Climbers from USA

One of the first Americans to climb 5.14 (8b+), strong boulderer, accomplished big wall free climber, alpinist, guide and industrial rigger.

References

[1] https://alpinist.com/newswire/scott-cosgrove-january-6-1964-february-23-2016/

[2] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201214301/Scott-Cosgrove-1964-2016

[3] https://www.climbing.com/news/remembering-a-legend-scott-cosgrove/

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CbFlRcHNdSw/

[2] Extract from the film Valley Uprising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw9emEs55tM

[3] The Life of Warren J. "Batso" Harding by Burr Snider, originally published in The San Francisco Examiner 9th March 1986. Republished by climbing.com 15th June 2012 https://www.climbing.com/people/the-life-of-warren-andquot-batsoandquot-harding/

[4] Warren Harding 1924 - 2002 by Colin Wells, On The Edge 116, page 18.

[5] Harding, Warren (1990). Downward Bound: a Mad! guide to Rock Climbing. Birmingham, Alabama: Menasha Ridge Press.

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/news/legends-angie-payne/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6QaAvdOzSg

Big wall climber responsible for many now-classic 1970s El Cap. routes who subsequently established hard alpine big wall routes and alpine climbs in Baffin Island and Alaska. He stepped back from harder climbing in the 1980s to explore, kayak, and perform scientific research in Patagonia.

one of the twentieth century’s greatest climbers.

References

[1] https://alpinist.com/features/76-visions-of-charlie-porter/

[2] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201213116

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/culture-climbing/worlds-best-dirtbag-climber-dale-bard/

John Gill is one of the pioneers of bouldering, putting up many hard first ascents in the US at a time when bouldering was not understood as an activity in its own right.

With a background in gymnastics, Gill applied a similar mentality to rock climbing, transferring some of the training ideas and using gymnastic chalk.

For Gill, as in gymnastics, elegance of execution was as important as difficulty. This did not stop him from establishing many extraordinarily hard problems however, and for decades his problems were amongst the hardest in the world.

When he applied his skills to taller routes, Gill also excelled. His route The Thimble, climbed solo and ground up in 1961 and considered around 7A+, was well ahead of its time. After attempting to repeat the line, Royal Robbins said of it:

I considered my greatest failure to be my efforts on the thimble. I could see that even if I worked on it forever I would never achieve it.

Gill has researched bouldering history and his website johngill.net remains an invaluable resource.

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/people/john-gill-father-of-bouldering/

[2] Pat Ament, John Gill, Yvon Chouinard, Rearick, Dave. John Gill: Master of Rock: The Life of a Bouldering Legend. United Kingdom: Vertebrate Publishing, 2018.

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FdMLil9lNU

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9yaGXFkC8M

[5] Reflections of a Middle-Aged Boulderer, orignally presented at the BMC conference in March 1986, then reproduced in Mountain 110 /file/c4606b9f-a73c-ab1b-25eb-2d7f66dc3515/reflections_of_a_middle_aged_boulderer.txt

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/1YRk3NE3NqLF7hMdWtrNtS