Fiddle Head

BETA PHOTO: From The Slab 4/11/02

Description 

Fiddle Head is on the north side of Fern Canyon, east of Pellaea and Onoclea. This rock holds a fine east face route, and a couple steeper and harder routes on its west face. Fern Canyon is heavily affected by bird closures.

Getting There 

From the Mesa Trail, hike into Fern Canyon and past the Goose Eggs which loom above the trail to the north. Fiddle Head is the southernmost rock in the next stratum of rock to the west, but it can be difficult to pick out because the southern end of it is broken and overgrown. To access the west face routes, continue as for Pellaea and Onoclea. To access the east face, bushwack north off the trail well before reaching the prominent Superfresh boulder, and weave through fallen logs and boulders. The East Face route begins just to the right of a prominent left facing dihedral.

Featured Route For Fiddle Head

Chains of Love 5.12b  CO : Flatirons : Fiddle Head

This is the only route I know of that has made the cover of Time Magazine. Check out a back issue from about two or three summers ago to see Beth Wald's vintage shot of Colin Lantz busting a sick dead hang off the stonker huecos on the crux pitch whilst clad in radical 80's lycra!Chains, while it does have an intermediate belay, can be done in one pitch with 70-meter rope. It climbs out the enormous, pocketed roof on the west side of Fiddlehead,...[more]