Cameron Maier, who has worked on the RMNP trail-crew for a number of years and had lived in Estes Park knew of a project there, and a few weeks ago took the ever-psyched Dave Graham up to check it out. Dave climbed the FA of Memory is Parallax V14, which is one of the best hard problems in Colorado. I was anxious to check it out, and there was word that several other difficult lines had gone in as well.

Saturday I went there with Daniel Woods, Courtney Sanders, and Brian Capps. We made the relatively short approach, and saw a small cluster of boulders, some good problems, some good projects, and got to work.

Daniel and I climbed an awesome traverse put up, I think, by Dave, called The Desperate Houseboys Traverse V10. Daniel climbed it first try, and it took me perhaps 2 hours to piece it together. While not cutting edge, these kinds of contributions go a long way towards cementing Dave’s commitment to find and establish great new problems for the community here in Colorado. Development is rarely done at the highest level (and although important), it’s these quality lower level problems which really make an impact.

Brian did all the moves but couldn’t quite manage the link of The Desperate Houseboys Traverse V10, after a training day.

We also saw a really nice project cleaned up by Dave that could be V12-V14. I would like to try that one on my next visit. We then walked down the hill to try Memory is Parallax V14. I struggled to do anything, but Daniel quickly did all the moves. The problem has some very intricate footwork, and eventually DW sorted it out. By this point the wind had picked up and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were gusts of 50 mph. Snow was in the air, but we were relatively sheltered and Daniel managed the second ascent, in a day. It was a great effort. Here is some fairly raw video of his ascent:

I don’t know much else about the area, except that it was known to several Estes locals for this significant project that was very difficult. If someone has more information about the history of the area I would love to hear it! Estes Park is one of my favorite areas in Colorado, not just for the bouldering in Chaos Canyon, but the scenery, the wildlife and the hiking make it a great place to spend an afternoon.

Photo Justin Jaeger

He called it I Comb My Hair Like God and wrote on his blog, “… I Come My hair Like God V12(maybe). I’m not sure about the grade. My gut tells me v11 but I don’t want to be a sandbagger.” When we first started trying the project the weather was warm and it took a while to figure out the moves. Phil, who has been on a tear lately, failed and then came back and failed to send the problem again. I went to the Black Hills last weekend and Phil made the FA, and I am psyched he went up there and did it. I thought for sure that it was V12 and encouraged him to call him that. After climbing this, however, I would put it on the upper end of V11. I should have listened to Phil! Either way, it’s an awesome new problem, just another to add to the long list of great power problems in the Park. This may have been the last day in the high country, as the report from Carlo Traversi, who hiked to Jade on Monday was a ton of snow in Chaos. I imagine Evans was similar.

Untitled from Jamie Emerson on Vimeo.

Hallet’s Peak

Far Upper Chaos

Long’s Peak

Paws

Upper Chaos. The observant eye can pick out The Green 45, The Otech, Kawa and several others.

The movement on the lower section is some of the most interesting movement I have seen in a while. Amazing flat edges, holding tension with the toehooks. Very psyched on the new problem and when the low start is complete it will be one of the best problems in Chaos. Unfortunately, I don’t think the photos do it the justice it deserves, but I think this will be a popular problem in years to come. Check out the pics.
Mirkwood V10 FA

Phil Schaal, in top form after his send of Jade, works the moves on the project low start.
Here Rylan Marshall has just done the first move, and is setting up for a difficult match.

In the fading light we walked over to a new boulder below the Green 45 called The Horror V8. While this problem is short, it has fun moves and good rock. It is a small boulder and faces downhill. It starts on a flat edge, with a move into a nice undercling, out to a hard to grab sloper and a move to the top. Ryan Silven got the FA on this one. Jaeger and I both did it quickly and hiked out under a gorgeous glowing orange moon. Fall is coming!

The photos of me were taken by Justin Jaeger.

Battle Mountain, which forms the northern shoulder of Longs Peak

Olson agonizing close on Freaks of the Industry 8B

Justin Jaeger, That Baby Don’t Look Like Me V2

The Not Bacon Wall V5

This great traverse is in the V7 range and lies just uphill from The Not Bacon Wall. As far as I know it was FAd by Paul Otis around 2001-02

Ryan and I revisited an old sector I had scoped in 2002 and put up a couple of nice problems, the Leg Breaker and Harpoon V10.

Leg Breaker V9

Olson on Leg Breaker V9

OLSON!!!

Several weeks ago I was searching for new boulder problems. In Upper Chaos I stumbled upon a majestic dihedral, one worthy of a strong effort. Putting up new problems is hard work and often takes alot of time and effort. The first day I felt like this problem would go I scrubbed and cleaned the lower holds and figured out the sequence. This took up the majority of my climbing day. In preparation for the next day, I got a nice new static line to rappel down and thoroughly cleaned the upper sections of the dihedral and try and clean and figure a sequence for the top out. This again took up a good chunk of my day but by the time I was finished I had a sequence down for the top section. With a good effort in fading light I made it through the lower section of finger-y and tension-y climbing but fell on the upper part. The third day I decided to at least climb the stand start. This starts matched on an obvious flat hold. It climbs some really nice moves on classic Chaos Canyon rock to a heady and commiting, but easy topout. I felt that this problem would be popular in its own right and called it The Pterodactyl V8 or V9.

Pterodactyl

Pterodactyl FA

I tried several times to do the full upward rising traverse into the start but kept falling on the punchy end.

Yesterday, I came back ready to see my vision come to fruition. Andre DeFelice, who was on his way up to Jade, happen to stop by, and with all the beta sussed out did the moves quickly. He fell a few times on the upper section but was determined to do the FA, and with the light fading he fired it, just moments after a near send on my part. I was tired and my final attempt was a lackluster one.

Sunday I came back and after several burns from the start and a key change of beta, I managed the second ascent. I think this problem is one of the best new lines in Colorado and it has been nice to see it come to be. There hasn’t been too much talk of a grade but after talking to several strong climbers my suggestion is V12. The stand start has been repeated several times (Nic Oklubja, Brian Camp, Andre DeFelice and flashed by Tommy Caldwell) and everyone seems very psyched. I got some nice footage from the send. Thanks to everyone who came by, gave encouragement and spotted! The problem lies just before Riddles in the Park in Upper Chaos. Enjoy!

Check out Hayden Miller’s blog for more nice pictures.

In Colorado the future of bouldering seems to be long hiking and for those that are willing to put the time in there are very nice problems to be had. There are several zones in RMNP that are a long haul from the trail head and last weekend I visited one of them.

After over three hours of uphill hiking and 7 miles of trail beneath our feet we came into a pristine basin. We had heard rumors of beautiful scenery far away from the madness of Chaos Canyon and decided to investigate.

We found a small area with a few nice problems. Most of the day was spent hiking but we did put our shoes on to climb a very nice V3 up sloping edges.

The hike out was long and tiring but it was a wonderful day in the mountains. This is one of several areas that I have been to that lie deep in the heart of the Rockies. It’s nice to know that such nice places exist. It’s hard to say whether or not expedition style tactics will ever be employed for bouldering. It is an interesting concept considering the Himalayas are the tallest mountain range in the world and as well they are 6000 miles long. The potential there is staggering. For now Colorado will have to do. It’s hard to pass up the relatively quick and easy destinations of Mt. Evans and Chaos Canyon, but for one day it was a nice diversion.

The last move, last year.

Skeptical

“It’s done! And now I have to get an A in Chemistry”
Photos by Rolson