Climbers

Andy Popp:

Cliff, a stalwart of the Llanberis scene since the 60s, was a man preceded by his reputation for deep, almost cosmic eccentricity and long-lived dirtbaggery. He was also known for some incredible tales of survival, particularly when he took a reputed 200ft ground fall soloing on the Mot, managing to crawl to the road before passing out. I believe he took another big soloing fall at Tremadog.

I knew Cliff a little as part of the general 'Beris scene in the 80s and remember a rather sweet man. He was a very active new router on the slate at that time, and as a climber he was really much more than the reputation for oddness and mishaps suggests. He was actually very good, on rock and in the Alps. [1]

References

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,18343.msg692404.html#msg692404

References

[1] https://www.up-climbing.com/en/bouldering/news-bouldering/inside-cody-roth/

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. Others have reported he 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