According to the City of Boulder website, "Earl and Floyd Millard made the first known ascent of the infamous 3rd Flatiron in 1906.
The website continues "Since then, the rock has been the destination for climbing enthusiasts world-wide. Some of the more notable ascents include Dale Johnson and Phil Robertson on roller skates (!), a blind man led by Ernest Greenman (who climbed it 101 times), Baker Armstrong without hands, and Baker again at age 60 in 16 minutes."
And, "But don’t let these feats cause you to lose your guard: in its long history, the 3rd has also brought many careless climbers to their deaths. It is a multiple-pitch climb that is difficult and time consuming to escape from in bad weather."
Instead of wearing roller skates or climbing in bad weather, we decided to just eat dinner on top. We went to Wild Oats and purchased some sushi, beer and a chocolate desert and headed to the trail head. We hiked over to the third flat iron, and took off. The climb is about 900' high and had only one other group on it.
In no time, we arrived to the top at dusk. (I think it was more than 16 minutes though). We enjoyed our food and desert though the wind was a bit pesky. Then we huddled under a blanket and looked over the city lights. In the distance we could see enormous lightening bolts pummeling some farm land.
After dark, we rapped the three rappels and hiked out in the dark. Our next adventure is to climb a 14er. Looks like we'll head to Aspen and climb Capitol Peak. Should be a blast!
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