Tournament Rd 1: Dope Spots Region

 

Rocky Mountain National Park Mt. Evans

rmnp

Photo: Steve Woods

  • Probably the highest concentration of hard bouldering in the country in one of the most idyllic settings
  • Famous problems: Jade (V15), Freaks of the Industry (V13/14), Nuthin’ But Sunshine (V13), Deep Puddle Dynamics (V9) and Tommy’s Arete (V7)

evans

Photo: Enlightened Chuffer

  • Known for its punishing approach

  • Famous Problems: Ode to the Modern Man (V14), Clear Blue Skies (V12), No More Greener Grass (V12) and Dali (V9) – coincidentally all these problems are on the same boulder!

  • Many more moderate lines than RMNP

Round 1: RMNP vs. Mt. Evans

  • RMNP (67%, 60 Votes)
  • Mt. Evans (33%, 30 Votes)

Total Voters: 90

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Hueco Tanks Joe’s Valley
huecoPhoto: Trina Ortega/Climbing 

  • One of America’s most historic bouldering areas – Birthplace of the V Scale
  • Unfortunately one of the most tenuous access situations amongst the more popular areas in the U.S.
  • Famous Problems: Terremer (V15), Esperanza (V14), Crown of Aragorn (V13), Babyface (V7)

joes

Photo: B3Bouldering

  • Famous Problems: Black Lung (V13), Resident Evil (V10), The Wind Below (V8)

Round 1: Hueco Tanks vs. Joe's Valley

  • Hueco Tanks (84%, 77 Votes)
  • Joe's Valley (16%, 15 Votes)

Total Voters: 92

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Bishop Squamish

bishop

  • Home to several high quality areas like The Buttermilks, Happy Boulders, Sad Boulders, Pollen Grains, Druids, Dale’s Camp and who knows what else
  • Famous Problems: Mandala (V12), Saigon (V5), Iron Man Traverse (V4)

squamish

Photo: Jim Thornburg

  • Famous for being in movies that Chris Sharma was in
  • Famous Problems: Singularity (V14)

Round 1: Bishop vs. Squamish

  • Bishop (76%, 69 Votes)
  • Squamish (24%, 22 Votes)

Total Voters: 91

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Little Rock City/Stone Fort Horse Pens 40
lrc 

Photo: B3Bouldering

  • Famous Problems: The Shield (V12/13), The Chattanoogan (V12), White Face (V11), The Wave (V5)
 hp40Photo: Narc 

  • Some of the most perfect sandstone on the planet

  • Famous Problems: God Module (V11), Slider (V9), Skywalker (V9), Hammerhead (V5), Bum Boy (V3)

Round 1: Little Rock City vs. HP40

  • HP40 (68%, 62 Votes)
  • Little Rock City (32%, 29 Votes)

Total Voters: 91

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Red River Gorge New River Gorge

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  • Probably the largest sport climbing area in the country
  • Famous Routes: Lucifer (5.14c), Fifty Words for Pump (5.14c), Thanatopsis (5.14b), B.O.H.I.C.A (5.13b), Table of Colors (5.13b), Jesus Wept (5.12d)
 Clausti 

Photo: Dan Brayack

  • Famous Routes: Mango Tango (5.14a), Apollo Reed (5.13) and many more if I had actually ever been there

Round 1: Red River Gorge vs. New River Gorge

  • Red River Gorge (87%, 80 Votes)
  • New River Gorge (13%, 12 Votes)

Total Voters: 92

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Rifle Smith Rocks

6006_RIFLE_LG

  • Famous Routes: Kuru (5.14c), 7 P.M. TV Show (5.14a), Slice of Life (5.13d)

  • Famous Routes: Just Do It (5.14b/c), Optimists (5.14b), Scarface (5.14a), Chain Reaction (5.13)

Round 1: Rifle vs. Smith Rocks

  • Smith Rocks (51%, 43 Votes)
  • Rifle (49%, 41 Votes)

Total Voters: 84

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Yosemite Indian Creek

DSCN1152

  • America’s most storied climbing mecca
  • Famous Routes: The Nose (5.14), Astroman (5.11), Meltdown (5.14), Bachar-Yerian (5.11)
  • Classic boulders: Midnight Lightning (V8), Bachar Cracker (V4)

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Photo: Some awesome person that Rachel knows

  • Quickly becoming one of the more popular climbing areas in the entire country
  • Famous Routes: Air Sweden, many others I am not aware because I have never been

Round 1: Yosemite vs. Indian Creek

  • Yosemite (89%, 80 Votes)
  • Indian Creek (11%, 10 Votes)

Total Voters: 90

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Devil’s Lake Shawangunks

DSC_1589

  • Rich history and tradition
  • Famous Routes: Bagatelle (5.12d), Son of a Great Chimney (5.11), Brinton’s Crack (5.6)

gunks

  • Rich history and tradition
  • Famous Routes: Disneyland (5.6), High Exposure (5.6), Gelsa (5.4)

Round 1: Devil's Lake vs. Shawangunks

  • Shawangunks (79%, 70 Votes)
  • Devil's Lake (21%, 19 Votes)

Total Voters: 89

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Peeps

Schwag

Winter in Wisconsin

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  • http://www.straightouttabedlam.blogspot.com sock hands

    one issue with the rmnp versus evans vote is that, even assuming that each voter has been to both places, it is likely that the voter is using only area A and maybe also B as the basis for their comparison.

    while it is also true that RMNP has many lifetimes of classic, huge, bullet stone to be established, evans already has so many four and five star problems along its flanks that it makes the hard lines of the park seem retarded at best.

    still, to visit all of these problems you need to perform a number of very burly hikes in disparate directions, so visiting even a couple of the different areas in the same day is nearly impossible if one wants enough energy to send.

    so, i guess the park would still win based on concentration…. but holyshit i’ve never seen anything at the park that can compare to some of the lines already discovered and sent at evans.

    even i have not seen the majority of the more obscure areas at evans, which hold camp 4 esque lines.

    it’ll be interesting to see if bouldering in america ever takes on the adventure aspect of alpine trad where multi-day excursions are mandatory, with long hikes and basecamp gear, just to begin tapping in to the good stuff and get out of the talus holes that seem pervasive, currently.

    or, perhaps we will just soon see many many miles of new roads that will make it all roadside.

  • http://climbingnarc.com Climbing Narcissist

    You are correct as usual. I suspect that most people outside the frontrange don’t really know about Mt. Evans as it has done a pretty good job of flying under the radar compared to RMNP. Most of this probably has to do with the fact that moderates don’t really make the news the same way as double digit sendtrains do.

    Perhaps with a road already going directly over Mt. Evans most are just holding out hope that a road through the talus can’t be far behind.