This is an excellent route but unfortunately bears the scars of one of Boulder's first bolt wars. It is also closed from Feb 1 to July 31 due to raptor nesting. The protection on the first pitch consists of three bolts with nuts only (no hangars) and a few stopper, RP, or tiny cam placements on the upper half of the pitch. I am not sure if the nuts on these bolts can be unscrewed, but if so, it would be great to put hangars on these bolts (or much better, replace them entirely).
The route begins at the highest saddle west of the Matron, and follows the arete between the North face and SW Faces, except for deviating onto the SW face around an overhang at the crux. It is better to approach via the North side of the Matron.
Climb up the arete to the overhang, and clip the first hangarless bolt with a stopper. This area is a shameful "bolt graveyard", containing six(!) other bolts that have all been chopped. Climb up the SW Face, traversing left to clip a second hangarless bolt (crux). Now move up and left back to the arete (also 5.8).
The rest of the first pitch is now much easier and follows the spectacular arete to the rappel anchor at 80'. There is one more hangarless bolt in this section, as well as a few places for stoppers or small cams. This first pitch is easily toproped from this anchor, if you are coming down from climbing another route on the Matron.
The second pitch to the summit is easier (about 5.6) and offers excellent protection through the crux. Move left and up through a broken area to an eye bolt 130' off the ground, then move up and left and skirt the summit overhang to the right. This area can also be reached by stepping right off the belay and heading straight up some easy cracks. Clip 4 ancient pins as you skirt the overhang (crux). This section appears harder than 5.6, but features always appear to make it easier.
Protection
RPs, stoppers and cams to 2" (a wrench and bolt hangers may be useful if you have them).
Great photo, Jake! The first pitch crux is somewhere in the bottom of the photo (bolt studs I think are slightly below photo and hard to see in any case). The second pitch passes right of that big blob on the skyline.
In its current state, with two hanger-less rusty stems it is a trully a dangerous mind trip to lead.
I hope that with the new Flatiron's fixed hardware commitee those two relics of bolt wars gone-by can be replaced by two modern bolts. Then the route can be enjoyed in safety as the classic it is.
The second pitch is also stellar although at a lesser grade. Modern pro allows you to bypass all of the old pitons in this pitch, some of which are pretty cool reminders of how old this route is indeed.
Guy, the closure for the Matron and the Amphitheater were lifted a couple of weeks ago cause no birds were seen nesting on them
To celebrate this, yesterday morning a group of early morning speed climbers did 19 ascents on the Matron on its four faces before 10am. Happy times.
I think the Open Space and Mountain Parks folks gain a HUGE amount of climber community "goodwill" by re-opening areas ahead of time when they realize that birds are not nesting in them.
Kudos to the rangers.
BTW, the trail to the Matron proper once you leave the main trail is really rough since a bunch of trees were downed by the two big snow storms.
Cheers, WT
By Tony Bubb From: Boulder, CO Oct 20, 2003 rating: 5.8
You can also finish the climb via a second pitch just left of the old eye bolt, pulling through the lichenous overhang on jugs. Depending on where you do this, it can be protected reasonably and be rated between 5.8 and 5.10.
The Matron
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