In Boulder, every climbing area holds a rich history full of wild characters and daredevil climbs. I recently featured five local routes that, when established (between 1948 and 1979), were among the hardest in the world. Thanks to a strong response from readers, I felt compelled to highlight five more historic climbs, all of which reached new heights.

The Breakthrough Year: 1975

Fifty years ago saw three Boulder climbers break barriers. In Eldorado Canyon, Steve Wunsch freed Psycho Roof (5.12d), a horizontal pitch that succumbed to big reaches and gymnastic movement, unorthodox for the time.

“In the mid ‘70s, 5.11 was still a controversial grade. 5.12 was unheard of,” said pioneer and historian, Jim Erickson. After several days and 40 falls, Wunsch finally freed the roof, grading it “5.11+” — a gross underestimate of its difficulty. Eventually it became accepted as Eldorado’s first 5.12 and one of the hardest free climbs in the world.

While Psycho is well-protected by bolts, making repeated falls inconsequential, Perilous Journey (5.11c X) is the opposite. Steve Levin, in his Eldorado guidebook calls it, “The most famous mind control classic of the region.”

Despite its obvious lack of protection, David Breashears felt drawn to this line. With zero knowledge of its difficulty he launched into the unknown, climbing deliberately while balanced on tiny features. He carried nuts for protection, but they proved useless.

Below the crux, Breashears stood on a small edge and realized the holds above were much smaller than expected. Shocked, he considered downclimbing, but he couldn’t find a way. Instead, he climbed up and down, cleaning lichen off holds with his fingers. Facing a death fall, he chose a path and committed himself upward to what was, indeed, a perilous journey — and the boldest onsight first ascent of its day.

A smaller, yet far more difficult climb embodied the hardest moves ever done on rock. Jim Holloway, tall and lanky, was purely a boulderer back when bouldering was considered practice for “real climbing.”

Holloway established futuristic problems across the Front Range, but his most famous ascent is an unassuming, 12-foot problem on Flagstaff Mountain called Trice (formerly dubbed A.H.R. [Another Holloway Route]). The few crux moves are so improbable that, despite countless attempts, 32 years passed before it was repeated. Even now, 50 years later, Trice — the world’s first V12 — remains an extreme challenge.

The Naked Edge (5.11b, 6 pitches), free-solo, 1978

One of America’s most famous routes, The Naked Edge ascends an eye-catching prow on Eldorado’s Redgarden Wall. First freed by Jim Erickson and Duncan Ferguson in 1971, its three 5.11 pitches made it the most continuously difficult multi-pitch route on Earth.

Just seven years later, when any free ascent of “The Edge” was noteworthy, Jim Collins started up the 700-foot line alone, without a rope. According to Pat Ament, in his book Wizards of Rock, “He never thought of finishing the route and imagined he would traverse off to the nearby easier climb T-2.” Yet when Collins faced the crux fourth pitch, he continued climbing; he was committed. At a stance 600 feet up, Collins rested — and realized how scared he was. With no good options, he steeled himself and tackled the final pitch.

Though he would later admit he was lucky to survive, its lesson remains: “Climbing teaches that the biggest barriers are not on the rock, but in our minds,” wrote Collins.

The Automator (V13), first female ascent, 2010

Peppered with features so miniscule that some holds are less than a fingertip wide, The Automator is a blank-looking, overhanging boulder in Rocky Mountain National Park. Fifteen years ago, 25-year-old Angie Payne climbed this unlikely boulder after only seven days of work, becoming the first woman worldwide to climb a V13.

“I could say a lot about what that boulder was to me in 2010 and what it’s become for me since,” Payne told me, “but the fact that my send made a small mark in bouldering history is something I’m happy about.”

The canvas upon which Boulder’s climbing history has been written — our beloved boulders and cliffs — remains accessible to anyone with the skill and nerve to experience what these pioneering climbs feel like today.

Contact Chris Weidner at cweidner8@gmail.com. Follow him on Instagram @christopherweidner and X @cweidner8.