This morning I completed a Boulder classic: solo climbing Freeway on the Second Flatiron. Special thanks to my friend Brooke for talking me into this excellent climbing experience and capturing my epic leap from the “diving board”. Aside from a few sketchy “scrambles” to set anchors in the past, this was my first intentional solo climb.
At 600 feet high, Freeway seems intimidating from the base. But the route is an extremely easy climb. It’s graded at 5.0 on the Yosemite Decimal System (this is the lowest grade that still counts as climbing that warrants protection). In truth, it’s a moderate scramble up a slabby face that has a few true climbing moves and enough exposure to get the heart pumping when you remember that you don’t have any protection. I was able to complete this climb in my approach shoes.
The weather was absolutely fantastic! It was a moderately busy morning: we were two of seven people on the route. At the beginning, we crossed paths with a guy who was RUNNING DOWN the route. Brooke also ran into a friend on the route right after I jumped off the diving board. This felt like a very Boulder moment and I found it very humerous.
Round trip, it took us 1 hour 45 minutes to go 2.36 miles, 1242 feet of elevation gain. I take the blame for being slow on this one. I was a a little nervous about the climb and took my time on the way up.
