Photos by Greg Mionske / Words by Jon Glassberg - Rocky Mountain National Park is home to some of the country’s best alpine bouldering, and for
three months out of the year, one very special sector is climbable and is virtually undeveloped. Super Chaos
is located at 11,000 feet and an hour’s walk from the car with 2,000 feet of elevation gain, so it’s not
for the faint of heart, but the reward is world-class bouldering. Ryan Silven and I spent the summer hiking
pads and gear to Super Chaos three times a week to develop some of the most obscure first ascents in the
country. The immense boulderfield that sits atop Chaos Canyon is now home to more than 30 newly developed
problems from V0 to V11 and hundreds of open projects just waiting to be plucked from their stunning
alpine setting. Super Chaos is immense, and you can spend a summer lost in the house-sized boulders and
never see another climber. For an interactive map and videos of the area, visit superchaosbouldering.com.
Jon Glassberg on Easy on the Eyes (V9). This problem climbs out immaculate edges on a steep wall with a dynamic foot-cutting crux and sits next to Never Never Land, another Glassberg FA. This beauty sits perched on a ledge overlooking the valley below—it's alpine bouldering bliss at its finest!
Grassy meadow at 11,000 feet? Check! Flawless gneiss boulders? Check! Ryan Silven on the first ascent of Hate it or Love it (V8)? Check! Located in a rare alpine meadow amongst the talus, this beautiful boulder delivers powerful moves out a steep roof leading into a compression finish. The setting is awe-inspiring, and the surrounding mountains and cliffs create an adventurous feeling unique to Super Chaos.
Giant roof climbs like this one can be found everywhere in Super Chaos. Each day climbers went out to search for new boulders, they would find massive roofs, hidden caves, and layered boulders, all with outstanding first ascent potential. The Seeping (V9), a Ryan Silven FA, was put up as an afterthought and turned out to be a classic roof climb.
Super Chaos is rarely visited by climbers and has a feeling of isolation and vastness that cannot be matched in other Colorado alpine bouldering settings. Sunsets like this are commonlplace. The frequent and often terrifying sleet, graupel, or snowstorms keep climbers on their toes when bouldering in the canyon.
Every style is represented in Super Chaos, from steep roof climbing to thin face climbing. Ryan Silven shows us how it's done on his crimpy testpiece The Outcast (V11). Problems like this, which have only seen one ascent, may go for years without seeing another.
