The start of the climb, as visible from the base o...
Description
This is a great single pitch route on the backside of the Third Flatiron. Be aware that it is very close to the rappel route and it may be an unwise idea to climb this route if people are descending from the summit.
The most fun way to reach this route is to climb the East Face, and rap down the back of the Third. This will deposit you at the bottom of Friday's Folly. Climb up the obvious crack on the corner until it is possible to step around the corner to the right (after about 10 feet.) From here, follow the cracks and holds up the vertical face with great exposure. Belay at one of the two eyebolts 70 feet off the ground.
By Guy Humphrey From: Fort Collins CO Jan 28, 2002
This is a wonderful route. The exposure, great jams, good pro, and neat face moves will kept you smiling. One set of cams to a #3-3.5 Camalot and a few large nuts will get you to the anchors. A brown tricam for the initial piton scars and an extra hand size cam might be useful for the timid.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Mar 8, 2002
You can finish this with Friday's Folly Direct and then West Door to the top of the 3rd. It gets spicier and more interesting. However, West Door amazes you as you think about Layton 3rd classing this 5.7 sandbag (for most mortals).
By Ben Mottinger Founding Father Sep 16, 2002 rating: 5.7
Great route with some super exciting exposure almost from the first move. The first move can be protected very well with a yellow alien and from then on all the gear is easy to place. Enjoy this exciting route, even better if you climbed Standard East Face to get there.
Having climbed in every western state, I still think is the freakiest 5.7 ever. You know it's only 5.7 but you'll feel like you did something much bigger and harder.
In recent years I've done [Saturday's] Folly several times thinking it was the better of the the sister routes, but last weekend I led Friday's Folly and thought it was pretty wild. The starting moves are a littly dicy, depending on whether or not you trust the cam in the pin scar. Then it's really exposed stepping around the corner. There are some strange and awkward moves on the face as you follow the leaning crack past downward slanting strata. So now I don't know which of the two routes I like better. Current favorite is Friday's Folly, because it's less [familiar]. Beware of doing it on the weekend. About 5 East Face parties rappeled down past us and our friends Chuck and John who climbed Friday's Folly after us.
By Tim Fleming From: Boulder, CO Jun 4, 2006 rating: 5.7
Excellent route - one of the best 5.7s in the Boulder/Eldo area.
I did this one on lead for first time Sunday 9/28/08- and did not have a guidebook or any beta on the "official" route.
After turning the initial corner to the right and gaining the better protected face and cracks above, does the route then zag back left through a hand traverse on brown/red strata? I went this way. The hand traverse was nice and airy and led to a stance below a thin finger crack (I think the top of Saturday's Folly?). Ten feet of finger crack takes you to the big anchor bolts. Is this the actual route- or was I supposed to go straight up on the right face to reach the anchor bolts? The way I did it was really nice and I would repeat this way- except I would use more long slings down low to account for the rope drag on the leftward traverse.
One of the best pitches I have done in the Flatirons.
jhump, sounds like you started on Friday's and finished with Saturday's, this variation should be called "Sunday's Folly"? I don't understand why you traversed left. Friday's follows a continuous crack around the corner where it becomes 2-8" wide and zig-zags up and right, the crack goes all the way to the anchors as I recall. The pitch ends a few feet right of the two rappel bolts at the top of Saturday's.
Third Flatiron
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