Flatirons in mid March?

Looking to climb the first flatiron in a couple weeks and wondering if anyone knows what condition they are in, or how feasible that will be. I’m taking a couple non-climber friends. Thanks for any info.

Weather could be highly variable… you could have bluebird skies and T-shirt weather—or it could snow a foot. If there has been a recent snow, some areas may be damp, wet, or seeping… sort of a lottery, really. 

Anticipate the first 20' of the first pitch to be a snow climb.

Even if it's bluebird and the route looks clear from town I'd pack microspikes for the descent. It's common for the approach and climb to mostly snow free, but the descent to be an icy mess this time of year.

My rule of thumb is if the side roads are completely clear of snow then you will encounter little on the east faces.  The cracks, gullies, north and west faces can hold snow/moisture much longer though, so pick your route accordingly.

I remember when I lived there that there were various months of different cliff closures secondary to nestings.

You're probably already aware of that but always good to check their website.

When I first moved there I set up a climb and got ready to go and then saw something about the closures and double checked and the route that I wanted to do was closed until July.

Hey Theo, 

Like others have said, mid-March can be tough to predict.  Could be snowing.  Could be 70 and sunny.  

If you and your friends have your hearts set on climbing one of the Flatirons I'd suggest trying the Second Flatiron first, and if you guys fly up the Second, give the First a shot.  

Your friends being non-climbers means you'll be pitching out the entire climb, instead of soloing or simul-climbing large sections, and it likely means they will be slow.  Pitching out the whole climb can take a lot longer than you'd think. If you've never done the route before, you can lose a lot of time to route finding and trying to find a suitable spot to build an anchor.  First time up there, it really does just look like a sea of sandstone, and there's a fair amount of bad rock if you get off route.  Not to mention the runouts are legit.  There are a lot of spots where you could be looking at 80-100ft falls, so simul-climbing with non-climbing partners would be horrifying.

Seriously, not trying to be a wet blanket.  You know your groups ability a lot better than I do.  It's just the First Flatiron gets underestimated all the time, and in March, it gets cold fast once the sun goes down.  If you have your heart set on the First, definitely bring extra layers (even if it is 70 and sunny), extra water, and head lamps. 

Whatever you choose, I hope you and your friends have fun!

Thanks for all the help. Ended up being a nice day and we climbed the second. 

Glad it worked out! You did some variant of the Freeway, I assume? How did the “Leap o’ Faith go?