One More Time...back to the Quinfecta

October 20, 2002

I had linked the great east faces of the five numbered Flatirons above Boulder three times previously. Many years ago, the Trashman, Wayne “can I buy a vowel” Trzyna and I dreamt up this idea (though it had apparently been a long standing objective for local scramblers). We just wanted to get in done in a day and took ropes, harnesses, a rack, and lunch. We simul-climbed part of the First, all of the Second, and most of the Fourth. We soloed the Third and the Fifth. We took things pretty seriously, but didn’t run and we even took a siesta on top of the Fourth Flatiron. We finished in 9h5m.

Since then I learned that Rob Stanley had done all five in 3h30m. At the time I didn’t really believe such a time was possible. When I talked to Rob he was pretty vague about the details and I just figured he must be remembering it incorrectly. Regardless, I gave him credit for the fastest time. In 1999 Homie and the Loobster repeated this link-up in around 8h30m and then my friend Steve Mathias did them all in six hours.

Last year I tried this again with the grand masters of Flatiron scrambling: Bill Briggs and Buzz Burrell. We soloed everything and Bill taught us the secret downclimb off the Fifth. Hence, we didn’t need to carry a rope or harnesses. We went hard, so I thought, and finished in 4h5m. We didn’t run at all, but moved consistently. A week later Bill Briggs set the current record with a time of 2h16m! This flabbergasted me, and still does. It certainly makes Rob Stanley’s time a lot more believable.

A month ago I was keen to go under four hours. I mean, when you do 4h5m it is the logical goal. I knew I’d never be able to come close to Bill’s time, but I figured sub-four was possible. I went hard and finished in 3h9m – a great success to be sure, but it left me with the obvious problem. It now seemed possible to go under three hours. It almost would have been better to finish in 3h40m or even 3h50m. Nevertheless, I wasn’t that interested in going at it again because it is a fairly grueling event. But then Buzz came calling…

Photo 1: Starting out from Chautauqua Park

When the godfather taps you on the shoulder, you respond. I agreed to meet him two days later to try again. Buzz’s main interest was to learn the routes and connecting hikes a bit better. I’m sure he’ll shortly go for this again with an all-out effort. I would not be satisfied unless I went under three hours. I can almost keep up with the Buzz on the climbs, but fall back a bit on the approaches and fall way back on the descents. Buzz would wait for me whenever he got too far ahead, with the exception of the final descent.

We arrived at Chautauqua Park a little after 1 p.m. and were pleasantly surprised to see our friend John Black. He was going to accompany us throughout the day and take photos. This made the day even more fun – knowing we’d be seeing our friend every once in awhile.

Most of the time the Flatirons are linked 1-2-3-5-4, because the descent off the Fourth Flatiron must be done to the north. Today I wanted to try a slight twist and do the Second Flatiron first. This would eliminate a bit of bushwhacking and keep us completely on trails until after the first two climbs.

Photo 2: Starting up the First Flatiron and passing the first roped team already.

We worked on the approach, running most of the way. We immediately started up the face of the Second Flatiron. Near the top, we took different routes, as Buzz entered the gully on the left, while I hugged the southern edge of the Pullman Car. Our routes joined again and we turned the overhang to regain the east face. This is the hardest single move on the link-up and is probably 5.6.

While Buzz tried to decipher how to downclimb this section, I continued to the top. As I downclimbed off the backside, a few hikers were watching me. A young kid says, “You’re really good.” I said, “Wait to you see the next guy.” I trotted down the trail that led right to the base of the First Flatiron. Johnny was there waiting for me and so were numerous climbing parties. I screwed up the start of the route and nearly fell back to the ground before getting onto easier ground. I sped up the face past a couple of parties. About halfway up, Buzz caught me and we continued together for a while until we took divergent paths just before merging with the North Ridge route.

Once on top we downclimbed past a team rappelling off the summit. Buzz made it to the ground in just under two minutes and I took just under three minutes. We took divergent routes over to the East Bench on the Third Flatiron. Buzz’s route was faster. John was there as well and took more photos. We passed numerous parties on our quick ascent and met about six people on the summit. We tagged it and immediately downclimbed off.

The whole day we could hear the PA system at the CU stadium. CU was playing Baylor and we were a bit concerned to not hear much cheering. We needn’t be concerned as the #25 ranked Buffaloes won 34-0.

We descended the steep slabs south to the Royal Arch Trail. When we got to the trail, John was there again. He was just a bit further down the trail. We told him to meet us at the start of the Fourth Flatiron and that we’d be there in 35 minutes.

Photo 3: Buzz getting to the East Bench of the Third Flatiron

We had been on the go for just 90 minutes and were fifteen minutes ahead of my previous PR. To break three hours, we needed to be ten minutes ahead, so we didn’t have much of a cushion. The Fourth Flatiron alone would take nearly an hour from the start to our return back to Chautauqua.

We were surprised to climb past a party on the Fifth Flatiron as well. The day was perfect and the climbers were out in force, even on this rarely climbed Flatiron. Of course, we didn’t see anyone on the Fourth, but there are good reasons for that. The Fourth is not only obscure, but the climbing isn’t that great or continuous.

The Fourth is broken up into three sections. The first is covered in too much lichen. The second starts out steep and then heads up stemming gully. The top of this is 5.5/6 and as I was doing this section Buzz dislodges a 2’ by 1’block that came tumbling right for me. Luckily, I could climb up and right just a few feet and it went by directly where I was. I smelled the cordite as I climbed up to Buzz.

The final section can be done a couple of different ways. We did the right option, which involves some really cool 5.5 stemming. There is sort of a fourth section that involves a difficult thin section to overcome a steep wall. This is probably at least 5.6.

Photo 4: Running down the trail from the Fifth Flatiron and heading for the Fourth Flatiron.

We arrived on top 2h25 minutes into the outing. I knew I could break three hours, but wouldn’t be able to keep up with Buzz, who took off for the finish line. He’d do the descent in a remarkable 20 minutes. If you’ve ever descended from the top of the Fourth Flatiron, you can understand how remarkable this is. Bill Briggs did the descent in 18 minutes! I took about 27 minutes, but was slow even on the trail as my feet were just burning.

Johnny was there at the finish. Buzz came in at 2h45m50s. I finished at 2h51m52s. This was perfect and will hopefully put this link-up to rest. I had comfortably broken three hours, but was far enough away from any other barriers as to not entice another effort.

More photos can be found at: http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~jrblack/quinfecta/

Photo 5: Buzz Burrell finishing with the second fastest time ever.