Rock Hiking the Fatiron

March 12, 2003

The Fatiron is a large (1000’ long), two-piece Flatiron just north of the Maiden. I needed an entry in my speed site for this climb and organized an expedition to pull it off. Actually, it is just my way of avoiding pure running but still stay reasonably fit. My companions were Ben, Kreighton, and Bernard. Knowing Kreighton to be basically one huge lung, I cautioned him of the difficulties and suggested bring a large rack, heavy on the biggest Camalots. I figured he need 20-30 pounds on his back to equal out our speed differences.

We met at 6 a.m. at the South Mesa Trailhead and were soon off. The temperature was just over forty degrees, so we all wore long pants and long sleeves, but we anticipated a warm, beautiful warming. We pretty much got this, but also more wind than we’d have liked. We trotted up the Mesa and then Big Bluestem Trails to the Mesa Trail again. Here we went south for a couple minutes and then up the gully (off trail) to the Fatiron. This went surprisingly well with a faint trail most of the way and not that much snow. It took us about 40 minutes to get to the base.

Photo 1: Kreighton and Bernard simul-climbing the first section

I carried a Camelback with a camera, some water, gloves, hat, and climbing slippers as I figured my shoes would get pretty wet. I changed into my shoes after we scrambled up and over the flatironette that sets at the base of the rock. Kreighton and Bernard roped up here as well. Ben just kept going in his running shoes.

The climbing on this first piece is about 650 feet long and is the crux of the route at around 5.4/5. The rock is very solid and nicely featured with the occasional smooth section. An incipient crack is followed on this lower section. It is so incipient in fact that the pro is slinging the two small trees that grow out of it.

Photo 2: Ben Hoyt on the second section.

At the top of the first section, one has to descend, rather steeply to the next slab. This isn’t a descent to the ground, as you’re still high above that, but to pass this vertical step. Kreighton and Bernard did a simul-rappel while Ben and I downclimbed a short, overhanging chimney (5.6/7 for fifteen feet).

Photo 3: Ben on the summit

Photo 4: Bernard near the summit with the Mickey Mouse wall in the background.

I summitted after about 1h20m and Kreighton and Bernard were only five minutes behind or so. They took off the rope for the second section. I had read in the Book of Armaments (Roach’s out of print Flatiron Classics) last night that there was a downclimb off the Fatiron. Indeed there is and it is almost the highlight of the climb. Though very short, we descended into a crevasse in the east face of the Flatiron and turned and twisted down a tight, very cool chimney. A bit more scrambling and we were down and jumping from rock to rock in order to avoid the snow.

Photo 5: The descent!

We changed back into running shoes and hiked out at a casual pace. There wasn’t much bushwhacking here either. It took us about forty minutes to descend back to the trail (very casual and some waiting for Bernard to summit). We then trotted back to the parking lot, putting on a serious burst over the last 3.5 minutes in order to break 2h20m. Similar to the Tour de France team time trials, the official time for a four-person, loosely associated, half-roped team is given by the finishing time of the third climber. Ben crossed the concrete bridge at 2h1950s for our official time.

This is a fun outing with about 6miles of hiking/running, 2000 vertical feet, and 1000 feet of scrambling. This would easily go under two hours. Under 1h45m would take some effort, but still well within a Bill Briggs or Buzz Burrell or, maybe, even me.