Waiting For Columbus

From the west side of the Third Flatiron, start descending to the south. You will pass

Friday's Folly

, and then a major corner system (

Pentaprance

) with a few bolts. On the next face down from this, just past a featured arete is the climb at hand, Waiting For Columbus.

If you see some slings around the base of a tree, 30' up the cliff and 40' to your right, that is the base of

Falcon's Fracture

. Waiting For Columbus is just in front of you. Keep looking.

Approach "the business" part of the route by climbing up and right on a flake to reach the first overhang. If you don't put in a piece on the way, you will face a committing move 35 feet off of the deck to make the first clip. Although it was not a hard move, I felt a little tweaked; consider placing gear. From there, continue up and occasionally slightly left, passing the occasional bolt or gear placement as you go. I don't have the impression that Rossiter intended this as a bolts only sport climb, you'll probably want more than 4 or 5 clips in the 165' of real climbing... The chalk will runout as the face is more exposed to the elements toward the top. Stay left, and go left beneath a few big flat plates to discover a hidden bolt there, and up to clip another at the roof. Master the roof on HUGE holds and continue straight up with a few gear placements to the top. [The crux crack/flake pitch protects quite well with a few cams from 0.75" - 3". You cen get a 2-2.5" piece at your feet and hang on to get another 0.75-1.0" or 2" piece over your head for the crux, but that might be pumpy for some people.] On top run up the slab to a huge old eye-bolt. This will REQUIRE a 60m rope.

Belay from the eye-bolt and then duck through the cave behind you to read the second-from-the-top rap anchor for the standard southwest rap of the Third Flatiron.

The length and nature of this climb are unique and fun. I was really enjoying myself on it, enough so to give it the three-star rating.

A bit runout on the easier parts (5.8?), but secure and reasonably safe. Take 1 set of nuts from #4-#11 BD or Eqiv. + small tricams (pink, red) and cams from green Alien to 3.5".

The first and third clips, if memory serves me right, are reachy and involve committing to the moves if you are not particularly tall. At 5'10" with VERY long arms I could not clip them from the rests. I fell a few inches short.

Take lots of slings if you will place much gear, including several long ones. A set of 6" stiff draws will put a hurt on you. The route does wander a bit and in particular the bolt before the roof may require a 2' long sling.