East Face North Side/Seal Rock 

Hey, how can this route be 5.0 if the "Shortcut" is 5.4? Probably most people can't tell the difference, but this climb to me feels similar in difficulty to the standard East Face route on the 3rd Flatiron (called 5.2). The East Face South Side route is a bit harder. Near the top, you can either climb the crack or face to it's right.

If you are competent, this route is really fun to free solo. But you should TR it first. ;-)

Personally, I think of this route as F3+, but I figured that would just confuse the issue even more. Gerry Roach Rules!!!

My feeling is that the grade of this route should be determined only after rehearsal, under perfect conditions, and using the best beta possible-- preferably, supplied on site by Steve Levin ("headpointing" up alongside) and Alan Nelson (on rappel, bolt gun in hand).

A Fun Flatirons romp for any slabmonger. The obvious crack on the upper part of the route shouldn't be missed since it provides unique crack/slab climbing. I did the climb using only runners and hexes, save one nut in the crack.

This is such a good, fun scramble. I think it is the equal of the Third Flatiron in quality climbing. Doing this early in the morning will hook you for good on Flatiron scrambles.

Excellent fun route w/ an adventure feel. Didn't see a soul while we were there.

Climbed this one on 9-21-03 with a party of three. 'Twas a memorable introduction to multi-pitch climbing and exposure for one of us and and interesting lead for the other two. Three and a half pitches up to the elbow and another two to the summit (50m ropes). The bottom couple pitches aren't that exciting or fun and I probably wouldn't do them again. Anchor possibilities at the end of P2 especially are minimal. Run it out to the tree if possible. The crack pitch is awesome and the buckety low-angle stuff above that is easy and spectacular. If I were to do it again, I'd skip the long bottom pitches and climb Shortcut to the good stuff. The crack is definitely not to be missed. Takes .75" gear like crazy and there are face holds all over.

The rap is probably the most exciting part of the climb; a "full" 50 meters off the vertical and overhung north face. Two bolts with an American Triangle rigging (ugg!) let you off, but be sure you're solid before squeezing through the narrow crack and onto the face. Half-way down the rap becomes free-hanging (first one I've done above ground in years) and the view is memorable.

I'm also confused as to how this rates 5.0. Yeah, it's not a hard route, but the crack pitch is easily a 5.4 IMHO.

Climbed this again last Thursday, again saw no one else on the rock. I would rate this as solid 5.4, compared against the Third Flatiron at 5.2. The crack pitch near the top is very tasty for a beginning trad leader, takes great gear and is just steep enough to be exciting... The rap is spectacular, the first time I looked down from the anchors my stomach turned over.

Fun crack. Should have done one of the harder variations to make the route a little shorter. Got to the crack on pitch 4.

Don't forget to bring two ropes for the rap. I only had a 60 m and ended up with a fun little downclimb of the Shortcut with my beginner placing gear and anchors for me on the "lead" (don't fall).

I also dropped my chalkbag on the downclimb. If somebody does that route soon, they'll get a free chalkbag with a half used chalk ball.

Here's a short movie of our climb on March 5, 2006: http://www.leachfam.com/securearea/1movie.php?movieid=10

Please inspect all the rap slings carefully, as the way they are configured, a lot of stress is being placed on the same part of the sling where it passes through the bolt hanger. So even if the sling looks new, it could be worn through at the bolt. (American triangle in hanger bolts?) That said, Seal Rock is a great summit, probably best thought of as a nice hike (could spring conditioning!) mixed with some good solid Flatiron rock leading to a spectacular rappel. It is also conveniently located between wildlife closures and thus accessible all year long.

My brother and I did the North Side of East Face on Saturday. What a beautiful climb! We found that the business is on the first 20 feet (if starting at the very bottom point of the slab). I would call it 5.4R, due to the slicker nature of the rock at soil level. After placing one piece 50 feet up, my bro' ran out the complete rope length (60m) to reach the upper tree (you can barely make it!). The second pitch went at one full rope length plus 30+ feet of simulclimbing to make it to the shoulder beneath the final "crack pitch". Some people have posted that they would not climb the beginning and hike straight to the shoulder (Shortcut 5.4)... I think that is a terrible mistake as the first two pitches are classic Flatiron climbing in a terrifc setting. Padding up the first 20' of runout slab on grey, powdery lichen'll get the blood flowing! Plus, once above the trees the rock is stellar...

The spiciest part of the whole climb however was definitely the rappel! I swore that the ropes would not touch the ground but they did... It would be a good idea to set up an auto-block on your harness to keep yourself in control. All in all, a fantastic, fun climb!

BTW - The "American Triangle" rigging mentioned above has been removed. Two sensibly measured pieces of "tat" are now there for your rappelling pleasure....

We started with the South Side and merged on to this route from the big tree. The finger crack pitch is one of the sweetest pitches I've done in the Flatirons. Too bad it isn't longer. Fun rappel.

Why do people insist on rigging the north side rap with the American Triangle? I like to do Seal Rock every year and every year I cut a bunch of tat off the bolts because it is rigged AT. Also, if you are going to add a sling or rap rings make sure they extend over the edge, since it is very hard to pull the ropes and maybe dangerous to rap with the rope over the edge.

There is a fixed nut on the lower part of the finger crack above the shoulder. It looks like some serious attempts were made to remove it. I don't think it is worth anything as booty since it is really beat up, but it would be nice to get it out all the same.

Lee: was it a #5 Black Diamond stopper? If so, that got fixed last October. My second and I both struggled mightily to get that thing out.

I am not sure what size it was. It wasn't coming out, that's for sure!

I agree with Lee Smith's comment. While rapping off the route, one of the ropes was sawed through the sheath into the core. On the ground, after pulling the ropes and seeing the damage, my bro' and I looked at each other, very perturbed....

Cool climb. I unquestionably thought the crux was downclimbing the west face to the smaller west summit. A slip here would have dire consequences. Also, the very bottom 20 feet or so are really smooth (starting from the base of the formation on the NE side). I ended up downclimbing the ascent route to the 'elbow' and hopping off there.

Climbed this on Saturday with two other guys. Simul-climbed the entire route including the rap in one hour. It was awesome. The rap from the Sea of Joy is incredible. We were using twin ropes which did not supply much friction for the rappel. Wish I had brought gloves for that, ouch! Never saw anybody else up there. This is a great climb.

Climbed this route last summer and then again on 4/12/08. Both times my partner and I were the only ones on the rock. First time we rapped the north face - exhilarating, second time we downclimbed the route - that was a lot of fun. Closer to 5.4 with a 5.5 move if you climb the cracks left of the arete above the big ledge.

I know a lot of people are concerned about the rap anchors. They go through many variations way too frequently. Sometimes they look good and sometimes they don't. People seem to assume that they are old or something and so they change them, most of the time making them worse.

I've seen American triangles and as many as 5 rap rings, and I've seen, well, for lack of a better term, "Missouri Triangles." Someone, whether it's the CMC or just conscientious groups of people rapping off sometimes clean them up, but then they get changed sometimes every weekend.

I've never actually done the rap, but it's really annoying, and frightening, looking at the transformations, usually for the worse, of these anchors on a frequent basis. The webbing gets changed almost every month, so it's not old, so don't worry about the age. I know it's a scary rap, but constant changes by inexperienced climbers does more harm than good. So, please, if you know what you're doing and they don't look right, then by all means fix them, but if you don't know what you're doing and your not sure, you might be making them worse.