually lower in elevation than where we started. The third pitch wound down a bit more and traversed around to the east side of the cobra, where the final two pitches lead to the summit. Charles and Amy had started to explore the third pitch. I kept hearing shouts of “weird!” and “very freakin weird!” from Charles’ end of the rope. But we realized that daylight was not on our side. The prudent thing to do was rappel off the climb so that we could do the hike out before darkness settled over the mountains. We backed up the single bolt, and the four of us rappelled to the ground. I have to say that there was a VERY inviting line directly below the rappel route in the center of the south face of the cliff. Between that line and unfinished business with the cobra, I have two reasons to revisit the Maiden.

We managed the hike out in about two hours, finding a somewhat more direct route. Darkness set in just as we came out of the hills and reached some easy trails running along the western-most plains of Boulder. We all had headlamps, but we were able to hike out without them by the light of the nearly full moon.

Next Day