Tom Frost

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Tom Frost (born June 30, 1936 - August 24, 2018 in Oakdale , California ) was an American pioneer of big wall climbing in Yosemite National Park .

Tom Frost at El Capitan, September 1961

Frost graduated from Stanford University as an engineer in 1958 and was a member of the Stanford Alpine Club. In the same year he made his first tours in the Yosemite Valley. In 1960 he succeeded in a team with Royal Robbins , Chuck Pratt and Joe Fitschen the second ascent of The Nose on El Capitan (after Warren Harding 1958). September 1961 he succeeded with Robbins and Pratt the first ascent of the Salathé wall on El Capitan. Also in 1961 he climbed with Yvon Chouinard in the Teton Ranges with the first ascent of the northeast face on Disappointment Peak. In 1963 he was in the Himalayas with Edmund Hillary , they carried out the first ascent of the Kangtega and set up a school and hospital for Sherpas . In October 1964 he and Robbins, Pratt and Chouinard made the first ascent of the “North American Wall” on El Capitan. The climb took nine days and was the first route on El Capitan that was climbed in one go without rappelling. In 1968 he led the first ascent of the southeast face of the Lotus Flower Tower in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in the Canadian Mackenzie Mountains with Sandy Bill and Jim McCarthy .

On the summit of El Capitan after the first ascent of the North American Wall, October 31, 1964. From left: Tom Frost, Royal Robbins, Chuck Pratt, Yvon Chouinard

For the 40th anniversary of the North American Wall and other routes, he repeated this with his son from 1997 to 2001.

In 1997 he achieved that the historic Camp 4 of the Yosemite climbers was preserved against the opposition of the park administration and was included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Frost was also the photographer on many of the early tours of Yosemite, and his photos can be found in the books of Robbins, Chouinard, and others. He also founded a climbing equipment company and developed climbing aids with Chouinard, for example for ice climbing, and they patented the Hexentric and invented RURPS and others.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Nicholas Hobley: Tom Frost, farewell to Yosemite Golden Age climbing legend. In: planetmountain.com. August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2018 .
  2. ↑ 1986 he returned there and opened a new route with Jeff Lowe
  3. ↑ Frostworks
personal data
SURNAME Frost, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American big wall climber
DATE OF BIRTH 1938
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 2018
Place of death Oakdale , California