Trip Report
The Silk Road: A an ice report from the central Rockies.

by wbw
Saturday February 18, 2012 11:15am
Back In The Day, I had a love-hate relationship with winter climbing. I always loved being out in Winterness, but at the same time I hated freezing my ass off while stupidly clinging to some piece of frozen water. I think many of us think of ice climbing as something like this:
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Bad Bob enjoying the steepness at Mt. Lincoln, CO.
Bad Bob enjoying the steepness at Mt. Lincoln, CO.
Credit: wbw
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Or maybe something like this:
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Bob on Spotted Owl Sandwich, Cody, WY.
Bob on Spotted Owl Sandwich, Cody, WY.
Credit: wbw
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These pictures are of my buddy Bob, who has had a dream ice season this year.

Well times and technology have changed. Clothing is much better, the tools and screws that we use are much more user friendly, and the experience of climbing without leashes has truly changed the movement and the kind of terrain that are now considered par for the "ice climbing" experience.

I think that winter climbing in Colorado, is unique in some ways. While we get the full value winter in the mountains, the range of temperatures that we experience make for some transient climbs that are here-today-gone-tomorrow. (It also makes for a sometimes horrendously dangerous snowpack.) At this point, I no longer have that love-hate feeling I once did for climbing on the frozen medium, so I get out whenever I can, and I truly love it all as long as there is a landscape of white to play in. But there are certain climbs that come in, only once in a Blue Moon, and to turn a corner after slogging up a steep slope, and find conditions right on a climb that last formed several years ago, is perhaps more interesting than climbing steep pillars and flows that form consistently each season. I compare chasing after such climbs to chasing a ghost. . sometimes its only in the imagination.

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My kids holding up the Flatirons, Boulder, CO. (I think they need ...
My kids holding up the Flatirons, Boulder, CO. (I think they need to grow longer arms.)
Credit: wbw
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Wait a minute! What happened to the landscape of white?? Well last weekend, my friend Frosty and I chased after a ghost in the Flatirons, home to some of the best warm weather slab mongering on the planet, and the ghost was in.
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Yes, that is the same piece of rock as in the last picture, First Flat...
Yes, that is the same piece of rock as in the last picture, First Flatiron, Boulder, CO.
Credit: wbw
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The East Gully of the First Flatiron has been climbed in winter conditions for many decades. A few years ago, the obvious gully in the picture was renamed "The Silk Road" in an online database, and a few old timers complained about the name change. But on the other hand, climbing the East Gully in full winter conditions is certainly a totally different experience then romping up warm slabs during the rest of the year. I am certainly a crusty old-timer myself, but I also appreciate the new name, because it describes my winter experience much more eloquently than "The East Gully."
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Sniffing around the start of the Silk Road.
Sniffing around the start of the Silk Road.
Credit: wbw
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We agreed to meet at Chautauqua at 5:00 a.m. which would have put us on the route before anyone else. But while driving the ten minutes from my house to meet my partner, I realized I had spaced out my crampons. I had to turn around on Broadway to go get them, and consequently a party (of friends, as it turns out) beat us to the route. So Frosty attempted the alternate start above that didn't go due to unbonded and rotten ice on rock.
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The real start of the Silk Road.
The real start of the Silk Road.
Credit: wbw
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Once we settled into the notion that we would not be first on the route, we found the common start to be really neat, thin (a pattern of the climbing to come) climbing with the front points while palming in a right facing corner. This led to contemplation of the slab mongering to come.
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Is this the really the First Flatiron?
Is this the really the First Flatiron?
Credit: wbw
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I had never thought that hold-less slab climbing in crampons was possible, but as I followed Frosty's great runout lead over low angle rock slabs, I was amazed at the friction between my monopoints and the rock. Of course, the Flatirons usually provide a good edge for at least one point of contact, and on the most tenuous foot placements, (read friction placements) I always found a decent if small edge for my fingers. . no dry tooling on this pitch for me. Points of contact were varied, which is my favorite kind of mixed climbing. The rock traverse got us onto beautiful thin runnels of ice and snice.
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Looking up the thin path of the Silk Road, 1st Flatiron, Colorado.
Looking up the thin path of the Silk Road, 1st Flatiron, Colorado.
Credit: wbw
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The next pitch was mine, and it was consistent, low angle ice/snice, in which the oblique sun was slowly starting to soften the half inch thickness. We're not talking swing the tool hard here. It's more like, gently tap, if it sticks in the least, don't try to get a better placement or the ice will break away. If you can't get a confident tool placement, then you drag the tool gently 'til it catches on some combination of rock and snice. I cannot imagine climbing this kind of frozen-ness at a steep angle, although I know people do. I exaggerate not at all in saying it was between 1/2 and an inch thick for most of the pitch. I was able to place a stubby and then a couple of 13 cm. screws near the end to protect the crux. What made the climbing easy, if runout at times was the fact that I was on my feet and rarely had to pull very hard on either of my tools. Very similar to the Flatirons slab mongering that is so fun on warm days, except in a a winter context. So cool!
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Slabbaneering at the end of the second pitch, Silk Road.  photo by Mik...
Slabbaneering at the end of the second pitch, Silk Road. photo by Mike Walley
Credit: wbw
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Looking down the First Flatiron on the Silk Road. Just out of the fram...
Looking down the First Flatiron on the Silk Road. Just out of the frame is the sprawl of Boulder. This is "alpine" climbing, ten minutes from my house. What a trip!
Credit: wbw
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Looking up at the finish of the Silk Road.
Looking up at the finish of the Silk Road.
Credit: wbw
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Frosty starting the crux pitch, which had a hard rock section overcome...
Frosty starting the crux pitch, which had a hard rock section overcome by a combination of stemming, knee-ing, dry tooling, palming, crimping and some other techniques I don't know how to describe.
Credit: wbw
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The East Gully (a.k.a. the Silk Road) on the First Flatiron. T...
The East Gully (a.k.a. the Silk Road) on the First Flatiron. The route is obvious in the picture, and does not end on the summit.
Credit: wbw
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Frosty summed up the satisfaction of this climb by saying it had slabs, ice, snice, rock, mixed, trees, views and great adventure. I think it had a little bit of all the elements of climbing that I love. This was the first climb I've done with Frosty, and it was a treat to spend the half day with such a fun and solid partner. If we had not gotten two feet of snow in Boulder a week or so prior to when we climbed this, and then sustained cold temps with just enough melt/freeze, this climb would have been a ghost that we never would have found. As the sun starts to set on the ice season in Colorado, my dreams consist of a journey up the Silk Road.
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Winter sunset over Boulder, CO.
Winter sunset over Boulder, CO.
Credit: wbw
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  Trip Report Views: 3,258
wbw
About the Author
is a trad climber from across the Great Divide.

Comments
Crimpergirl

Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
  Feb 18, 2012 - 11:23am PT
Very nice! I can't deal with the cold temps so thanks for sharing what the flat irons looks like up close when frozen.

Gilroy

Social climber
Bolderado
  Feb 18, 2012 - 11:34am PT
Snice!

TFPU
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Feb 18, 2012 - 10:59pm PT
Very very cool, thanks much!!! loved the sun set shot!!!
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Feb 18, 2012 - 11:10pm PT
unique

I think I know where that line is oddly enough, said the California climber.
Stewart Johnson

Gym climber
top lake
  Feb 18, 2012 - 11:42pm PT
nice!
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
  Feb 19, 2012 - 12:22am PT
Nice trip report dude, keep getting after it!
slayton

Trad climber
Here and There
  Feb 19, 2012 - 12:45am PT
Snice indeed! Looks like a very fun adventure. Thanks for sharing.
Crimpergirl

Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
  Feb 19, 2012 - 10:44am PT
I've continued thinking about and enjoying this TR in my mind. There are not many placements on the flatiron when it's just rock. Imagining it covered in ice and snow with rock - it's gotta be thin ice I imagine....well, bad arse climbing guys!!! Thanks.
Grampa

climber
from SoCal
  Feb 19, 2012 - 12:31pm PT
Nice TR guys, you had a great time.

I am so jealous! Living in So Cal, the only ice I get is in my whiskey/7. You guys who live in places with "real" seasons are lucky.

Well, gotta go mow the lawn, where is my sun cream?
Dirka

Trad climber
Hustle City
  Feb 19, 2012 - 10:32pm PT
I second the SNICE coment!
BMcC

Trad climber
Livermore
  Feb 20, 2012 - 12:23am PT
Looks like a fun outing... and cool to have such adventure potential in your backyard!
wbw

Trad climber
'cross the great divide
Author's Reply  Feb 21, 2012 - 11:49am PT
Glad you all enjoyed the report. While the ice close to Boulder is often disparaged, it is climbs like this one that make me realize how the ice climbing around here can be so unique. And this is not the only one within sight of downtown that ranks amongst my most memorable climbing experiences.

Crimpergirl, it was actually pretty comfortable the day that we climbed the Silk Road. Butt cold at Chautauqua, but due to an air inversion, and then a bit of early sun, warmer than expected. I was actually sweating while I was climbing.

That TR on the winter ascent of the 3rd Pillar; now *that* looked cold.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Feb 21, 2012 - 09:24pm PT

Dern that looked fun!

I can't wait for it to get in 'shape' again!
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Dec 1, 2015 - 01:03pm PT
WBW, looks like this is coming close to being in. I am jonesen for ice and Boulder doesn't seem to have the goods so I am thnking of trying to hit this up if it can stick around for a day or two but not sure it is going to make it. Do you remember how you got off? Was there enough ice to V-Thread it when you did it or is there fixed anchors.

Also I have gone all the way up to hunter Creek falls twice to try to do Spotted Owl Sandwitch as a friend of mine put the route up, but coulod not find the thing for the life of me. Looks great in your picture though.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Dec 5, 2015 - 03:36am PT
Cool!
BASE104

Social climber
An Oil Field
  Dec 5, 2015 - 07:14am PT
I ice climbed in Boulder Canyon long, long, ago. Do people still ice climb there?
philo

climber
  Dec 5, 2015 - 07:54am PT
Here is a great video done my friend HardCor. He managed to climb the Silk Road forur days in a row under very different conditions each time. Excellent route, excellent fun.

Watch and enjoy.
http://youtu.be/VGqcKUHTIFU
philo

climber
  Dec 5, 2015 - 09:28am PT
Here is another video that gives a good feel for the Silk Road.

http://youtu.be/46t5-1MJZBE
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