Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Fiddle Head
Show routes:
Select route...
A Shadow Sickness 
Castles Made of Sand 
Chains of Love 
East Face/Fiddle Head 
Fertile Crescent. 
Irish Spring 
Leprechaun Promenade 
Lucky Charms aka Rip This Joint 
Unknown Dihedral 

Chains of Love 

5.12b

   

FA: Colin Lantz et.al.
Type: Trad, Sport
Consensus: 5.12b [details]
Views: 508 page views

Submitted By: msamet on Oct 29, 2001


Add Photo  Add Comment 

You and this route  |  Other Opinions (7)
Your todo list:
Your stars:
Your rating: -none- [change]
Your ticklist: [add new tick]
 Printer Friendly View

This route has access issues. Please read the note available on the Fern Canyon page.

Here's the TIME Magazine Cover "Life On The Edge" ...


Description 

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 easily be done in one pitch with a 60 meter rope (70 is even better). It climbs out the enormous, pocketed roof on the west side of the East Ridge about 70 yards downhill and south from the Fiddlehead (Rip this Joint, etc.). The route can be recognized by the long belay chains on the red ledge below the crux.

Start in a friendly crack slightly left of the chains, placing a piece or two to reach the ledge (5.9 or so -- use long slings to avoid rope drag if you're doing this in one pitch). Clip the chains and fire out the wild overhanging wall, passing plentiful bolts and ever-shrinking holds to a pumpy lip encounter on crisp, Flatirons crimpers.

This is one of the funnest, most gymnastic overhangs in the Flatirons and is a "must-do" for the grade.


Protection 

The business, a huge pocketed roof overhanging the vertical start, is entirely bolt protected. You will, however, need a few stoppers and some mid-range cams to get you up the initial 5.9 crack which leads to the belay ledge below the roof.



Add Comment Comments on Chains of Love
Show which comments
By msamet
Oct 29, 2001

Sorry. This route is actually on the west face of Fiddlehead, not the East Ridge. It's directly uphill and north of trailside route Superfresh.

By Anonymous Coward
Nov 26, 2003

Time cover: Sept 6, 1999 (for story "Why We Take Risks")you can check it out at:http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,991894,00.h>>>>> (at least until they change their web site)

By Anonymous Coward
Dec 10, 2003

kind of ironic that the Time magazine article is about risk, and the picture shows a guy climbing a bolted route.

The fashion risk, on the other hand, is extreme.

By Anonymous Coward
Sep 16, 2004

There is nothing quite like a good pumpy lip encounter.

By Ken Cangi
From: Boulder, CO
Jul 16, 2005

I agree with Matt. This route is super fun. I easily did it in one pitch. The route looks imposing, from the ground, but it is all there. It has been a long time since I did this classic, but I remember the crux being a killer cross-over move from an undercling into good holds, then a sprint up the headwall. Just when you start to get pumped, the wall eases up to vertical, and finishes on small, positive edges.

By Ted Lanzano
Aug 8, 2005
rating: 5.12b

A couple of thoughts on Chains of Love:

- We did this climb as one long pitch and a 60 meter rope did NOT get me to the ground. Even though our rope had been chopped about 5 feet, I was still about 10 - 15 feet from the bottom when we ran out of rope. The belayer worked his way up to the first bolt to get me down.Lower slowly and be sure to tie a knot at the end of your rope!

- There are two cracks to choose from on the first trad section.We chose the right hand one(which looked like the most direct line) and this felt like 5.10 to me. Not all that easy, but good gear.

-This route is fantastic and true [Flatirons] classic. Very nice steep climbing on cool crimps, jugs and pockets. Great setting. The trad pitch is fun too, and a good warmup for what waits above.

By Ken Cangi
From: Boulder, CO
Aug 8, 2005

Ted, I remember getting down in one rap, but I had a 70m rope.

By another estes drunk
Aug 8, 2005

Sounds like Lanzano may have chopped MORE than 5 feet off his rope thus necessating having his belayer climb up to the first bolt. Lesson learned: use a 70 M rope on this route or retire your old, worn out ropes....

By Anonymous Coward
Aug 11, 2005

Just after they did the photo shoot I was up there hiking and I saw this dude named Roland Thompson free solo this route.

He did the same sick hang that Colin did, only without a rope.

That dude was crazy - is he dead yet?

By Ray Snead
Aug 12, 2005

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner?