Man dies after 1st Flatiron fall

Hey wanted to note I found black mechanics gloves also with Carter's stuff over near the top of the East face gulley last Friday afternoon.

I forgot to give them to his friends so I clipped them to the caribeaner there Sunday morning

I'm assuming the right people got them since they are not seen in the photo,  

Just wanted to say they were Carter's,  found with his hat, sunglasses, phone and headphones, 

I know he was wearing all the other stuff that fell off, but I don't think he was wearing the gloves, I dnt know how they would have came off, so maybe he climbed up using gloves? Or just brought them in case.. 

To thought about the photo, it is clear he took the picture from the middle of the top of the flatiron, on the ridge,  so from the looks of it he had made it to the top,  maybe he did want the adventure of downclimbing and from the very top of the East face gulley route, it looks real easy like 5.0 but you could pretty much downclimb 10feet to the back side right there on the top of far right side so maybe that's where he was trying to head?  I kinda just wonder what he was thinking up there, if he was sketched or chilling and happy and cool or..  hey bottom line is accidents just happen and I think he was just happy to be outside having a good time RIP Carter 

What are the thoughts on adding the unroped descent info to the First Flatiron Mountain Project page? You have to read through the comments on the page before you find any info. I really don't want to entice or embolden more people to solo the First Flatiron, but what if he looked on his phone (perhaps while sitting at the summit) for the MP beta, couldn't find it and then decided to take what seemed like the path of least resistance? 

ebethreegs wrote:

What are the thoughts on adding the unroped descent info to the First Flatiron Mountain Project page? You have to read through the comments on the page before you find any info. I really don't want to entice or embolden more people to solo the First Flatiron, but what if he looked on his phone (perhaps while sitting at the summit) for the MP beta, couldn't find it and then decided to take what seemed like the path of least resistance? 

Good suggestion but it's already posted:

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/southwest-face/105750976

I suppose it could be better identified as the standard downclimb though..  And the beta photo/topo depicts at best a tiny protion of the SW Face descent - something that could potentially cause (fatal) confusion.

Edit:  Having now read in detail the current MP description for the SW Face, it can clearly use a good deal of clarification per ebethreegs' post earlier today.  Those who are reversing the route, or even doing it ground-up for the first time, are likely to have trouble interpreting the route description as it now reads.  I fully agree with ebethreegs regarding the need to clearly describe how to get off the summit if one climbs to this summit without a rope, especially for the first time.  That said, I also see how an online promotion to solo could open the door to climbers biting off more than they can chew, but keep in mind how common it is to solo the easy to moderate east face climbs in the Faltirons these days. 

Hypothetical line of thought -- if onsighting something as straightforward as the 5.4 Baker's Way is no big deal, the crux of which is in my opinion a few friction moves on the North Ridge, then "downsighting" a 5.2 jug haul off the back should be cake, right?  

Is Stich (the OP) or anyone else willing to edit the description and make the route finding details more concise, or even just add a paragraph on how to reverse the route?  Thanks.

S2k4life wrote:

So ironically enough I posted on this as soon as it happend as I was saddend and taken back, I'm not a huge dedicated solo er, so I posted why solo, why do it, I said I like climbing to much to put it in jeopardy, with that being said , I love scrambling , running out pro on easy climbs on lead, and yea I'll solo a little, responsibly? I've trad climbed for three years now and lead 9s on sport lead a 10a, climb 10s, I just did kamikaze overhangs on the 1st on gear friday, one of the harder routes if any of them are hard and my partner left so i did what any adrenaline junkie driven addicted climber would have done,   went for a solo on the 1st, 

Little did I know what route Carter had done or even whereabouts he had fell, 

So along my free solo journey,  3/4 of the way up I see something shiny sitting on edge of rock and I'm thinking bolts , on my way up to it I found a i phone barely cracked not thinking nothing of it,

I get to the (shiny thing ) and realize it's headphones , sweet I found headphones, I said wait I don't want these they are busted , then I said waaaaaaaaaait a sec, I know whose these are, Erie, sobering,

Then I look around and see his sunglasses laying right there on the ground to the right, not busted or anything with the croakie still attached, 

Wow, I take all his stuff with me bc right away I thought somebody wants this, then I thought I would just put it at the base of the climb with his memorial, where it may deserve to be, or with his dad,

But wait , so I climb up through a little 5.6? Roof , fun , and I'm thinking ok this is where he must have fallen, right? Wrong, 

I pull the roof, climb up 10 feet and theres his patagonia hat right next to a tree , wow just 100 feet from the top, past all the hard sections,  into a 5.0 easy grassy left facing dihdral, 

So I go to put his stuff at the base of the climb with the picture that's there and the cord and beaner and a big group of his close friends come up and start talking to me and were extremely appreciative I brought down his stuff, I just said hey I wasn't going to leave it up there, I wanted to do the right thing and put it where it belonged and I guessed I was just the 1st person with the balls to go up there where he did ( accidentally)

Or so I thought, so then the lady tells me 30 people have been up there looking for his stuff, why I found it idk, but I suppose it helped push me through my journey , 

So for those wondering,I found his stuff on the east face gulley route scattered on ledges about 100-150 feet from the top of the route

RIP Carter