Rock climbers on Valkyrie at The Roaches in Staffordshire, England.

A competitor in a rope climbing event, at Lyon's Part-Dieu shopping centre.

An ice climber using ice axes and crampons.

Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet (or indeed any other part of the body) to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation (to reach an inaccessible place, or for its own enjoyment) and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.

Climbing activities include:

• Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small outcrops, often with climbing shoes and a chalk bag or bucket. Usually, instead of using a safety rope from above, injury is avoided using a crash pad and a human spotter (to direct a falling climber on to the pad).
• Buildering: Climbing urban structures - usually without equipment - avoiding normal means of ascent, like stairs, escalators, and elevators. Aspects of buildering can be seen in the art of movement known as Parkour.
• Canyoning: Climbing along canyons for sport or recreation.
• Chalk climbing: cliffs of chalk may (with difficulty) be climbed using some of the same techniques as ice climbing [1].
• Competition Climbing: A formal, competitive sport of recent origins, normally practiced on artificial walls that resemble natural rock formations. The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the official organization governing competition climbing worldwide and is recognized by the IOC and GAISF and is a member of the International World Games Association (IWGA). Competition Climbing has three major disciplines: Lead, Bouldering and Speed.
• Ice climbing: Ascending ice or hard snow formations using special equipment designed for the purpose, usually ice axes and crampons. Techniques of protecting the climber are similar to those of rock climbing, although the protective devices themselves are different (ice screws, snow wedges).
• Sport Climbing: a specific sub-category of climbing in which the climber uses quickdraws to clip onto permanment bolts in the rock, and thus clips the rope into each quickdraw as she or he climbs up. A quickdraw consists of two caribiners attached on each end of a piece of webbing. One caribiner holds the rope and the other caribiner clips into the fixed bolts in the rock or gym wall. Quickdraw caribiners come with a variety of features including straight gate, bent gate, and wire gate. The carabiners are quickdraws never lock. Quickdraws may be attached to the gear loops on the waist of one's harness while climbing.
• Mountain climbing (Mountaineering): Ascending mountains for sport or recreation. It often involves rock and/or ice climbing.
• Net climbing: Climbing net structures. The climbing structures consist of multiple interconnected steel reinforced ropes attached to the ground and steel poles. Climbing nets are usually installed on playgrounds to assist children in developing their balancing and climbing skills.
• Pole climbing (gymnastic): Climbing poles and masts without equipment.
• Lumberjack tree-trimming and competitive tree-trunk or pole climbing for speed using spikes and belts.
• Rock climbing: Ascending rock formations, often using climbing shoes and a chalk bag. Equipment such as ropes, bolts, nuts, hexes and camming devices are normally employed, either as a safeguard or for artificial aid.
• Rope access: Industrial climbing, usually abseiling, as an alternative to scaffolding for short works on exposed structures.
• Rope climbing: Climbing a short, thick rope for speed. Not to be confused with roped climbing, as in rock or ice climbing.
• Scrambling which includes easy rock climbing, and is considered part of hillwalking.
• Tree climbing: Ascending trees without the intention of harming them, using ropes and other equipment. This is a less competitive activity than rock climbing.

Rock, ice and tree climbing all usually use ropes for safety or aid. Pole climbing and rope climbing were among the first exercises to be included in the origins of modern gymnastics in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

See also[link]

• Fall factor
• Arboreal locomotion
• Climbing clubs
• Climbing equipment
• Climbing organisations
• List of climbers - Notable rock and ice climbers
• List of climbing areas
• List of climbing topics
• Glossary of climbing terms
• Glossary of knots common in climbing
• Outdoor education
• Outdoor activity
• Rock climbing
• Parkour - French technique of passing obstacles efficiently
• Scrambling

References[link]

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

External links[link]

• Climbing at the Open Directory Project

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Climbing

Sonnie Trotter (born November 15, 1979 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian professional climber, known for his strength in many rock climbing disciplines, contributing to hundreds of first ascents around the world. Trotter began climbing in 1997 at age 16, and soon became the first Canadian to climb 5.14c the third North American to have established a 5.14d route. In more recent years, Trotter has gained notoriety for his support of clean trad routes over bolted routes, and his first ascent of the Cobra Crack in Squamish, British Columbia.

Sonnie also made Squamish history in 2006 when he and his climbing partner Matt Segal connected The Shadow 5.13b, The Grand Wall 5.13b and The Black Dyke 5.13b on the Stawamus Chief all free in a single 12 hour push.

Trotter has been featured in 3 award winning films. "The Cobra Crack", won best short film at the BIMFF in 2006. "If you're not falling" won Best Short Film at BIMFF in 2008 and "First Ascent" is the winner of multiple awards.

Sonnie Trotter is also a writer, photographer and public speaker.^{[citation needed]} He is also certified as an assistant Rock Climbing Guide through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.

Notable Ascents[link]

• Superman (5.14c, FA in 2002) Link up of Cheakamus Canyon's Pulse (5.14a), Captain America (5.14b) and Gom Jabbar (5.13b) continuing through the crux of Patience (5.14a)
• Forever Expired (5.14d, FA in 2004) Ontario's hardest route to date
• East Face of Monkey Face (5.13d R, FGA in 2004) Original established by Smith Rock pioneer Alan Watts, Trotter red pointed the East Face on trad lead
• Cobra Crack (5.14, FA in June, 2006) Considered one of the world's hardest crack climbs
• Rhapsody (5.14b/c R, second ascent in June 2008) World's first E11
• Necessary Evil (5.14c)
• Just Do It (5.14c)
• The Path (5.14a) Trad lead
• "sugar daddy" (soft 5.14a Trad) first ascent in May 2010 at nightmare rock in squamish BC.

External links[link]

• Sonnie Trotter's Personal Site
• Patagonia Ambassador Site
• Association of Canadian Mountain Guides Site

Catherine Monique Suzanne Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is an Algerian-born French rock climber and mountaineer.^[1] In 1992 she became the first woman to complete a solo ascent of the Eiger's north face.^[2] She completed the climb in winter in 15 hours. Her other notable climbs include the Bonatti Route on the north face of the Matterhorn and the southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru (the Bonatti Pillar).^[3] Destivelle has been the subject of several documentaries,^[4] including French director Rémy Tezier's, Beyond the Summits (Au-delà des cimes), which won the award for best feature-length mountain film at the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival.^[5]

Biography[link]

Catherine Destivelle was born in Oran, Algeria, to French parents, Serge and Annie Destivelle. When Destivelle was a young teenager, the family moved to France where she attended the Lycée Corot in Savigny-sur-Orge. She then studied physiotherapy at the Ecole de kinésithérapie de Paris, and worked as a physiotherapist from 1981 to 1985.^[1] While still a teenager, she had already made several challenging ascents in the Freÿr massif and the Dolomites, but did not take up a full-time professional career in rock and mountain climbing until 1985. The following year, she and her compatriot Patrick Edlinger won the combined final ranking of the Arco and Bardonecchia climbing championships.^[6] In 1990, together with Christine Janin, she participated at the ski mountaineering event Pierra Menta. They placed third.^[7]

With her fellow alpinist, Érik Decamp, Destivelle climbed the southwest face of Shishapangma in Tibet in 1994 as well as the icefall near Namche Bazaar, Nepal. During their 1996 expedition to Antarctica, they made the first ascent of "Peak 4111" in the Ellsworth Mountains before the expedition was cut short after Destivelle fell 20 meters (66 ft) while descending from the summit and received a compound fracture of her leg.^[8] The couple married in 1996 and their son, Victor, was born the following year.^[9] She began to cut back on solo climbs in the late 1990s and developed an active career as a lecturer and writer.^[10]

Notable ascents[link]

Destivelle was the first woman to complete the following solo ascents:^[1]

• 1987 – Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali
• 1990 – Bonatti Pillar of the Aiguille du Dru
• 1991 – new route up the Aiguille du Dru. The "Destivelle Route" was the first rock face to be named after a woman.^[11]
• 1992 – north face of the Eiger
• 1993 – Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses
• 1994 – Bonatti Route on the north face of the Matterhorn
• 1999 – north face direct of the Cima Grande di Lavaredo

Publications[link]

Destivelle is the author of the following books:

• Danseuse de roc, Paris: Denoël, 1987
• Rocs nature (with photos by Gérard Kosicki), Paris: Denoël, 1991
• Annapurna: Duo pour un 8000 (with Érik Decamp), Paris: Arthaud, 1994
• L'apprenti alpiniste: L'escalade, l'alpinisme et la montagne expliqués aux enfants (with Érik Decamp and Gianni Bersezio), Paris: Hachette Jeunesse, 1996
• Ascensions, Paris: Arthaud, 2003

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Catherine Destivelle on WorldCat

Edmund Viesturs (born June 22, 1959) is a high-altitude mountaineer. He is the first American to have climbed all fourteen of the world's eight-thousander mountain peaks, and the fifth person to do so without using supplemental oxygen.^[1] He has summited peaks of over 8,000 meters on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times; only two other climbers, Phurba Tashi Sherpa Mendewa and Juanito Oiarzabal, have more high-altitude ascents.

Early life[link]

Born of Latvian and German descent in Fort Wayne, Indiana and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Viesturs moved to Seattle, Washington in 1977 to attend the University of Washington. It was here that he began his mountaineering career on the slopes of Mount Rainier.^[2] Viesturs graduated from the University of Washington in 1981 with a BS in zoology^[3] and eventually became a guide for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. He later obtained a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University.

Mountain climbing career[link]

His interest in the Himalayas was sparked in high school by reading Maurice Herzog's account of the first climb of Annapurna. After climbing Kanchenjunga in 1989, Mount Everest in 1990 and K2 in 1992, Viesturs became an international mountain guide and was sponsored for full-time mountaineering. He served as a guide for Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants company during their 1995 Everest expedition.^[4]

Viesturs was in the IMAX climbing team during the 1996 Everest Disaster.^[5] He was featured in the Everest IMAX movie. Filming was delayed as a blizzard struck. The IMAX team postponed shooting and followed Viesturs up the mountain to aid the stranded climbers. The team ultimately decided to keep going and summitted Everest on May 23, 1996.

Viesturs's recent climbs have included Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat in 2003, Mount Everest (seventh time) in 2009 and Annapurna in 2005.

Viesturs climbs with partner Veikka Gustafsson.^[6]

In 2005, Viesturs became the 12th person to summit all fourteen eight-thousander peaks. He was the first American to accomplish this feat.

On November 5, 2006, Viesturs completed his first marathon, the ING New York City Marathon, in 3:15:18.^[7]

On August 17, 2007, Viesturs summitted Mount Rainier for the 200th time.^[8]

On May 19, 2009, Viesturs summitted Mt. Everest for the 7th time.

Accomplishments[link]

Viesturs is a recipient of the David A. Sowles Memorial Award^[9] from the American Alpine Club.

He is the first American, and 12th person overall, to summit all fourteen mountains over 8000 meters (collectively known as the eight-thousanders). He's the fifth climber to do it without bottled oxygen.

Viesturs also has summitted Mount Everest seven times,^[10] a feat that has been surpassed by a number of Sherpas (Apa Sherpa in the lead with 21 summits^[11]), and two western climbers: Gheorghe Dijmarescu (9), and Dave Hahn (13).^[12][13]

Other work[link]

He was a cinematographer in the 2003 film Trio for One, which told the story of French alpinist Jean-Christophe Lafaille's mission to climb Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak in a period of two months.^[14]

Media[link]

In October 2006, Viesturs published No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the Worlds 14 Highest Peaks, an autobiography that documented his 16-year journey summitting all fourteen eight-thousanders.^[15]

He made a cameo appearance playing himself in the film Vertical Limit.^[16][17]

He was a guest on the Daily Show on December 7, 2006, and appeared on The Colbert Report on March 14, 2007, where he agreed to plant a Colbert Report flag on top of Mount Everest the next time he went.^[17][18] On July 2, 2009, he brought the Colbert Nation flag back from Everest's summit to the show.^[19]

He was featured on the cover of Outside Magazine's thirtieth anniversary issue in 2007.^[20]

In October 2009, Viesturs and David Roberts published the book K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, which tells the story of six expeditions to the world's second tallest mountain.^[21]

References[link]

• Douglas Gantenbein (December 23, 1996). "Alone on the top of the world". Sports Illustrated 85 (26): 6–9. 

External links[link]

• Ed Viesturs official website
• Ed Viesturs on Charlie Rose
• Ed Viesturs at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Ed Viesturs in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ed Viesturs at Greatoutdoors.com

Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American big wall free solo climber. He has broken a number of speed records, including a free climb of Salathé Wall, as well as a 5h49m aid solo ascent of the 2,900 feet (900 m) Nose of El Capitan, a route normally demanding two to four days.^[1]

Biography[link]

Honnold was born in Sacramento, California, and graduated from Mira Loma High School.^[2]

He started climbing when he was 11 years old. At the age of 18, he dropped out of UC Berkeley, where he was an engineering student, and devoted all his time to climbing. Between climbs, he runs or hikes to maintain fitness.^[3] Honnold lives out of his van, spending less than a thousand dollars per month, enabling him to follow the weather and climb all the time. ^[4]

Honnold prefers big walls and sport climbing, but enjoys any climb calling for extreme commitment, Yosemite being his favorite area because of its impressive walls and favorable weather.^[3]

Honnold is inspired by such noted climbers as Peter Croft, John Bachar and Tommy Caldwell, and even more so by the stark simplicity and beauty of El Capitan.^[3]

In 2010, Honnold was awarded the "Golden Piton" for his climbing achievements.^[5]

Journalist Lara Logan interviewed Honnold as part of CBS 60 Minutes program airing on October 2, 2011. ^[6]

In November 2011, Honnold and Hans Florine missed setting the world record time on the Nose route on Yosemite's El Capitan by 45 seconds with a time of 2:37.^[7]

Honnold is an avid reader, with interests in classic literature, environmentalism, and economics. When asked about his religious or spiritual views, he described himself as a "militant atheist." ^[8]

Selected notable climbs[link]

• Freerider in Yosemite Valley in one day in May 2007 when he was 21 years old.^[9]
• Bushido and Hong Kong Phooey, in Utah, between 9 and 11 March 2008.^[10]
• Free solo of Heaven (5.12d) and Cosmic Debris (5.13b) in Yosemite National Park^[11]
• Second ascent of Ambrosia ; repeat of Kevin Jorgeson's highball boulder problem Ambrosia (V11) in Bishop, California. ^[12]
• Free solo of The Phoenix, the USA's first 5.13a. ^[13]
• Free solo of Astroman and Rostrum in Yosemite Valley in one day in September 2007, becoming the second person after Peter Croft (1987) to do so. ^[14]
• Free solo of Zion's Moonlight Buttress on 1 April 2008. ^[15]
• Free solo of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome on 6 September 2008.^[16]
• Repeats of Parthian Shot, New Statesman, Meshuga (solo), an on-sight of Gaia (and subsequently repeated it solo), and an on-sight solo of London Wall during a trip to England at the end of 2008.^[17]

Notable Videos[link]

• The Ascent of Alex Honnold (video) by reporter Lara Logan on 60 Minutes
• Alone on the Wall (video) from National Geographic Adventures TV series First Ascent. Alex Honnold solos of Half Dome in Yosemite and the Moonlight Buttress in Zion
• Citibank ThankYou Card Commercial (video) from YouTube. Alex Honnold and Katie Brown climbing Fisher Towers near Moab, Utah

References[link]

External links[link]

• Onsight of Gaia video from YouTube
• Free Soloing Yosemite (video) from National Geographic
• No Strings Attached article from Outside Magazine