User:Blisco/History of climbing

This is the start of my attempt to turn the list of achievements at Climbing into narrative form. I will not be working on this for the forseeable future; please feel free to improve it in any way you think fit.

Mont Aiguille in the French Alps is often regarded as the birthplace of climbing. In 1492 Antoine de Ville de Dompjulien climbed the sheer-sided mountain under orders from Charles VIII using ladders and other artificial aids, thus making the first recorded mountaineering ascent.

Recreational climbing began to establish itself in the English Lake District in the 19th century. Early tentative steps included John Atkinson's 1826 ascent of Pillar Rock ; however, it was not until the 1880s that pioneer British climbers, many of them practised in alpine mountaineering, began to systematically turn their attention to the Lakeland crags. While early ascents were still unprotected (including W.P. Haskett-Smith's first ascent of the Napes Needle on Great Gable in 1886), it would appear to be around the middle of the 1880s that the use of a rope began.

The history of climbing in the United States begins with John Muir's ascent of Cathedral Peak in the Yosemite National Park in 1869.

1893 : Devils Tower was first summited by ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley through the use of wooden spike pounded into a crack and then connected with a rope. After 6 weeks they summited on the Fourth of July.

Hans Fiechtl replaced the attached ring on pitons with an eye in the body of the piton which is a design used to this day.

Otto Herzog was behind the first steel carabiner, specifically made for climbing.

Hans Dülfer: Known to climbers to this day through the dulferitz technique of rappelling.

Paul Preuss: An advocate of Free climbing; coined the term "artificial aid" to describe the use of mechanical aids to progress up a rock. His rule number four (of six) stated: "The piton is an emergency aid and not the basis of a system of mountaineering."

Willo Welzenbach created the standard numerical rating system (Grades I to VI) used in the United States.

1906 : Oliver Perry-Smith, W. Huenig, Rudolf Fehrmann put up Teufelsturm in the Elbsandstein, rated c.5.9 on the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS).

1910 : Austrian development of rappelling.

1910 The Grosser Falknerturm, W. Route in the Elbsandstein was put up by M. Matthaeus, Oliver Perry-Smith, H. Wagner  (rated c. 5 10a YDS).

Robert and Miriam Underhill - One of the early rock star climbing couples. Miriam E. O'Brien (1898-1976). She climbed in the Swiss Alps and Italy, starting at the age of 22. After retiring from the Alps, they decided to climb all the peaks over 4,000 ft in their new home state of New Hampshire. Once a few other people had repeated this feat, they decided to do the same list of peaks again, this time in winter. Miriam was 63 when she ticked the last one. Robert is remembered for introducing European climbing techniques to the west coast through an article in the Bulletin of the Sierra Club.

1925 : Albert Ellingwood and a party of three climbed the 2000 foot northeast buttress of Crestone Needle (5.7 YDS, 14,197 feet).

1927 : Laurent Grivel designed and sold the first rock drill and expansion bolt. Also the rock drill and expansion bolt.

1927 : The Stettner brothers applied European techniques in the USA on their ascent of the Stettner Ledges on the East Face of Long's Peak.(see #2 and #3)

1927 : Fred Pigott's experiments with slinging natural chockstones and later machine nuts, for protection at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu on Snowdon, directly led to the development of the modern Stopper. []

1931 : Emilio Comici and the Dolomites. Comici was the inventor and proponent of using multi-step aid ladders, solid belays, the use of a trail/tag line, and hanging bivouacs. Pretty much the origin of big wall climbing and techniques. He used them to good purpose with an ascent of the 26 pitch, 4000 foot northwest face of the Civetta. []

1934 : Dick Leonard, teamed up with Jules Eichorn and Bestor Robinson for the first ascent of the Eichorn Pinnacle of Cathedral Peak in the Sierra Nevada.(see #2) He also created the concept and practice of the dynamic belay at Indian Rock.(see #2)

1938 :Ricardo Cassin ascended the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses "...perhaps the finest in existence" Gaston Rebuffat from The Mont Blanc Massif - The 100 Finest Routes.

1938 :North Face of the Eiger ascended by Heinrich Harrer, Fritz Kasparek, Andreas Heckmair and Wiggerl Vörg.

1939: David Brower and the rest of the Berkeley crew used four bolts in the process of ascending Ship Rock in New Mexico.(see #2 and #3)

1940s : WWII led to the development of inexpensive army surplus pitons, carabiners and the newly- invented nylon rope. []

1946 : At the age of 46, John Salathe attempted to rope-solo aid the first ascent of the Lost Arrow Spire, one of the most exposed features in Yosemite Valley. (The protection bolt he placed on that attempt was the first, or one of the first, in the valley.) He is also known for his forged pitons made from the axle of a Model A Ford.(see #2 and #3)

1952 : Ascent of the Patagonian peak of Fitzroy by the powerful French climber Lionel Terray and his partner Guido Magnone.

1955 : Considered one of the greatest climbs of all time, Walter Bonatti's solo first ascent of a new route on the Southwest Pillar of the Dru took six days.

1959 : John Gill put up the Red Cross Overhang, Jenny Lake, Tetons, ~V9/~5.13d (see #2 and #4)

1971 : Tom Frost and Yvon Chouinard designed Hexcentrics. (see #2)

1977, Phlogiston, Devil's Lake, Pete Cleveland 5.13a/b (see #6)

1979, Grand Illusion, Sugarloaf (CA), Tony Yaniro 13b/c (see #6)

1980, Cosmic Debris, Yosemite, Bill Price 13b (see #6)

1985, Punks in the Gym, Mt. Arapiles, Wolfgang Gullich (some say the first 5.14a/b some say 13d), (see #6)

1986, La Rage de Vivre, Buoux, Antoine Le Menestral (many credit this as the first 5.14a) (see #1)

1987 Wallstreet, Frankenjura, Wolfgang Gullich5.14b (see #6)

1990, Hubble, Raven Tor, Ben Moon 5.14c (see #6)

1991, Action Directe, Frankenjura, Wolfgang Gullich 5.14d (see #6)

1994 : Lynn Hill's First Free Ascent of El Capitan, by way of the 3,000 ft Nose Route. This was the most prestigious route in the world to free climb, and a woman made the first - and for a long time only - successful ascent. (see #2)

1995, Akira, Charente, Fred Rouhling ~5.15 (see #6)

1998, Orujo, Malaga, Bernabe Fernandes ~5.15 (see #6)

2001, Realization, Ceuse, Chris Sharma ~5.15 (see #6)