I was going to the Flatirons, I’m not sure what I’m doing, I’m going to Boulder Canyon, nope – I’m headed to the Flatirons again. So went my planning as partners bailed then came available again. Jeremy was still nursing a shoulder injury, so we decided on the easy (5.3) Stairway to Heaven route in the Flatirons.
We parked at NCAR and hiked up into Skunk Canyon and eventually ID’d the base of Ridge One. Jeremy flaked out the rope while I racked up and shared some “send cookies” (spicy oatmeal raisin). I led up the first pitch, skirting the overhang then hitting the ridge crest and had Jeremy simul-climb a bit so I could reach a comfy pine-needle-cushioned belay spot.
We hiked a bit through a mini-forest to move the belay and I started up more easy rock rock and hit another little forest for a belay. I guess I couldn’t complain about the 70 meter ropes today.
The third pitch got a little more interesting until fading into a sea of knobs as I passed the “Like Heaven” sub-summit of the ridge and setup a semi-cozy belay.
While belaying Jeremy up, I watched some other climbers on “Satan’s Slab” (aka Ridge Two) who seemed to have taken my original idea of doing a Halloween-themed route. They were either on routes Satan’s Slab, Enchanted Devil, or 666.
The third pitch was our shortest, as I went over another sub-summit, through a few trees then partly up the start of the last steep to stop where I could watch Jeremy tackle the route.
I found the final pitch to the summit to be one of the harder and more-run-out portions of the route. I did stray onto the harder north side of the ridge where there was more protection available then pulled up just shy of the summit to belay.
Jeremy followed as he had for the prior 4 rope lengths.
I offered him the lead on the last 70 feet of climbing over the summit and down to a rappel tree.
Then we setup for the 60 foot rappel back to the ground and I let Jeremy go first so I could switch back into my approach shoes. My toes started to thank me.
To descend, we headed between the Ridge One and Hobo formations and stayed east of Ridge One for the whole descent back to the trail. My toes rescinded their thanks as I bashed them on the step and loose descent.
