The Climbs of Todd Skinner

1985: First redpoint of The Gunfighter (5.13b), a short, fiercely overhanging crack; Hueco Tanks, Texas. First free ascent of The Stigma (5.13b), bringing then-controversial hangogging and rehearsal techniques to Yosemite Valley.

1986: First free ascent of the 90-foot tips crack City Park (5.13c), Index Town Walls, Washington, done yo-yo style and after having to fry axle grease (smeared by irate locals) out of the crack with a blow torch.

1987: Skinner becomes the first U.S.-bred climber to flash a 5.13 with his ascent of the first pitch of Fallen Arches (5.13a), Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, placing his own gear.

1988: First free ascent, with Paul Piana, of Salathé Wall (VI 5.13b), El Capitan, Yosemite, over a nine-day push after roughly a month of work. The team yo-yoed some pitches and didn’t second the hardest sections, but nevertheless scored, according to Michael Kennedy, former publisher of Climbing, “a major achievement in the history of rock climbing.”

1989: First ascent of Lizzy Beams Desire (5.14a, unrepeated), South Seas, Black Hills, South Dakota.

1990: First ascent of Cowboyography (5.13c/d), a visionary rope-stretcher up an overhanging wall on the Front Side, Hueco Tanks, Texas. First ascent of the seminal cave route Burning (5.13b), Hell Cave, American Fork Canyon, Utah.

1991: First free ascent, with Paul Piana, Galen Rowell, and Tim Toula, of the The Jaded Lady on Mount Hooker (VI 5.12a, 2,000 feet; free version of the North Face), Wind River Range, Wyoming. First ascent of Throwin’ the Houlihan (5.14a), Wild Iris, Wyoming. First ascent of Boys’ Town (5.14a), Hueco Tanks, Texas.

1992: First ascent of the 17-pitch The Great Canadian Knife (VI 5.13b, 1,500 feet), Mount Proboscis, Cirque of the Unclimbables, Canada, with Paul Piana and Galen Rowell. The route features six stacked pitches of 5.12 and 5.13 face and arête climbing up a near-crackless edge.

1993: First ascent of the Direct Northwest Face (VI 5.13d, 24 pitches) of Half Dome, over 61 days, redpointing all the hard-5.12 and 5.13 pitches, with Steve Bechtel and Chris Oates.

1994: Hacienda del Fuerza (“House of Power”) training camp opens just outside Hueco Tanks, Texas. It later becomes the Hueco Rock Ranch.

1995: First ascent, with Jeff Bechtel, Mike Lilygren, and Bobby Model, of Cowboy Direct (VII 5.13a, 33 pitches) on Nameless Tower (20,623 feet), Pakistan. The route has a 5.13a crux, two pitches of 5.12d, and other 5.12 ropelengths.

1996/1997: First ascent of Harmattan Rodeo (VI 5.13c), Le Main de Fatima, Mali, with Andy de Klerk, Ed February, Bill Hatcher, Scott Milton, and Paul Piana.

1998: First ascent of War and Poetry (VI 5.12c), Ulamertorsuaq, Cape Farewell region, Greenland, with Steve Bechtel, Mike Lilygren, Peter Mallamo, and Paul Piana.

2000: First free ascent of True at First Light (VI 5.13a), east face of Poi, Ndoto Mountains, northern Kenya, with Steve Bechtel, Scott Milton, and Paul Piana.

2004: First ascent of Wet Lycra Nightmare (V 5.13d), Leaning Tower, Yosemite, with Jim Hewett.