Personal responsibility soloing in the Flatirons.

Since June 25th, the Boulder County Sheriffs Office has released two media statements about incidents involving soloists in the Flatirons. I'm going to go ahead and say it. These two situations involved completely incompetent "climbers" who, along with others are giving our community very bad publicity. Every time I go up there, I see at least one, and usually more than one person starting up in running shoes, feet slipping and then within the first 100 feet or so start to look pretty sketchy and lost. Then they keep on climbing.

In the first incident mentioned above, the soloist got "tired" on Freeway and had to wait for a rescue team to climb up to them and get them out of the situation that they had put themselves into. In the second situation, two punters unbelievably called a rescue as they thought the rock had warmed up too much to be safe. WTF??? (Guess they didn't bother to check the weather forecast and the prediction of 90+ temps.)

Seems silly to even have to say it, but the consequence of a failed solo is probably gonna be bad, real bad. Each of the incompetent folks that I see each time I go up there seems to have forgotten this very important, and very obvious fact. While I'm glad that these three in the two situations escaped their predicaments alive, I am disgusted by their poor judgement and ignorance of how they were placing other people in harms way by requiring a rescue. The consequences of their actions should have been considered long before they found themselves on a huge slab with no rope and no plan for how they were going to deal with the situation. 

Our community is far too casual about soloing in the Flatirons. Just look at the discussion here started by the guy that really wasn't ready for soloing Freeway, but wanted someone to climb it with them without a rope to show them the way, Just look at some of the comments by more experienced climbers that disparage that newbie more than emphasize the seriousness of free-soloing. Some of the comments are not like this, but still the overall vibe in that thread is that soloing Freeway is casual. While soloing Freeway may be, still if you fall you're probably gonna die. 

Now that these three totally incompetent newbies have gotten themselves in media across the country, what do you think the land managers for Boulder OSMP are thinking??  Hmmm. . doesn't require rocket science to conclude that if this type of ridiculous, and totally irresponsible behavior doesn't stop, there will be more regulations. Duh. Isn't that one of the big issues for our community? To not be regulated to the point where we can't enjoy the freedom we love from being out and in the hills. It is irresponsible, clueless people like these three who put these freedoms at risk for all of us. (In addition to their own lives and the well being of their families.) It wasn't that long ago that freedom of the hills and a sense of personal responsibility went together. What happened to that?

Free soloing is a binary experience. You either survive or you don't. You shouldn't depend on the good will and expertise of others to survive a free solo. You shouldn't even be thinking of the possibility of rescuers bailing you out of your bad decision making. All of your important decision making should occur before you leave the ground; not after you've figured out that it's actually pretty serious to climb hundreds of feet above the ground without a rope, even on easy terrain. 

I firmly believe that it is not my business or right to tell other climbers what to do, because in some ways, climbing is an ultimate expression of the freedom that we all cherish. Maybe I need to rethink this belief when I see yet another newb set out to solo on one of the Flatirons with their feet slipping on the first few moves. Maybe as a community, we need to stop acting like, and writing online as if this is okay. Maybe we need to stop telling newbs that the Flatirons are casual and fun solos. Maybe these foolish people and the serious situations they've so casually put themselves into, and put others at risk in doing so need to be called out for their totally irresponsible and foolish behavior. 

Relax its nothing new. Bet you were a gumby once. Getting huffy is what gets regulations. Most people don't want to be rescued

i completely agree with Brad.  i think one of the big drivers of this is the whole "don't blame the victim" movement. sometimes the victim needs some blame and needs some shame.  but if you do question or criticize these boneheads, be prepared for another gumby bonehead to call you the c-word.

May 8 stuck climbers on Whodunit (mountainproject.com)

Vhy kant vee chust climb?

Mock them hard via helicopter on the 6 O'Clock news. 

slimwrote:

 sometimes the victim needs some blame and needs some shame.

I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment, in circumstances that deserve it. Otherwise, this will happen more and more, and SAR will become the actual victim of someone's hubris.

"You shouldn't even be thinking of the possibility of rescuers bailing you out of your bad decision making." 100% correct and yes call out this behavior. While I doubt OSMP is going to restrict climbing in the Flatirons near term, the ongoing surge in SAR-necessary situations is deeply concerning.

If I see someone who looks like they're sketching at the base of the 2nd in basic running shoes, I just tell them to go down right now. I urge others to do the same. Two people have died on the second in recent years, quite a few more on the First and the number of rescues is increasing rapidly. The number of unreported incidents and near-misses in the last few years must be in the hundreds or even thousands by now.

Does anyone know if there are records available somewhere on deaths / injuries / rescues in the Flatirons? I'm interested to know the statistics of how frequently these incidents happen, which formations they're on, if the parties were roped / soloing, etc.  

I think everyone should be free to try free soloing - and they presently are and do so often in the Flatirons.  If they die in the process - too bad - it’s not like the danger isn’t completely 100% f’ing obvious to anyone with half a functioning brain cell.  

If it were a case of innocents facing unseen danger, I might feel different and more obligated to protect - but it isn’t and I don’t.  “You should bail off to the right here” is all I’ve said - several times on the Freeway - maybe they do, maybe they don’t - I don’t look back.

That said - from someone who has been going up there for decades - social media has fueled an increase - for sure - as well as exposed a few near death misses from very experienced guys that only a handful of followers ever see.

"The danger isn’t completely 100% f’ing obvious, even to anyone with half a functioning brain cell."
Fixed that for you, based on numerous personal encounters where this clearly wasn't the case. Just sayin'.

Also body recovery seems a pretty grisly task. I'd just as soon keep it to a minimum, especially in Boulder OSMP.

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/colorado-search-and-rescue-at-risk-of-collapse/

3,600 rescues a year in CO! And by volunteers to boot.

Didn't YOSAR begin charging for "preventable" rescues many years ago?

nbrownwrote:

3,600 rescues a year in CO! And by volunteers to boot.

This is a good opportunity to plug the CORSAR card, the posession of which allows the SAR group that rescues you to bill the state for their expenses. It's one of the best and cheapest ways outdoor enthusiasts in Colorado can support their local teams.

https://cdola.colorado.gov/funding-programs/search-and-rescue-fund

Peter Bealwrote:

based on numerous personal encounters where this clearly wasn't the case. Just sayin'.

Also body recovery seems a pretty grisly task.

Seriously - who are you referring to here?  The vast majority of funtional, mature adults I talk to see danger and death.  At the [extreme] other end of the spectrum, Kyle Walker thought seeking out a 13 up there in running shoes was a reasonable idea.

Fact is - you’re talking to idiots and being an idiot can be harmful to your health.  My 2c - don’t normalize that.

SAR - it’s volunteers seeking out exactly that as a life experience.

James Wwrote:

Seriously - who are you referring to here?  The vast majority of funtional, mature adults I talk to see danger and death.  At the [extreme] other end of the spectrum, Kyle Walker thought seeking out a 13 up there in running shoes was a reasonable idea.

Fact is - you’re talking to idiots and being an idiot can be harmful to your health.  My 2c - don’t normalize that.

SAR - it’s volunteers seeking out exactly that as a life experience.

I could tell story after story of encountering oblivious wannabes who clearly don't get it on the most basic level. Re: SAR, maybe some of them are on MP and can comment?

Peter Bealwrote:

I could tell story after story of encountering oblivious wannabes who clearly don't get it on the most basic level. Re: SAR, maybe some of them are on MP and can comment?

Yes, and those obvious wannabes are idiots. Which is dangerous to their health. It's called natural selection and it's not anyone else's job to prevent someone from soloing 1000ft rock faces on public land if they choose to do so. We have the personal freedom to decide if we want to climb massive cliffs without a rope and die if we fall. It's pretty simple. 

And their are dozens of threads with SAR members that have commented on exactly this.  I've never seen one argue your point. 

I guess people could try and get the word out, but the problem is that the incredibly low number of people who need to be told that an unroped fall from a flatiron is not gonna be a good time are hopeless. And I'm a little concerned with who you hang around with if you're consistently meeting people who don't understand that falling of a flatiron is gonna be a bad experience. 

Peter Bealwrote:

I could tell story after story of encountering oblivious wannabes who clearly don't get it on the most basic level.

Lol - don’t be so elitist.

They’re also freely making their decisions and those decisions are ultimately none of my business.

The best cure for ignorance is knowledge. Let's crowdsource a list of best practices and post it on the MP Page for Freeway. My suggestions for first timers:

1) Climb in your climbing shoes, not your hiking boots, approach shoes, or trail runners.

2) Know the route! It's only 5.0 if you stay on route. If not, are you comfortable free soloing harder terrain?

3) How's your slab technique? Are you comfortable climbing 600 feet of slab, at times with minimal handholds, without a rope? 

4) Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean you have to. 

I'm sure others have helpful suggestions as well.

James Wwrote:

Lol - don’t be so elitist.

They’re also freely making their decisions and those decisions are ultimately none of my business.

In the perfect world, or maybe 30 years ago. But in the real, modern world, where the number of climbers has grown so much and so fast, it’s your business whether you acknowledge that fact or not. The reason I started this thread was because I saw the article about the two clowns who called the rescue due to the rock heating up on the 1st, in the Idaho Statesman. (A newspaper that serves a community 500 miles from Boulder.)The world  reads about these types of idiotic situations, and the only possible conclusion to be made is that climbers are irresponsible, reckless thrill seekers that need to be protected from their own poor judgement. And also that the financial cost of all these rescues is too much for society to bear.

Land managers generally want to manage, which means regulations and often restrictions. We can’t teach people common sense, but we sure as hell don’t need to pretend that these situations are to be expected as a normal part of what our community does. And we don’t need to talk about how casual it is to solo in the Flatirons, especially to an inexperienced climber. (which I hear way, way too often.) If we take the attitude to “relax, this is not new, you were once a newb yourself”, (the first response to my original post) then don’t be shocked when more restrictions are placed on us.

OSMP is currently closing the trail down between the 1st and 2nd Flatirons, Mon.- Thurs., 8-5 for the next 3-5 years to do what is occasional, intermittent trail maintenance. This is an example of government overreach and unreasonable regulation of taxpayer property, and how OSMP approaches land management. Do you really think they wouldn’t ban soloing in the Flatirons to protect people from getting themselves into these absolutely idiotic, life-threatening situations ?

Andrew C, while I appreciate your post as a constructive comment, I would suggest that anyone who needs to consult a Best Practices For Free Soloing Freeway, probably shouldn’t be free soloing Freeway. I would say that about any route.

I know that many will disagree.

Nothing like disparaging trail closures enacted to keep oblivious people safe while risky rigging work is happening, while simultaneously calling out people for being oblivious and doing dangerous things.

But I want to be in the lamest group of satanists there is, how can I be accepted if I don't speed solo the flatirons.