Climbing History

Where indoor climbing was once simply a way to train during the off season, it is now a sport unto itself—many gym climbers have no interest in ever climbing outdoors. How did we get here?

This painstakingly researched new book collects the forgotten histories of mountaineerings often-overlooked high-altitude workers

Climbing holds were once shaped to mimic holds in nature. Now they shape our choice of movement outside.

Alex Honnold has done quite a bit more than just boulder El Cap. Here’s what you didn’t know about climbing’s biggest celebrity

As an author, translator, scriptwriter, researcher, and editor, Audrey Salkeld made an immense contribution to adventure literature and filmmaking.

How Royal Robbins’s first ascent of the 'Regular Northwest Face' of Half Dome transformed the history of American climbing—and its culture.

Deep in the Desert Southwest, a 28-mile road winds up through five ecosystems and provides access to more than 2,500 routes, year-round, on steep, featured granite.

The line that cemented new tactics, new gear, and a new grade

"If I know anything about fashion, which I don’t, it’s that it's a cycle. Let us thus peruse climbing's long and ugly fashion journey.

A primer for modern-day climbers on this vanishing—but still necessary—art.

Many a visitor has left our shores with crappy dacks (a quaint piece of slang meaning basically what you'd expect) after an exciting episode with this Aussie icon.

Mugs Stump spearheaded a fast-and-light approach to alpinism during the 1970s and 1980s when siege-style expeditions were still the norm. His style was a form of artistic expression: He sought purity through simplicity.

The secret history and modern rebirth of Western Colorado’s sleepy Unaweep Canyon.

Did the rules that climbers hated actually save Hueco Tanks? (From 2019)

Deciphering the cryptic lore of the Sierra Nevada's remote, seldom-visited Citadel.

For 40 years the Windtower had just one terrifying route up its Northwest Face. Now it has three, each established in a vastly different style.

TM Herbert made the first ascent of the Muir Wall with Yvon Chouinard in 1965. His son followed in his footsteps 55 years later, setting a blistering speed record.

"But what really defined Royal Robbins was style. His ethical code was always paramount, even back in the age when getting to the top by any means was enough for most."

This article was originally published in Climbing No. 380 under the title "Circuit Court."

The Rock, right in San Diego, was like no other.

Back in 1979, tower trips could be serious business. Spring-loaded cams had yet to debut. Falls were rare, but potential air was huge.

A Himalayan expedition ends in ruin, but leads the author to follow the footsteps of Shipton in a quest to find a real-life monster.

How headpointing became a legitimate, go-to tactic on Peak District gritstone.

During the storied 1968 ascent of Cerro Chaltén, five climbers spent 30 days sheltered in two different 10' by 10' ice caves on the mountain.

Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner took alpine tactics to the Himalaya, blowing minds and redefining the sport itself. Over 40 years later, they speak about the first oxygenless ascent of Everest, and the rift that broke up the greatest climbing partnership of all time.

In a new book, Jeff Smoot, author of “Hangdog Days,” launches an encyclopedic investigation into free soloing’s history… and why we do it.  

Sheffield's legendary training facility changed the history (and future) of our sport.

Jim Erickson looks back on the past half century to chronicle how the gear we rely on has changed and improved over the years.

From the first women recorded in mountaineering in the late eighteenth century, to the first 5.15 female ascent by Margo Hayes in 2017.

From the archive: In Henry Barber's 2008 interview with Mark Synnott, he discusses his philosophy of minimalism and tolerance: "Let’s make sure that we allow these people to be themselves, and not try to make them all the same. This sport has to be different for everybody—it has to be."

Zofia Reych’s work spans the full gamut of climbing’s history and manifold disciplines, blended with engrossing anecdotes from their own climbing story.

It’s hard to see George Mallory the man through the fog of myth that’s enshrouded him since his death on Everest in 1924. But he was a man, sometimes brilliant, sometimes bumbling, whose rise to fame occurred only in the final three years of his life.

Earl Wiggins was a leading free climber and soloist in the 1970s and 1980s. (He did the FA of Supercrack / Luxury Liner in Indian Creek... placing hexes.) But in the early 2000s, he took his own life.

Kurt Albert defined free climbing and took it to the remote mountains of the world. Behind the stories of wild adventures and great deeds, there was something exemplary in the life cut short.

Over the last three decades, the Red River Gorge has emerged as one of America’s most famous sport climbing destinations, but climbers have haunted the region since the 1960s. A new book tells the oral history of climbing—and climbing access—in the Red.

Ever wonder how the B-Scale relates to the V-scale relates to the Fb scale relates to the Dankyū system? We've got answers. And some history lessons.

On the sharp end and otherwise at the Midwest's most storied climbing area.

A few eureka moments, plus years of refinement, led to the tricks, tools, and techniques we take for granted when out bolt-wrasslin’ today.

This new anthology chronicles the history of women climbers in Yosemite from the 1930 to the present.

Check out Laura Snider's author page.

How an immigrant from Portugal helped create America's premier sport climbing destination.

The classic story of the first ascent of the East Face of Moose's Tooth by climbing legends Jim Bridwell and Mugs Stump.

“When you climb at the Quarries, you get good at slab climbing or you leave.” John Strand

He left us with nothing and everything.

The show will be co-hosted by legendary climber Alex Honnold and legendary outdoor podcaster Fitz Cahall.

Check out Bennett Slavsky's author page.

Check out Dakota Walz's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out Kevin Corrigan's author page.

Check out Jim Erickson's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out American Alpine Club's author page.

Check out Michael Pronzato's author page.

Check out Chris Kalman's author page.

Destivelle becomes the first woman to receive the award since it began in 2009.

Check out The Editors's author page.

The Yosemite Climbing Association Museum and Gallery was set to open this spring, featuring artifacts and photographs from Yosemite’s climbing history, but was delayed due to the pandemic. Here’s how you can help preserve these artifacts.

Check out Matt Samet's author page.

Check out American Alpine Club's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out Bennett Slavsky's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Eating disorders, dangerous dieting, and bad body images run rampant in the climbing community. We’re all playing a game with gravity, but what happens when we push our bodies and minds into unhealthy territory—and how do we stop it?

Check out Corey Buhay's author page.

Check out Chris Van Leuven's author page.

The bouldering boom

Check out John Burgman's author page.

Check out Miranda Fengel's author page.

Leavenworth’s mysterious, under-the-radar sandstone spire.

The impact of a 60-foot free soloing fall on Boulder's Second Flatiron

Check out Jeff Smoot's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out The Editors's author page.