Climbers from USA

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

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System

References

[1] AMA on reddit.com/r/climbing, March 2015 https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/2yojih/emily_harringtons_ama/

Eric has been described by John Sherman as

Just one tendon, one hundred twenty-three pounds fully clothed and five-foot-ten inches tall who was ahead of his time with the grunge homeless look.

Eric established most of the hard and tall boulders in Moore’s Wall NC and many hard highball boulders and top-rope problems at Devil's Lake WI. He continues to climb hard, even after suffering a heart attack he recently repeated Tiny (V11) at Moon Rock in Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT at 65 yrs of age.

When not climbing rocks he is an artist, or is that vice versa?

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/news/eric-zschiesche/

[2] https://www.ericzschiesche.com

[3] http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/520439/Eric-Zschiesche-Appreciation-Thread

the first 70s free climber--in the mid-60s (Roger Breedlove)

Strong and fast climber responsible for first ascents or first free ascent of many short and mid-length Yosemite classics 1960-1965. His focus almost entirely on free climbing was unusual for the time. Sacherer mainly climbed at weekends as he was studying full-time for a PhD in particle physics at the University of California, Berkeley and most of his significant ascents were routes achievable in one day. Jim Bridwell reported Sacherer discussed the possibility of climbing The Nose of El Capitan in a day and he made early attempts at freeing the Stoveleg Cracks on this route.

He migrated to Switzerland and worked at CERN in Geneva from 1970 to 1978.

References

[1] http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/268647/Frank-Sacherer-1940-1978

[2] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MOOd3ocAAAAJ&hl=en

[3] http://www.edhartouni.net/nose-in-a-day.html

Californian climber and early climbing equipment manufacturer. Gallwas took part in a number of Yosemite early repeats and first ascents, culminating in the 1957 first ascent of the North west Face of Half Dome with Royal Robbins and Mike Sherrick, his last major climb.

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://www.karabinclimbingmuseum.com/jerry-gallwas-pitons.html

[3] https://gripped.com/profiles/jerry-gallwas-preserving-history-with-the-yosemite-climbing-association/

Colorado free climber most active in the 1970s. Erickson was a noted free soloist and took an ethically purist stance on chalk, onsighting or, at worst, ground-up ascents and free solos.

Erickson introduced the G, PG, R, and X rating to describe the quality of protection, at the time identical to the American system for rating the content of movies.

Bibliography

[1] Everything You Need to Know About Placing, Evaluating, and Trusting Pitons by Jim Erickson https://www.climbing.com/skills/how-to-place-evaluate-climbing-pitons/

[2] How Climbing Gear Has Evolved Over the Past 50 Years by Jim Erickson https://www.climbing.com/gear/cllimbing-gear-history-erickson/

[3] Cleaning Up Climbing History. The Truth Behind 13 Pivotal Ascents and Events by Jim Erickson https://www.climbing.com/people/cleaning-up-climbing-history/

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/byline/jim-erickson/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System

References

[1] https://edelrid.com/es-es/vertical-freedom/atletas-edelrid/joshua-haynes

Katie Brown is a retired sport and competition climber. She started climbing in the early 1990s, around the same time as Chris Sharma, Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden, and quickly came to dominate the competition climbing scene at the time. For a period in the mid 1990s she won almost every competition she entered, including adult competitions which she entered as a junior. Lynn Hill described her as:

The best female rock climber in the history of the sport.

As well as competing at an extremely high level she also climbed very well on rock, including being the first woman to onsight 8b with Omaha Beach (pre break) and the first woman to onsight 8b+ with Hydrophobia.

Throughout her career Katie suffered with a severe eating disorder and had a very complicated relationship with her mother.

References

[1] Interview with PlanetMountain, 1999 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/interviews/katie-brown.html

[2] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/440307489368765

[3] XGames 1995, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dijnuZAGw7Q

[4] Brown, Katie. Unraveled: A Climber's Journey Through Darkness and Back. United States, Mountaineers Books, 2022.

Prolific and controversial Connecticut and Shawangunks developer, guidebook writer, and staunch traditionalist.

Once I chop a route, it will remain chopped, no matter how many times I have to return to keep it that way. Until the bolting stops, apparently the cliffs will have to be destroyed to save them [2]

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2007/07/us_bolt_chopper_banned_by_judge_from_chopping_bolts-38849

[2] Climbing magazine, June/July 1991

[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20130223061856/http://www.stopken.org/Home.html

Dedicated explorer of limestone roofs in Arizona. The 'Rooftown' series of videos have followed his process and development of unique and proud lines in the desert.

References

[1] Rooftown Vol1 https://youtu.be/eLkYtpvAS88

[2] Rooftown Vol2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nWAXMhY-2I

[3] Rooftown Vol3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxfFJuQF-SE

[4] Rooftown Vol4 https://youtu.be/vrXeixwaXVw?

References

[1] https://climbingzine.com/prince-p-memory-phil-schaal-cyrena-lee/

[2] https://www.theprojectmagazine.com/photoessays/2017/2/8/phil-schaal-a-retrospective