Royal Robbins

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Royal Robbins in the early 1960s

Royal Robbins (born February 3, 1935 in West Virginia , † March 14, 2017 in Modesto , California ) was an American pioneer of big wall climbing , especially in Yosemite National Park .

Life

Robbins was born in West Virginia but moved to California with his parents in 1940. Even as a boy scout he was impressed by the beauty of the Sierra Nevada and especially the Yosemite Valley and began climbing in the San Fernando Valley in California. He further developed his technique on the Tahquitz in the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California , which has been the mountain of the Sierra Club's climbing section since the mid-1930s . After his military service he decided to devote himself entirely to climbing, working as a ski instructor in the winter (1960 to 1964 in Sugar Bowl, California). With Yvon Chouinard and Warren Harding , he was involved in the end of the 1950s with the development of numerous big wall routes up to grade VI - Yosemite Decimal System (VI - corresponds to a multi-day tour) in the Yosemite Valley. They contributed to the establishment of a new "American" climbing style, for which they also developed new safety methods. At the same time, he was an early proponent of clean climbing with as few drill holes and rope pulling aids as possible. His main rope partners in Yosemite were Chuck Pratt and Tom Frost .

In 1963 he married Elizabeth "Liz" Burkner and in 1965 moved to Leysin in Switzerland to develop new extreme routes in the Alps. In 1967 he returned to California and founded a climbing school for advanced rockcraft in Modesto . In 1969 he founded Mountain Paraphernalia (a climbing equipment business) with his wife .

From 1975 he also made a name for himself as an extreme kayaker (with more than 30 extreme first-time runs in California and Chile) and founded the outdoor clothing company Royal Robbins in 1979 (with 1988 sales of 10 million US dollars). The Robbins let 10 percent of the proceeds flow into environmental projects. Robbins sold the company to Dan Costa in 2002, who had held a majority stake in the company for four years and finally spun off the 5.11 Tactical brand in 2003 and sold the rest of the company back to Robbins.

Special alpine achievements

Royal Robbins in the Salathé wall at El Capitan 1961

First ascents

  • 1952 “Tahquitz Open Book”, California, USA. (First 5.9 route in America)
  • 1957 "Northwest Face" of Half Dome , Yosemite, California, USA. (First "Grade VI" climb in America, with Jerry Gallwas, Mike Sherrick)
  • 1961 “Salathé Wall”, El Capitan , Yosemite (at that time the most difficult big wall route in “Grade VI”).
  • 1962 “American Direct”, Aiguille du Dru , Mont Blanc massif, France. With Gary Hemming.
  • 1963 Direct route in the northwest face of Half Dome, Yosemite. With Dick McCracken.
  • 1963 “Robbins Route”, Mount Proboscis, Logan Mountains , Yukon , Canada. With Jim McCarthy, Layton Kor and Dick McCracken. Robbins first applied the big wall techniques he had learned in similar walls outside of Yosemite.
  • 1964 North American Wall, El Capitan, Yosemite. With Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt and Yvon Chouinard.
  • 1964 North Face Mount Hooker, Wind River Range, Wyoming. With Dick McCracken and Charlie Raymond.
  • 1964 “Danse Macabre”, Devils Tower , Wyoming, USA.
  • 1964 Final Exam, Castle Rock, Boulder, Colorado. With pat ament.
  • 1964 "Athlete's Feat", Castle Rock, Boulder.
  • 1967 "Nutcracker", Yosemite
  • 1969 "Tis-sa-ack", Half Dome, Yosemite. With Don Peterson.
  • 1970 Arcturs, Half Dome, Yosemite. With Dick Dorworth.

Additional Services

  • 1960 First repetition (after Warren Harding 1958, who still needed 47 days) of "The Nose", El Capitan, Yosemite (with Joe Flitchen, Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt, 7 days)
  • 1963 Leaning Tower, Yosemite. single-handedly
  • 1968 "Muir Wall", El Capitan, Yosemite. First solo attempt on a "Grade VI" route (and second ascent of the route).

literature

Web links

Commons : Royal Robbins  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James Lucas: Obituary: Royal Robbins (1935-2017). In: climbing.com. Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc., March 15, 2017, accessed March 15, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Robbins, Royal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American extreme mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH West Virginia , United States
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 2017
Place of death Modesto , California , United States