Alpine Adventure
22 07 2007
Echo Lake
Saturday was a weird and epic day. My friend Brian Capps and I decided to avoid the humidity and the crowds and head up above the treeline. The weather was threatening but we pressed on. Ten dollars gets you up the Mt. Evans road to Summit Lake 12,830ft. From there the trail drops about a 1000ft to one of the highest and most beautiful bouldering areas in America. It took Brian and I about 45 minutes of very steep and slow hiking to make to Area D.
The scenery was outstanding!
The Black Wall and a bunch of unclimbed boulders
There are four big, proud boulders at Area D. The first one is a project dihedral.
A very pretty 18ft line with an obvious starting hold and a flat landing.
Poeject Dihedral at Area D
The second is a gorgeous highball put up by Jeremy Bisher. He had been watching the Never Ending Story and so this classic became The Nothing V8. Several of my friends think that this may be the best problem in Colorado. If you look closely you can see several small chalk spots that connect to a right trending, upward rising seam. This is the victory jug finish. It’s a little difficult to get a perspective of how tall this problem is, but I would guess it’s 25 to 30 ft.
The Nothing V8
The third is called Slander. Cameron Cross did the first ascent. This is one of the most aesthetic problems I have ever seen, and it lies just around the corner from the Nothing. It climbs out the middle of a near 45 degree overhang. I am interested but there are a couple of sharp holds and awkward moves. Cameron originally graded it V8. Clayton Reagan did the second ascent and suggested V11. Brian was psyched and put in a strong effort. I think he will send the next time he goes.
Brian Capps on Slander
Slander
My focus was on a problem put up by Joe Kinder two years ago. Joe’s problem is a V11 sit-start to a V7 established by Ken Kenny in 2002. Ken’s problem was called Equitos and it may have been the first problem established at Mt. Evans. Ken put this problem up around the same time he put up Veritas in RMNP. Joe’s name is so outstandingly vulgar that I will refrain from writing it here. It’s too bad, because this is one of the prettiest problems at Mt. Evans. I quickly figured out the moves and did it in about four goes from the start. A very classic problem. Check out the photos.
Equitos sitdown V11
The amazing Area D
Getting it done.
We hiked down to Area C for a bit, scoped some sick lines and played on some crimpy problems. Brian was psyched to head to Area B, and we bushwacked through some very thick willows to get there. I was pretty tired, but I did have the energy to chalk up an amazing problem I have been psyched about for several years.
Project at Area B… Tyler?
We hiked out in the rain.
i think i am ready to start going to Evans a lot more my last couple weeks in town…those boulders look insanely good!
sounds like a hell of a day. thanks for the update. nice work on Salad Toss.
That project at area B is beautiful. Do you know of anyone trying it?
TY is very psyched so am I
are there possibilites for V4 and down? I would love to visit this area (im in Denver) sometime, but Im just a V4 Climber.
Directions to these areas are tough to come by. Would you mind posting some general idea of which trail you are talking about and how far the boulders are from the trailhead. Specifics would be appreciated, but for now just a place to start would be nice. Also, as much as we all love talking about the hard classic projects, some mention of problems in the V4, V5 range would be nice. Also, warm-up problems. Are they there? Where? Help us out.
Matt and Mitch, no offense, this blog is not about V4 and V5 problems. The name B3 Bouldering should give you a clue. I don’t climb double-digits either, but blog authors should put the content they are most interested in on the internet. This blog is devoted to climbing NEWS from the Front Range and beyond, not guiding people around alpine areas. There are plenty of other blogs and websites on the intardweb sporting photos of moderates and hard problems from all over the area surrounding Mount Evans, but in almost everyone’s opinion … the internet should never be a place to get a guide to bouldering around Mount Evans.
The proper way to discover the various areas is to hook up with the people that know these areas well so they can show you around PROPERLY. Almost all of the boulders in the Mount Evans Wildeness Area require off-trail travel … we don’t need people hiking all over creation making more social trails than are absolutely necessary. Be friendly, meet some new folks, come up and share some adventure. It’s pretty simple.
BTW Jamie, Aldrich did the dihedral at Area D last week. Tendon thinks he called it The Prestige. Another one bites the dust.