This is one of my favorite Flatiron routes, although the approach is substantial. Consider combining this with a route on the Fourth Flatiron, Green Mountain Pinnacle or Willie B. This is a great route to free solo if you are solid; there is very little pro in any case and even a roped fall would be serious.
P1. Start in the saddle between Green Mountain Pinnacle and Challenger, and follow the East Face to the top of the Spaceship. You can belay at a tree in the middle after crossing a smooth slab.
P2. Above this, climb for the most part just left of the arete formed by the east and northeast faces (often you can use the arete as a handhold). The position is spectacular and exposed, and the climbing is sustained. There is a crack for pro 60' below the top, but after that you will have to run it out. The hardest and most exposed moves are right below the summit.
Drink in the summit view. To descend, continue west along an arete until you reach a saddle where you can scramble down either side of the formation.
I was up there several years ago and I agree, this is a fun outing. I recall seeing what appeared to be, at that time, an unfinished sport route on its' west face. It is a huecoed wall, which I did, but found it very run out above the last bolt. This led me to believe that it was a work in progress. I don't think I have seen it in any guidebooks. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.
I mistakenly soloed this route which I thought was the third tier of the 4th Flatiron a few years ago. I've soloed a lot of the easier flatiron routes (5.4 or below) and this one is certainly the scariest of the bunch, as the last moves before the summit are somewhat licheny and flaky and the steepest on the route. Exhilarating summit and view!
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Mar 31, 2002
A 60m rope is nice cause there ain't much pro on top to belay so I downclimbed a bit to find pro. Stretched it out 60m on P2.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Oct 1, 2002
Two stars is probably more accurate. The climbing quality is okay. The position is quite good. It does not measure up to mega classics in the Flatirons like the Direct East Face/1st Flatiron, Standard East Face/3rd Flatiron, East Ridge/Maiden, Velvet Elvis/Ironing Boards. It is more of the quality of the NE Ridge/5th Flatiron, East Face Right/Seal Rock, Dinosaur Tracks/Dinosaur Rock, Beserker/Red Devil.
I think it's one of the cooler flatirons, especially when combined with various ways to climb to the summit ridge of g. mtn. from the mesa trail (regency slab to royal arch to the 1st and 2nd pieces of the 4th to G. Mtn pinnacle to Challenger), or from the royal arch trail (yodeling moves to rhs variation to 1st piece of the 4th, then as above). Once at the summit ridge, it's nice to head north and connect to the h.l. greenman trail as it descends from the summit. I think this skirts an access closure area though so be careful. I think the key is to stay to the west so as not to stray into the ironing boards closure. Any additional detail on this would be appreciated. As far as I know though challenger and all the pieces of the 4th are definitely open.
We roped up for this route today using a 100' rope and discovered it is exactly 110' from the horizontal crack to the summit (and another 10-20' to a belay anchor). There is no gear in this section, so if you take a rope take a longer one! A #3 Camalot works well in the horizontal crack, but a #2 fits farther left, this also makes a good belay ledge. I believe its about 150' from the ground to this horizontal crack. (it is about 30' above the highest tree)
Intimidating to do w/out protection as Andrew noted above. Given the exposure at the very top, I found it to be a headier free-solo than many east face routes in the 5.6 range (i.e. The Back Porch, The Tiny Tower, The Thing, The First Flatiron, etc.).
A fun variation to the start of the route follows a wide-ish groove with a couple trees in it on the left side of the east face to start, and at about 90' makes a delicate move left on a couple pebbles to a great splitter finger crack that opens to hands and lasts about 25 feet. The crack is easy, maybe 5.4, but the couple moves into it are very thin, 5.7/5.8-? At the end of the crack, follow a rising horizontal break to the right side of the face and climb up the ridge as for the normal route.
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