SMSC Tour de Flatirons Race #5: Seal Rock
Thursday, October 7, 2004
This marked the final race in the five race Tour de Flatirons race series and the overall title was still up for grabs with Dave Mackey leading the way in the time standings and Buzz leading the way in the place standings with Jon Sargent lurking close by in 3rd place in each standings.
Photo 1: Seal Rock (in the middle) from the starting line.
Preliminary Work - Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Sitting alone at the Devil's Thumb Trailhead this morning brought back fond memories of when I was obsessed with climbing every route in Gerry Roach'sFlatiron guidebook. It got to be so ridiculous that I'd show up at my own meeting location in the dark with snow coming down and wonder where everyone was. I remember climbing some routes in the Amphitheater area with two sets of gloves on in 19 degree temperatures - toprope soloing a couple of routes.Once it was even too ridiculous for me to climb and I went on a 1.5 hour run, cutting fresh tracks through the snow the entire way.
This morning it was raining, but not very hard, more like a drizzle and sometimes just a heavy mist. I got my gear together and decided to hike up to the rock, hoping things would dry out a bit. I've climbed the Flatirons in the rain before and the rope needed to be set. I walked most of the way to the base of the rock and found it soaked and still raining. I decided to wait a bit. I figured if the rain stopped, I could make the ascent as the rock would dry fast. After 25 minutes it was raining considerably harder and I decided to head down. I stashed the rope at the base of the rock and hiked and trotted back to the car. I sent out this email message:
The race is currently off for tonight. If things dry out, I'll still run the race this evening and just head out 30 minutes before the start to get the rope set. It's my turn to do support anyway and I'm out of the running. Anyway, things are up in the air right now. The race might be tonight, tomorrow morning or tomorrow evening and maybe all three! We need to get this race done as the days are getting short, so it will happen this week.
Well, the race didn’t happen on Wednesday night, but I headed up the trail at 5:40 p.m. to set the rope for the race tomorrow morning. I wasn’t carrying the rope this time, so I made a lot better time on my approach, running clear to the climber’s trail in under 15 minutes. At the base of the rock, I retrieved the rope and headed up the face, finding it still soaked and quite serious. It took me more than twenty minutes to climb the face and under these conditions it felt more like 5.6/7 and I was concerned soloing it. I didn’t trust my feet at all, though they never slipped, and I was very careful where I placed them and always tried to have a good handhold. Unfortunately there are a couple of spots without good handholds and these caused me some stress.
I topped out about 50 minutes after leaving the car. I put on my harness and rigged the rappel rope. It was cold now and I put on my gloves and a headband. On the way down the rappel I scoped out the incredible 5.13 climb that ascends the vertical, lichen covered face. Clearly this route isn’t done very often. I’d done the first two pitches (5.10 and 5.11c) with Hardly last year and found them fun and exciting, but this final pitch is too blank for me.
Once on the ground, I secured the extra bit of rope to a tree. In retrospect, I should have tied it firmly to this tree, as it would get loose and tangle in a tree much further up the descent. I trotted back to the base and then out to the car, arriving there about 1h15m after leaving it. I hoped to do a lot better the next morning. It was just before 7 p.m. and I headed for home and some dinner.
Morning Session – Photos Here!
Galen raced alone at 7 a.m. and had some trouble. Here’s his account:
I thought this was going to be my race - lot's of running, short and easy climb, fast rappel, and dave is getting over a cold. Well, that would all make sense if i didn't miss the climber's trail on the way up and didn't have to untangle the rappel from a tree on the way down. As i walked out the door this morning i realized i had no idea where the climbers trail was, but i just hoped i would find it. On the way up, i saw what turned out to be the trail but there was a wildlife reclamation sign up (and i wasn't even sure if that was the right trail) so i kept going, eventually up fern canyon for 100 yards or so then traversed right. I finally found the base of the climb and scrambled up, only to find i had actually climbed a secondary ridge at the base of Seal. This was an overhanging ridge at the top, so i downclimbed back to the bottom (stopped my watch for the downclimb so i'm probably dq'd) and started up the REAL climb. This was a beautiful face and it was great being out there early in the morning. When i got to the rappel i noticed it was snagged around a medium size tree about halfway down. I went down anyway and tried to hop my way over to the tree to untangle it. Unfortunately, i couldn't angle my way down to the tree and finally came to a stop where there was tension on both sides my ATC. so i let go and climbed/traversed over to the tree and spent the next 6 minutes trying to untangle it (there was a lot of tension and the tree branches were very unforgiving). Finally i took myself off rappel and got it untangled. I didn't notice until i was about 10 feet from the ground that the rope was tangled on another tree far off to the left. Once again, there was tension both above and below my ATC so i had to climb over to the second tree and untangle again. Dang wind last night! Finally made it to the bottom after a 13 minute rappel! By this time i had given up and jogged down to the finish.
I arrived at the trailhead at 8:15 this morning and Buzz and Dave were geared and ready to go. They waited for me to gear and then I talked them into giving me a 90-second lead so that I’d at least see them once, when they passed me. This proved to be a great motivator, as I tried to hold them off as long as possible and then tried to pace off them as they went by. I highly recommend this approach.
I stayed away for about 18 minutes, when Dave passed me on the climber’s trail. I hung with him pretty good to the base of the rock, arriving only 15 seconds or so behind him. By now, Buzz has caught up to me as well and we climb the first pitch across from each other. I’m excited to be keeping up with Buzz and am right on his heels as we hit the shoulder and top out only 20 seconds behind him. Dave has failed to go by the rappel anchors and tagged the summit. On the spot, I decided to give him a 30-second penalty for this (roughly the time it takes to do the roundtrip, plus maybe a few seconds more). Dave is off the rappel line by the time Buzz gets there, so he doesn’t have to wait on the line. I have to wait about 90 seconds or so and I stop my watch, figuring I wouldn’t have had to wait on him if we had started together and neither Dave nor Buzz had to wait on the line. I’ll allow other racers to do this in the afternoon session, because I did, but you can’t alter your time so that it changes your placement in your field. By this I mean, if Jon gets to the rappel first and Stefan arrives second, but has to wait two minutes and then finishes only 90 seconds behind Jon, that doesn’t give him the victory. So get to the top first, or start far enough behind so that you don’t have to wait at the rappel.
I zipped down the cool rappel (by the way gloves are recommended for this rappel and for the steep descent afterwards), pulled off my rappel device, and headed down the very steep, dirt trail. I grabbed a bunch of trees here to control my descent and generally took things pretty cautiously as it was still a bit damp and this is very steep. I descended back to the base of Seal Rock in less than 3 minutes (34:10). Then, descending the climber’s trail back to the Mesa Trail, I was shocked and dismayed to see Dave limping badly up ahead. I feared the worst: that he had twisted his ankle. Fortunately, it was just cramps. Dave hadn’t done any exercise in the last week because of a bad cold and the steep descent didn’t agree with his quads. I asked if he needed help and he said he was okay. He’d limp and walk most of the way out, stopping to stretch out the cramps periodically.
I tried to push the pace on the way out, but I was tiring. My feet slapped on the trail as I didn’t have the discipline to pull my foot back and land on my heels. I passed Buzz coming back up the trail just before the finish and he cheered me on. I finished in 45:48 and was quite pleased with the effort. Buzz had finished in 43:35 and he stands in first place. I changed out of my harness and scrambling shoes and then headed back up the trail to check on Dave and take some photos. After ten minutes I saw Dave descending with Buzz at a slow trot.
It was a great morning for this race and I had a great time mixing in with these two elite scramblers. The fall colors are out in force and the intial trail goes through a tunnel of golden leaves. The bottom of the rock was still a bit slick this morning, but the top was in good shape and it should be excellent this evening. I’ll be out there to cheer on the afternoon crew, take photos and retrieve the rappel line. It would be my fourth trip up there in two days, but I’m not sick of it. I’m enjoying it more and more each trip and tonight I won’t have the pressure of the race. I’m looking forward to being a spectator. I’m going to be at the trailhead at 5:30 p.m. and plan to start up right away to get a jump on things. Stefan will be my stand-in starter. Stefan, start the race from the sidewalk at 5:45 p.m. sharp. I hope to see you guys before I take off up the trail.
Afternoon Session
Willie ran the course at lunchtime and turned in a stellar effort, approaching the rock very fast, but his run out was nothing short of amazing, being three minutes fast than Buzz's time! He took the lead by 5 seconds. Here are his comments:
I was pushing hard, but am surprised that my climbing and descent speeds are relatively slow and my running time is fast, especially when I thought I was slow on the road coming down. During the run, at the S in the fire road just before the Bear Canyon cutoff there is a trail that passed under the Bongo Boulder. It took this trail on the way up and on the way down and considered it a legitimate approach. Perhaps it is not, and it probably shaved a little time of my run. I’m even more surprised that I had a fast time on the climbing trail as I power hiked this section. I was dying, but I think many minions are capable of running this. Also, the rap line was wrapped around the bottom tree. It was a bit of a hassle, and I snapped of a branch (oops!) trying to free it. What a stellar climb.
I arrived at the trailhead at 5:20 p.m. and headed up the course with my friend Peewee to photograph the race and cheer on the racers. Kre and Joseffa took off at the same time as we did and then Tony and Martin left about three minutes after us. Greg Hill had left at 5 p.m. and I saw him later as he descended back to the base of the rock.
PeeWee and I took photos and tried to stay out of the way of the racers. I got to the rock first and scrambled up a bit, showing Tony the best way. I stepped to the side and Tony went on by, working hard. Martin came up next, pacing things well. Kre and Joseffa did the course with their dogs, so they were securing them at the base of the rock and changing into climbing shoes (they were the only ones to do a shoe change).
The rest of the racers started at 5:45 p.m. and this included Jon Sargent, Dave Stewart, Stefan, John Christie, and Dan Mottinger. Dan has rigged for me many times and this was his first time racing. I was glad to return the rigging favor. Jon Sargent went strongly off the front and Stefan was next, but he had some trouble with route finding. Stefan would go the wrong way on the way up and then make a wrong turn on the way down. This cost him at least one place and maybe three, but that's why we run the races. Well, that might be true, but it a good reason to pre-run the course!
Jon hit the base of the rock 19 minutes flat, much faster than anyone else. He followed that up with a very respectable scramble time of 8:15, only 30 seconds off the best time of Mackey and Buzz. Dave Stewart arrived maybe 45 seconds behind Jon and then Stefan was 30 seconds further back. I climbed up further to shoot more photos and when Stefan went by, I tried to keep up with him. I last about two minutes and I had been resting somewhat for the last ten minutes.
John Christie was next and he climbed quickly, gaining in Kre, who got off route to the left a bit and had to descend slightly to move over to the classic finger crack that splits the upper section. Last up the rock was Dan Mottinger, but he was far from last in the race, finishing 9th out of 15. This was due to the staggered start times. He started the rappel after Kre and he had someone to chase.
I then dropped the rope from the summit and downclimbed the top half of the rock to the ground, then up to retrieve the rope. I trotted back to the finish and was greeted by Stefan and David a few minutes from the car. They had hiked back up to make sure I was getting down okay.
Jon went on to win the race by over two minutes and take his third victory out of the five races. He and Buzz were the most consistent finishes of the series. Buzz never finished out of the top three. Jon won the Overall Place series with a score of 7 (three firsts and a fourth). Buzz was second with a score of 8 and then Stefan with a score of 16. Mackey fell down to a score of 19 with his 12th place finish here and Willie climbed to a score of 19, both just edging me out at 20. Dave Stewart finished with a score of 26 and Tony Bubb with a score of 35. No other racers completed the required four out of five races to compete for the overall title. Kre and Joseffa completed three races and Joseffa ended up with two wins and a second.
I'll calculate the Overall Time standing later. Also, I want to have a series ending BBQ party at my house to celebrate the season and give out some awards. This will probably be on a Wednesday or Thursday night. Details to follow. Thanks to everyone for making this series a huge success. You all inspire me. Next year I'm moving up in the standings. Look out!
| Place |
Scrambler |
Climber’s Trail |
Base of Seal Rock |
Summit of Seal Rock |
Back on the ground |
Finish |
| 1 | Jon Sargent | 19:00 | 27:15 (8:15) | 29:00 (1:45) | 41:26 (12:26) | |
| 2 |
Willie Mein | 13:03 | 19:43 (6:39) | 28:52 (9:08) | 30:38 (1:46) | 43:30 (12:52) |
| 3 |
Buzz Burrell |
13:15 |
20:00 (6:45) |
27:45 (7:45) |
29:45 (2:00) |
43:35 (13:50) |
| 4 | David Stewart | 19:45 | 43:51 | |||
| 5 | Stefan Griebel | 20:15 | 28:00 (7:45) | 29:31 (1:31) | 44:31 (15:01) | |
| 6 |
Bill Wright |
14:10 |
21:17 (7:07) |
29:25 (8:08) |
31:27 (2:02) |
45:48 (14:21) |
| 7 | John Christie | 21:58 | 31:09 (9:11) | 33:30 (2:21) | 47:24 (13:54) | |
| 8 | Tony Bubb | 52:50 | ||||
| 9 | Dan Mottinger | 24:00 | 36:00 (10:00) | 54:39 | ||
| 10 | Martin Le Roux | 23:00 | 38:00 (15:00) | 40:00 (2:00) | 56:00 (16:00) | |
| 11 |
Galen Burrell |
12:30 |
22:04 (10:04) |
31:08 (9:04) |
43:58 (12:50) |
58:50 (12:52) |
| 12 | Dave Mackey |
12:30 |
19:30 (7:00) |
27:15 (7:45) |
29:15 (2:00) |
1:03:00 (33:45) |
| 13 | Greg Hill | 1:09:00 | ||||
| 14 | Joseffa Meir | 29:00 | 44:00 (15:00) | 1:10:35 | ||
| 15 | Kre Reischel | 30:00 | 48:00 (18:00) | 1:13:00 |