| Rocky Mountain National Park |
Mt. Evans |
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Photo: Steve Woods
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Probably the highest concentration of hard bouldering in the country in one of the most idyllic settings
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Famous problems: Jade (V15), Freaks of the Industry (V13/14), Nuthin’ But Sunshine (V13), Deep Puddle Dynamics (V9) and Tommy’s Arete (V7)
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Photo: Enlightened Chuffer
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Known for its punishing approach
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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!
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Many more moderate lines than RMNP
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[poll id=”25″]
| Hueco Tanks |
Joe’s Valley |
 Photo: Trina Ortega/Climbing
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One of America’s most historic bouldering areas – Birthplace of the V Scale
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Unfortunately one of the most tenuous access situations amongst the more popular areas in the U.S.
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Famous Problems: Terremer (V15), Esperanza (V14), Crown of Aragorn (V13), Babyface (V7)
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Photo: B3Bouldering
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[poll id=”26″]
| Bishop |
Squamish |
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Home to several high quality areas like The Buttermilks, Happy Boulders, Sad Boulders, Pollen Grains, Druids, Dale’s Camp and who knows what else
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Famous Problems: Mandala (V12), Saigon (V5), Iron Man Traverse (V4)
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Photo: Jim Thornburg
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[poll id=”27″]
| Little Rock City/Stone Fort |
Horse Pens 40 |
Photo: B3Bouldering
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 Photo: Narc
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Some of the most perfect sandstone on the planet
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Famous Problems: God Module (V11), Slider (V9), Skywalker (V9), Hammerhead (V5), Bum Boy (V3)
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[poll id=”28″]
| Red River Gorge |
New River Gorge |
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Probably the largest sport climbing area in the country
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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)
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Photo: Dan Brayack
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[poll id=”29″]
| Rifle |
Smith Rocks |
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- Famous Routes: Kuru (5.14c), 7 P.M. TV Show (5.14a), Slice of Life (5.13d)
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- Famous Routes: Just Do It (5.14b/c), Optimists (5.14b), Scarface (5.14a), Chain Reaction (5.13)
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[poll id=”30″]
| Yosemite |
Indian Creek |
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America’s most storied climbing mecca
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Famous Routes: The Nose (5.14), Astroman (5.11), Meltdown (5.14), Bachar-Yerian (5.11)
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Classic boulders: Midnight Lightning (V8), Bachar Cracker (V4)
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Photo: Some awesome person that Rachel knows
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Quickly becoming one of the more popular climbing areas in the entire country
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Famous Routes: Air Sweden, many others I am not aware because I have never been
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[poll id=”31″]
| Devil’s Lake |
Shawangunks |
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Rich history and tradition
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Famous Routes: Bagatelle (5.12d), Son of a Great Chimney (5.11), Brinton’s Crack (5.6)
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Rich history and tradition
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Famous Routes: Disneyland (5.6), High Exposure (5.6), Gelsa (5.4)
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[poll id=”32″]
Vote in the other brackets
Peeps
Schwag
Winter in Wisconsin
Back Home
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.
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.