Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4726 Climbers
8400 Climbs
22526 Ascents
Featured
Poseidon Adventure | E4 Trad climb at Bowden Doors
A classic County frightener, and the first route to tackle Bowden's unique wave formation.
The first ascent was made by Steve Blake, described in the 1999 guide as 'his best achievement'. It opened the gates for more hard contributions on the wall from the likes of John Earl and Bob Smith.
Jumping off from the break with no pads became somewhat of rite a passage for aspirant ascentionists, upon discovering that there was no way out but to climb up or plunge down!
A classic County frightener, and the first route to tackle Bowden's unique wave formation.
The first ascent was made by Steve Blake, described in the 1999 guide as 'his best achievement'. It opened the gates for more hard contributions on the wall from the likes of John Earl and Bob Smith.
Jumping off from the break with no pads became somewhat of rite a passage for aspirant ascentionists, upon discovering that there was no way out but to climb up or plunge down!
On this day 1st November
2024 Jonathan Siegrist climbed L'étrange Ivresse des Lenteurs 9a+ at Céüse
A humbling test of perseverance for me. First a knee injury back in September on our first day here, and then just as I was recovering, wet holds and record breaking rain over and over for 5 weeks. We extended our trip twice. Fought hard to stay ready mentally and physically for the right moment. Honestly can't believe it all worked out! One of the best, most demanding and scariest sport routes I have climbed. Easily 9b for me, quite obviously harder than the other 9a+ here... But I'll keep it a sandbag out of respect for Ceuse.
- 1942 John Norman Collie died
- 2002 John Logan Aikman died
- 2003 Chaehyun Seo was born
- 2011 Jean-Pierre Ouellet made the first ascent of Necronomicon E9 at the White Rim
- 2021 Janja Garnbret onsighted Fish Eye 8c at Oliana
- 2021 Jorge Díaz-Rullo made the first ascent of Café Solo 9b at Margalef
- 2022 Seb Bouin made the first ascent of Suprême Jumbo Love 9b+ at Clark Mountain
Pics + Vids
Featuring 11004 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Hugo Martín on La Teoría del Todo 8B+
Support
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You may also be interested in the Mountain Heritage Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving the rich history of climbing and mountaineering. Their collection includes many unique and valuable items, from rare guidebooks through to the boots worn by Doug Scott on the 1977 Ogre expedition.
Explore
Fancy a look around? You can browse by climber or by climbs, or you can check out some lists. For example
- All sport ascents of 9b or above
- British women who have climbed 7C or above
- British men who have climbed 8c or above
Podcasts
Featuring 4387 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Aidan Roberts on The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast (2025)
- Hannah Baldwin on Jam Crack Podcast (2018)
- Lynn Hill on Written in Stone (2024)
- Michael Rosato and Josh Horsley on The Testpiece Podcast (2025)
Library
Featuring 16232 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- On The Rocks (1984) Film
- North America, United States, Washington, Dragontail Peak, First Winter Ascent of Serpentine Ridge (2004) Journal
- Scawfell (1924) Guidebook
Recent updates
Californian rock climber and Professor of Biology at Stanford University.
Wilson started climbing in southern California in the early 1950s, soon participating in first ascents with Royal Robbins and Chuck Wilts. With these two he developed the Yosemite Decimal System (originally the Tahquitz decimal system) to grade the difficulty of free climbing.
Wilson wrote a classic paper on insect flight and its control by their central nervous system.
He drowned in a whitewater rafting accident.
References
[1] https://faculty.ucr.edu/~currie/wilson.pdf
[2] https://faculty.ucr.edu/%7Ecurrie/donald-wilson.htm
[3] http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1084204&msg=1084750#msg1084750
Royal Robbins was an extremely influential climber from the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. He was part of a generation of climbers who established Yosemite as a world-class climbing destination and made first ascents and repeats of many now-famous routes there, such as the Salathé Wall (A2).
Robbins was also instrumental in defining an ethical approach to climbing that minimised reliance on fixed ropes, was sparing in the use of bolts, and championed climbing from the ground up. These values remain core to what is considered good style in modern big wall climbing. After visiting the UK and using nuts and chockstones for protection, Robbins, together with Yvon Chouinard, became an early proponent of 'clean climbing': the use of chocks over pitons as a means of minimising damage to the rock.
In later life, Robbins struggled with arthritis in his hands, which made climbing difficult. Because of this, he focused his energy on his business ventures and, later, on whitewater kayaking. He made first descents of several rivers in the US and further afield.
References
[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CU4qXc5J8i7/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6849687261751921&set=a.126453404075374
[3] Smart, D. (2023). Royal Robbins: The American Climber. United States: Mountaineers Books.
[4] Ament, P. (1998). Royal Robbins: Spirit of the Age. United States: Stackpole Books.
[5] Robbins, R. (2010). To Be Brave: My Life. United Kingdom: Pink Moment Productions.
[6] Robbins, R. (2010). Fail Falling. United States: Pink Moment Press.
[7] https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ce65n5RTjNYnXYEBJAH1A
[8] https://archive.org/details/royalrobbins
[9] Interview with John Meek https://archive.org/details/RoyalRobbinsJohnMeekInterview_52
Robbins led the harder first and second pitches.
References
Penny Brothers is a New Zealand academic, organic chemist, and mountaineer who served as National President of the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) from 2015 to 2017. Beginning her climbing career in the late 1970s, she made an early ascent of The Nose on Yosemite's El Capitan in 1979. Brothers has been on many remote high-altitude expeditions across North America, South America, and the Himalayas. As NZAC President, her governance focused on club modernisation, environmental stewardship, and preserving access to alpine regions across New Zealand.
Californian climber of the 1940s and 1950s.
Wilts started exploring the Sierras with his family and progressed to rock climbing whilst a student at CalTech. He made numerous first ascents at Tahquitz and edited several editions of its guidebook. Wilts, with Royal Robbins and Don Wilson, developed the Yosemite Grading System for free climbs, initially used at Tahquitz. He made some initial forays on what became the Lost Arrow Chimney (E3) in the 1940s, extremely intimidating terrain for the time.
Wilts became an eminent Caltech professor of electrical and electronic engineering.
References
[1] Sierra Club Angeles Chapter: RCS history and who's who https://www.sierraclub.org/angeles/blog/2011/05/angeles-chapter-rock-climbing-section-gone-not-forgotten
[2] https://aac-publications.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/aaj/1992/PDF/AAJ_1992_34_66_295.pdf
[3] https://www.karabinclimbingmuseum.com/chuck-wilts-pitons.html