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Who are your FA heroes and why?

Original Post
Adam Paashaus · · Greensboro, NC · Joined May 2007 · Points: 791

Most of us have our favorite fist ascensionists. Some admire them due to historical significance, boldness, style or ethics of ascent, or simply having a knack for finding and climbing the coolest lines around. Layton Kor was one of those guys. Unfortunately Ive only done a handful of his routes. Who are some of your FA heroes and why?

Here in the southeast I have realized over and over that Tom Howard has done almost all of my favorite routes. None of them are super hard, but he always seemed to have an eye for the coolest steepest moderates around. Some great examples are Zoo View, Air Show, Dopey Duck, Straight and Narrow, Golden Earing, and Airlie gardens. Those routes and a few others are some of my favorite routes in NC. If you love pulling horizontals on gear in the southeast I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Thanks Tom!

Jonathan Dull · · Boone, NC · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 415
Adam Paashaus wrote:. If you love pulling horizontals on gear in the southeast I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Thanks Tom!
I second that!
zoso · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2007 · Points: 790

Me.

Cause I never thought I'd have the balls to drill on lead. Scariest 5.4 EVAR!!!

willeslinger · · Golden, Colorado · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 25

Learning to climb in the South East, Rob Robinson and his crew are the clear answer. Rob established most of the climbing at the T-Wall and Sunset park with Forrest Gardner and Marvin Webb over a couple decades. The late 90's and early 2000's saw a renaissance of new routing at T-Wall under the vision of Gus like David Draper, Kirk Brode and Tyler Stracker. The latter three I had the honor of considering friends and mentors during my formative seasons on the rock.

safetyfourth · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 20
zoso wrote:Me. Cause I never thought I'd have the balls to drill on lead. Scariest 5.4 EVAR!!!
Spray Dab.

mountainproject.com/v/hi-im…
zoso · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2007 · Points: 790

Pretty creepy you found that.
That's not my route though and I didn't put the anchors in.

Stalker.

SavageMarmot · · Nederland, CO · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 190

Roger Briggs.
FFA on Tongo- Castle Rock

Tongo was my first lead climb (thanks for the belay Mom!)
Mr. Briggs was my high school physics teacher.

drock3 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 13

Doug reed and porter jarrard! Put up millions of routes, climb way harder than me, legends

john strand · · southern colo · Joined May 2008 · Points: 1,640

In NC,, Rotert and Shannon for sure.. in my home grounds Tom Callaghan #1 partner for many f/a's fearless and dedicated.

Jimmie Dunn and Ed Webster

phil wortmann · · Colorado Springs, Co. · Joined Feb 2005 · Points: 1,186

Great topic. We have many of those heroes here in the Springs, some more known than others.

Ed Webster- I read his book when I first started climbing and it led me to check out the Black and the Diamond as well as other areas.

Kevin Mclaughlin and Glenn Shuler- their routes are the hard lines that lie between the obvious ones.

Pete Gallagher- cuz he's a BA crack climber!

S. Neoh · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 35

For QUALITY sport routes local to NE, the Smith brothers, Mark Sprague, and all of "Team Tough" for that matter. For The Gunks, the Vulgarians and others whose names escape me for the moment. Further South, Doug Reed and Porter Jarrad, no doubt, for their vision and making so many of us enjoy NRG and RRG time and again.

Tommy Layback · · Sheridan, WY · Joined Jan 2011 · Points: 85

Fritz Wiessner -
the first clean ascent of Devils Tower via a 5.7 OW route (now called simply the 'Wiessner Route') whilst placing only one piton with a hemp rope bowlined around his waist.

Also, according to a recent article in Rock & Ice's Ascent mag he was busting out 11s when 7s were the state of the art.

I've never climbed in the Gunks, so I'd be interested in what folks from that part of world think of his FAs there (in light of the equipment he had at his disposal).

Ian Cavanaugh · · Ketchum, ID · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 620

Todd Skinner, Tommy Caldwell, Didier Berthod, Fred Rouhling, Montana man Pat Kingsbury for keeping it real in the wide and anyone else willing to go find something new, clean it and put the effort in to make it climbable for the next party to send.

Chad F · · Costa Mesa, CA · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 75

Chuck Wilts and Royal Robbins. They put up some of my favorite routes in idyllwild.

P. Sully · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 350

Eddie Begoon & Mike Artz

NRG trad masters.

BirminghamBen · · Birmingham, AL · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 1,620

I have no heros, but am proud to experience what these regular guys doing irregular things have done.

Carolinas...Doc Bayne (RIP), Gaskin, Shannon Stegg, Jacobs, Crowder, T. Kelley, D. Reed, Mr. Cobourn, Burgess, Fickel, Begoon, Offenbecher, Fishchesser, Mr. Brown, Andrew....others.

For the TAG....Romano, B. Wolfe, Mark Cole, Curt Merchant, Mr. Stegg again, Rob Robinson, Gottlieb, Gene Smith, J. Roberts, Watford, Chesnut, Gardner, Stracker and them fellas, and many others.

Bayne and Stegg have dished up my favorite routes in the SE.

Layton Kor and the Lowe's have served up some of my favorites in the West.

William Sonoma · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 3,550

There are so many people who induced "stoke" into me I can't name just one.

Mountaineering: Micah Dash, Jonny Copp, Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, many Lowes, Fritz Weissner (if I had to choose one it'd be Frittzy), JC Lafaille (the last name may be spelled incorrectly) plus many more...

Rock: Fritz Weissner (5.7/5.8 at 28,000ft without gloves or crampons come on...in 1939!), sonnie trotter, tommy caldwell and matt wilder.

I don't see them as heros but their experience/stories and energy are infectious for sure.

Fun topic dude.

M Sprague · · New England · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 5,090

Fritz!

Shawn Heath · · Forchheim, DE · Joined May 2008 · Points: 28,380

For me, Bernd Arnold who started by climbing all of the hardest routes in Elbsandstein (which happens to be the first area to develop routes in the 5.10 range) and then continued pushing the scale up to 5.13, and climbing most of those routes barefoot! Additionally, I'm sure we're all aware of how the routes are protected there...

Kurt Albert who is the father of modern sport climbing by developing the redpoint concept. His first redpoint was Adolf Rott Ged.-Weg.

+1 on Porter Jarrard and Doug Reed.

EDIT: Plus Lynn Hill and the Conns.

Eric Engberg · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 0
Mr Clean wrote:Fritz Wiessner - the first clean ascent of Devils Tower via a 5.7 OW route (now called simply the 'Wiessner Route') whilst placing only one piton with a hemp rope bowlined around his waist. Also, according to a recent article in Rock & Ice's Ascent mag he was busting out 11s when 7s were the state of the art. I've never climbed in the Gunks, so I'd be interested in what folks from that part of world think of his FAs there (in light of the equipment he had at his disposal).
Yeah Fritz for sure. His route Minne-belle (sp?) at Skytop was one of the first recognized at the 5.8 grade - of course the time of the first ascent predated the YDS. Wide cracks were especially his forte - his Tower route - local stuff in the northeast, CT and NH comes to mind.

In response to Soon's post about the Vulgarians - just post that era at the time I first started to frequent the Gunks, the scene was domininatyed by the "wrecking crew" - Stannard, Barber, Wunch and Bragg. Lots of FFA's. Henry clearly climbed with the purest of traditional styles and was at least tangentially influenced by Fritz. Bragg did some fantastic alpine climbing - again in a very pure style, Wunch has had great success beyond climbing, and Stannard's contributions to clean climbing and environmental issues in general are on par with anyones.
Peter Franzen · · Phoenix, AZ · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 3,730

Alan Watts - I wouldn't be the climber that I am had I not cut my teeth on his (and others' of course, but he led the charge) routes at Smith.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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