Flying Buttress Free Solo
- August 2007
- Uncategorized
My watch alarm rang at 3:30, and I was too sleepy to wake up. Seems like I had reverse jetlag from Europe, for a few days. So I just didn’t wake up! How about that! 😐
There are a lot of advantages to climbing solo, and the ability to ignore your alpine start and just go back to sleep without being responsible to your partner is one of them. But, as with all things that seem so ideal at first….
I guess I was subconsciously pondering all this, instead of just snoozing, so I woke up bolt straight up at 4 am. Still early enough for the Flying Buttress, even though I was in Boulder, dossing at my friend Brendan’s house (my jumpmaster friend, who taught me to skydive, and through a totally unplanned coincidence left for a basejumping trip to Switzerland the very day I arrived BACK from Switzerland! You can see we need to work on our scheduling a little bit, but at least I ended up with a great place to stay for a week and a half…..).
I made some coffee, gave Fletcher her breakfast, and then dropped her off at Brad’s house and kept on driving up to Estes. A pretty late alpine start, but the Flying Buttress is just short, only about four pitches, and not very hard either. But it is a gorgeously aesthetic feature—a sharp, slice of a prow of granite that cuts down like a knife stroke. This week has been a really weather-full storm cycle on the Front Range. I figured I had until about 11 am to get up and down, without getting stormed on.
The only problem with these Rocky Mountain routes is route finding. Onsight soloing is a little scary, because if you get way off route, you can’t rap. Right now, for whatever reason, I seem to need that feeling of commitment.
Mount Meeker is just left of Longs Peak. I love walking up that trail, in the darktime that changes to light. I always feel so moved when I emerge above treeline, and catch the first sight of the Diamond. It feels like falling in love for the first time, every time.
Usually the alpine start is very very early, and I’m walking in the dark almost all the way. Starting late today got me to the beautiful viewpoints at sunrise, and I was overwhelmed by the Diamond’s pink early light, and all the glorious glows everywhere around me. I think I dallied for an extra hour, total, because I couldn’t stop taking pictures.
As I neared the Flying Buttress, I could see someone on the first pitch. I ended up meeting Mark and Gabe, two very sweet guys, and chatting with them on the first couple of pitches.
I have to say, it is a little difficult to stay on route on this route. I had been forewarned by the guidebooks I had checked, but I did end up climbing up and down a couple of times and doing a section that was definitely harder than 5.9……which made me very reluctant to commit at the roof, in case it happened again.
I spent a lot of time going up and down, and making sure I was a thousand percent solid before committing to the slabby 5.9 moves up to the roof. Free soloing is funny. On the one hand, I feel absolutely sure I won’t fall. I know I can climb any 5.9 without falling. Yet, at the same time, I can’t just climb like normal. I have to make sure I feel beyond solid on every single move I make, which changes the feeling of the climbing completely, especially on a route I’ve never climbed before. It puts me into a completely different mindstate. I feel totally unattached, yet also fully present. I accept the reality that I could die, yet I truly believe I won’t…..
But it doesn’t get much better than a pleasant cruise up perfect, beautiful granite, in one of my favorite places in the world. As I hiked off, I looked back to see Mark or Gabe standing straight up on the summit of the Flying Buttress.
And I made it back to Longmont in time for a few skydives too. Have to stay on task…..!
I bought my skydiving rig used, from a very nice guy in New York. I lucked out, with a beautiful red and purple container, which is exactly what I would have picked myself. And I’m so glad my parachute is pretty.
