This is a short but strikingly beautiful, bolted line on N face of The Finger Flatiron.  Beware, it can be mistaken for the route Nude Figures in a Hollow Fruit by the unsuspecting (like me).  Find this line as the R-most line on the true N face.  This differs from Rossiter's description in 'Flatiron Climbs.'  It's lack of sun and coarse rock warrants long sleeves and long pants.

3 stars for aesthetics, 1.5 stars for rock quality, 2 stars for climbing, 2 stars for position.

Scramble either from the N or down a slot from below the NW face to the slot below the climb.  You can climb directly up the face in the slot or, more easily, chimney between the face and the flake to its apex.  Stem across and clip the first bolt.  Best to start with your R foot on the wall.  Move L to jugs and then up on good holds to the second bolt.  A long reach L to an undercling ends the moderate climbing.  Then you starts into the business on either small painful crimps or slopers that get relentlessly smaller until the anchors.  Clipping the 3rd and 4th bolts will be challenging.  Clipping the anchors on the rippled slab will be more challenging.  It packs a punch, especially for the unsuspecting.  40 feet.

Patience

South Side of the Sky

East Face Right/Finger Flatiron

Mere Wall

Northwest Corner

Nude Figures in a Hollow Fruit

Right Crack

Thinner

Monodoigt

Polydoigt

Thicker

Just Right

Dropline

East Face/Finger Flatiron

No "Tufa" Ones Here?

This route begins nearly the same as for the standard East face.

P1 (5.6, 60M) Start face-climbing near the small bolt-on "Mallory Cave" placard and climb up though a notch through an overhang, some 40-50 feet up. Continue up and right to the right most edge of the continuous face, staying left of the left-facing dihedral. You could work futher right (north) but the rock there is trashy and discontinuous. As you climb upward, you will see where the rock on the far right side ends. After almost 60 M you will be climbing up some broken rock to the right hand edge of the "finger" of this Flatiron. Belay after 60M. on a sheflf or int he dish just left (south) of a thin rib of rock.

P2 (5.7 "?", 70M) Step up and right around a left-facing feature onto a 2-3M wide "rib" of rock that faces east.  This rock is mostly good, but there is a little lichen and crumble here or there.  Protect in a vertical crack up and left after passing the remains of a tiny "Bonzai" tree, then continue to climb up and to the right. Protect whenever possible, as you will not have the opportunity later and may well wish you had put it in when it was available. After perhaps 60', you will be stepping out right on the arete formed by the right margin of this rib and wondering if the ground to the north is less than twice the distance from you as your last piece. Continue climbing up to the shoulder of the rock, and then up and left ont he shoulder to the summit.  Just feet below the summit, there is a good beloay bowl.  If you are on a 60M rope, you will have to have an intermediate belay or a little simul-climbing. A 70M rope [should] just make it.

To descend, rap NW from the station on the true summit.

This wild and steep route goes up the center of the highly featured south face, crossing the

Mere Wall

route near its middle. The route name was inspired by an old Yes song. It can be done as two pitches (described below) or one nice, long 145-foot pitch.

Start at the vertical, pebbly face behind a tree. Head up easy terrain to the high first bolt about 25 feet up. Blast up the steep face through the pitch 1 crux moves past bolts 2 and 3. Some interesting pockets, pebbles, and features lead up and left to the first pitch rap anchor. However, if doing this in two pitches, a better belay spot is 10 feet above this rap anchor at a natural stance that requires gear. In this event, bring 1/2-inch to 1.5-inch gear (we used a red and green Alien and a red (#1) Camalot) for the belay.

The second pitch crosses the

Mere Wall

route about 10 feet above the first pitch rap anchor, then like the first pitch, it heads straight up before eventually trending left to a notable pillar feature. This steep pillar feature on dark rock is the crux, with thuggy 5.11+ moves past the last two bolts.  Lots of juggy holds throughout the route, have fun.

This is a fun route on the steep, south face of the Finger Flatiron.  Although the East Face was closed in the summer of 2001, this face was open.  This route follows a left-slanting, incipient crack/ramp system.  Due to the diagonal nature of the route, falls could be nasty even for the follower.  There are some runouts but not really too bad for a Flatiron route.  The 5.8 section is short, but good route finding skills are needed to stay on the easiest line.  This route gets a lot of sun and is often climbable even in winter.

Approach either by getting into the gully west of the Finger Flatiron (see Finger Flatiron description) or by climbing from Mallory Cave to the notch between the Shark's Fin and Finger Flatiron (5.0).  Note, however, that this latter route was closed in the summer of 2001 to protect bats.

Begin just east of a large chockstone.  Climb up to the diagonal seam/ramp, and follow it up and left, and belay after 110' where another crack angles up to the right.

Continue up the ramp and place some gear.  The crux move is now an awkward traverse back to the left.  Beyond this, consider carefully the easiest line, and seek out places for pro.  The easiest way seems to be near the left hand edge of the ramp (but somewhat runout).  Soon you will arrive on a large ledge below the summit.

You can belay here, and then do a final short pitch (or scramble unroped) back east through a hole to emerge on the summit.  However, you can also continue pitch 2 to the summit, following the same crack all the way from the ground.  This involves an awkward left leaning crack which goes through an overhang, 5.8-5.9 but well-protected.  If you opt for this alternative, you can belay on the summit.

Rap 60' NW from some slings to the ground.

This route is a corner/crack system near the NW corner of the Finger Flatiron. Approach via the Mallory Cave trail and then cut up west on the Box Alley Trail after crossing under the Finger Flatiron and The Hand. These switchbacks will lead you to the back edge of the Finger flatiron. There is an obvious set of two left-facing corners just 30 downhill/East of the West most point of the North face, between the route '

Patience

' and '

Nude Figures In a Hollow Fruit

.' The Northwest Corner is the right-most (west) of these two cracks.

Climb up and left into the first crack, then undercling further up and left under a bulge with small feet and some fingerlocks to where the crack goes vertical in a 1.5" splitter. Up top, some large bouders provide a feature or two to sling for a belay, or you can set gear for anchors.

To descend, climb to the summit (easy 3rd class) and rap from many fixed slings.

Wow! (I'm surprised this little gem isn't in the database yet)  Good climbing.  Find this climb on the WNW face of The Finger Flatiron.  It is in the sun in the afternoon.  It's reminiscent of Thought Control on Stonehenge.  The holds are better than you might suspect from a distance.  Don't mistake this for Patience, a beautifully striking line on the N face of the Finger Flatiron!

Approach via the Mallory Cave Trail and then continue to the R up past The Box.  It is on the L as you make it to the col between the 2nd and 3rd rows of rocks of Dinosaur Mt.  Find a short bolted line up a slab with 3 bolts and 2 small overlaps/roofs on this WNW face.

Meander up from the R to the 1st bolt, clip.  You can go strong R (longer potential swing) or slightly R (better) and pass this 1st overlap on a good edge.  Find yourself at the second clip.  Best not to fall on this line.  There is a decent sized branch protruding from the tree behind you between the first and second bolts.  Moving R at this point makes it 10b (may be soft).  Going directly over then 2nd overlap/roof makes it 11a.  Small but good edges draw you slightly R and up again.  Clip the 3rd bolt.  Fire for the top.  If you are extra-cautious, there is a crack with finger to hand sized openings just before the anchors.  There is a next of bleached slings around a good natural anchor with a single hollow rap ring and a loop of sling.  50 feet.

Why is this Dali-esque?

This route is pretty fun and the moves are unique and position really cool, but it needs more traffic. With more traffic or even a good old-fashion brush-down, it would be 2 stars. At present, it is worth doing, but not a destination climb.

Approach the NW corner of the Finger Flatiron. You will see some free-standing flakes rising out of the ground near that corner- from there a right-leaning crack (hand-to-fist) goes up and right below a massive roof, to a 2-3" crack at the lip of the roof, at its narrowest point, about 1/2 meter.Climb up this system protecting on a few fist-sized cams and whatever else you can fidget in (5.8).  We cleaned a small fixed nut that was surprisingly well placed and seemed good. Turn the roof (5.7) at a solid cam placement and get established above the roof (5.8) and fidget in some gear. Proceed left on a tiny foot ramp (5.8+) or right and up (5.8+) either way a little balancy and above gear at times, but without any dangerous fall potential if you place what is available. The straight-up option goes directly to a rap anchor, but passes some potentially dangerous loose rocks-beware.

The rap anchor above "Nude Figures" (to the south) was re-enforced for the second time in as many years and seems solid. The anchor directly above this climb was total crap, save one piece of cordalette. I removed 3 pieces of webbing that were already 100% severed or chewed through, and one that was brittle and 60% chewed through. This anchor needs one more good piece and more of the crap removed. I ran out for the day after replacing other anchors. If you do the climb, please attend to this. And beware- there is a nylon loving critter up there trying to kill off inattentive climbers.

This route is located on the W side of the Finger Flatiron in a small amphitheatre facing SW below & S of the Finger-Box col or just above the western slot between the Finger & Hand on the approach to Mere Wall.

This was formerly called Inthinuation in Rossiter's Boulder Climbs North guidebook.  His more recent Flatirons guidebook lists it as the name given here.

Just 10-15 feet R of Monodoigt, ascend a small overhang with a long reach L to a undercling bucket.  Turning the overhang and getting your feet situated L on the slab is likely the crux.  An occasional tips seam supplemented with arête holds on the R draw you upward.  Finish on the same ledge as Monodoigt.  This would be challenging to protect as a lead.  Fun, short.

As a TR, the anchor is slightly to the L of the line.

A pretty, thin, bolted slab which is pretty thin on a slightly-concave, short face.  It is located on the W side of the Finger Flatiron in a small amphitheatre facing SW below & S of the Finger-Box col or just above the western slot between the Finger & Hand on the approach to Mere Wall.  It stays in the shade on a summer morn.

It is pictured in Rossiter's Boulder Climbs North guidebook.  It is somewhat reminiscent of Prince of Darkness, Eldo or Slabmaster, Fern Canyon.

Move up onto a small shelf.  Stretch to clip the first bolt.  Short stick clips have been used here.  Delicate balance with an emphasis on foot technique bring you to the shallow, monodoigt _bucket_ just R of the second bolt.  It is the only _jug._  From here it is thinner.  On your L you can try to undercling a couple upside-down edges.  The crux can be surmounted L via a wide pinch handhold or R via a small smooth pebble for the foot (if you are taller).  Close fitting edging shoes may give you a slight edge.

20 feet left of

Monodoigt

is a steep, brownish face, that is just left of a left facing corner

Thicker

, 5.6.  Climb the face on small holds, avoiding the corner to the right, aiming for a crack that diagonals up to the left. The crux is where the crack peters out, height dependent.  Done on TR from same anchors as

Monodoigt

. The climbing is good, if somewhat contrived, as it is very tempting to just stem right into the corner.

A short, irregular dihedral/crack mirroring its opposing neighbor climb to the R across the

Monodoigt

slab with ample room for fingers and hands.  It is located on the W side of the Finger Flatiron in a small amphitheatre facing SW below & S of the Finger-Box col or just above the western slot between the Finger & Hand on the approach to Mere Wall.  Note, there are some large, apparently-stable boulders at the top of this climb that can be skirted to the L.  It may be a pleasant climb if in mixed company with some folks wanting to do

Nude Figures in a Hollow Fruit

or

Monodoigt

and some wishing an easier objective or a bonus pitch after topping out the Finger.

If it's opposing neighbor retained its original "Inthinuation" name, this might be named "InFATuation."

Follow this obvious, zig-zag crack in a corner.  There is a finger to hand-sized crack at the top for an anchor.  You can exit the top with 3rd class moves to the base of

Nude Figures in a Hollow Fruit

above & R.

Approximately 80 feet L of Monodoigt is a sizeable tree directly above a S-facing, smooth slab.  This is the line.  This climb is located on the W side of the Finger Flatiron in a small amphitheatre facing SW below & S of the Finger-Box col or just above the western slot between the Finger & Hand on the approach to Mere Wall.  A pleasant TR perhaps more reminiscent of the Platte than the Flatirons in its friction climbing.  You might argue about the grade on TR but it seems comparable to other 5.6 slabs in the Flatiron, especially if you imagine yourself 60 feet out from pro.  It may be a pleasant TR if in mixed company with some folks wanting to do Nude Figures in a Hollow Fruit or Monodoigt and some wishing an easier objective or a bonus pitch after topping out the Finger.

Slings for the tree.

Friction up the slab.  Bit of lichen.  No pro.

OK, maybe a half star.

The climb has two distinct sections with the lower face being about 5.7 with the most difficult moves coming at the shallow, left-facing corner at the end of the starting ramp.  The upper section of the climb is the obvious dihedral, which starts in the slab directly above Monodoigt. Climb through bulging rock on some fun crystals and pockets to get established at the base of the dihedral. A combination of stemming and layback moves gets you to a rest position on the left arete half way up the dihedral.  From here, layback the left arete, or stem across when possible to the right arete to reach the top.  There are two spots of 9+, 10- climb in the dihedral section.  Some of the rock in the upper dihedral is still friable and will clean up with traffic. We did minimal cleaning.

This is a great route. If it weren't for the grubby start, it'd get 3 stars easily.

The route starts to the right of the rock gully that leads into the Mallory Cave. Because of this, it is subject to bat closures, so make sure you check this before you hike all the way there. The gully / chimney part of the route has lots of [loose] rock and a large-sized "death block" as christened by Roach. Watch were you step, there is definitely enough stuff there to hurt someone.

We did this route in three pitches with a 60m rope. Portions of the route have sizeable runouts but the difficulty in those sections is mild....

P1. Start some ten feet up and right of the Mallory Cave gully. Climb a notch covered with lichen and followed immediately by another notch. This feels a bit stiff for the grade and is somehow protectable. From here, work your way to the trees in a gully up and left and move left of the gully once you reach the tree. Run up the face until you reach the top part of the gully and belay when you run out of rope.

P2. Continue up the gully/chimney until you reach a bulge with two cracks (alternatively you can traverse right out of the gully for some neat face climbing and then back to the chimney under the cracks (unprotected for some 40 feet)). Put in a piece in the crack, and crank the bulge using perfect hand jams. Step around the death block and belay past it in the notch.

P3. Traverse up and left for a few feet and them climb straight up until you reach the top.

Rappel 50-70 feet North from slings located on the North side of the summit.

This is easily toproped from the first pitch anchor on

Mere Wall

.

Description

Protection

Routes in Finger Flatiron