The Thing, a.k.a. Morning After, a.k.a. Needle's Eye, is a small Flatiron located just uphill and SW of the famous 3rd Flatiron. The East Face route is a Roach "Classic" and goes at 5.7 on the first pitch. I believe Roach lists it as having more pitches, but we did it in a group of three at three pitches with a 60m rope and a 70m rope.

Spectacular views of Boulder, the south face of the 3rd Flatiron and the Ironing Boards await any climber attempting this route. While you are climbing in solitude having the route and formation to yourself, you can enjoy watching the conga line of climbers on the third and the long lines waiting to rappel off of it.

The climbing is mild and quite enjoyable with only a short crux, a slightly overhaning 5.7 crack on the first pitch, to worry about.

Getting There

Park at Chautauqua Park and head up the Kinnikinik road to the
Bluebell Shelter. Take the Royal Arch Trail, continuing toward the
Royal Arch when the trail forks. (The right branch leads towards the
3rd Flatiron.) The trail crosses Bluebell Canyon and climbs steeply
until Sentinel Pass. Head due west up hill at this point off trail and
bear north until you find the base of the Thing. It is a bit difficult
to find, so pay attention to where the 3rd Flatiron is and where the
Ironing Boards are. The Thing is across Bluebell Canyon from the
Ironing Boards.

Route Description

3 Pitches, 5.7, 480'

P1: Climb steep, runout slab towards the obvious overhanging crack past a medium sized tree. Hand jam the crack and reach for inobvious holds atop on the left. I think we protected it with a yellow C4. Belay above at either the first tree (uncomfortable belay) or a bit further up at a ledge by more trees. A 60m rope may not reach the ledge though, but a 70m definitely will.

P2: Angle up and left, and find the wide left angling fist crack. This is a fun, albeit rare, feature on the Flatirons. Fist jam the crack and plug wide cams into it. Near the end of the fist crack you'll pass a tree with a biting ant colony. Continue up and left to a small ledge on the left side of the formation left of a huge slab/flake system. Belay here.

P3: Traverse out to the huge slab/flake, and use it to climb by underclinging it. Placing gear in this would require #5 and above C4's, but you can protect the pitch with small gear on the face to your left (the flake will be on your right). I got in nuts, and a red tri-cam and then finally plugged a #4 C4 into the flake. After this, I ran it out 50' on easy turf to the top of the flake then had about 40' of face/slab climbing. I could only get C3's (yellow and green) to fit since if I ran it out here and fell near the top I was looking at a 100' + fall. Belay at the top by slinging some mini-arches or holes in the rock.

summit

Essential Gear

60m rope
Standard Flatirons rack: C3's, C4's (0.75 - 4), Nuts, tri-cams
Helmet
Water (take all your gear with you including packs, since you won't be revisiting the base)

Descent

Walk SW from the summit and find slings to rap off of towards the ground. The rap is probably 50' or so. If you head NW you'll be facing a 100' + rap with no slings. After the rappel, walk north past the formation then down hill to the east.

Rap

Images