Name that Climber....

cool thanks...

I started climbing in the 70's in the South. I helped discover and develop lots of great crags there before moving away... Now I am a fixture at a well known climbing area and own an iconic climbing shop.

I'm his dog, and like to watch him climb.

Rich Gottlieb of "Rock and Ice."

brenta wrote:Rich Gottlieb of "Rock and Ice."

you are correct sir...

Our climber is a World Cup winner and a soldier for a country where climbing is some sort of national sport.

hans florine?

Good guess, but it's not Hans. Our climber won a Lead World Cup instead of a Speed World Championship. Also, our climber is literally a soldier.

Core

[^^no idea]

[i'm reviving this one, and I'm going first]

"Never one to withhold an opinion, I'm perhaps best known in the States for pioneering hard (and, inevitably, scary) climbing on mud-caked Cutler sandstone, or perhaps for making quick work of America's hardest ice/mixed lines of the time"

*not Craig Luebben

*not Beyer

Craig Leubben?

Was Beyer into ice and mixed? No idea!

Rob Dillonwrote:

[*not Beyer

Hmm. I think that Takeda was fairly into the mud stuff?

Did Steve “Crusher” Bartlett also climb ice? 

Stevie Haston?

bingo!  ignatius is up

Hah; lucky guess! Ok - try this one:

"I have eight legs, and made the FA of what at the time was most likely the hardest alpine route in the US."

- Not Jeff Lowe - but a good guess; I assume you were thinking of 'Octopussy' - although they have tentacles! I'll add this:

"If you remove the first letter from my local mountain range, an anagram of the remainder will explain the leg count [which shouldn't be taken literally]". Hope that helps!

And when pondering the alpine route think of 'big' as well as 'hard'.

- Not Daniel Woods. Does he do that sort of thing? By 'alpine' I don't just mean 'in the alpine' - but full-on 'big mountain face alpine' with technical rock, ice, snow and mixed.

Jeff Lowe?

Daniel woods?

Riccardo Cassin on the Cassin of Denali? Dolomites - Mites

Garrett Genereuxwrote:

Riccardo Cassin on the Cassin of Denali? Dolomites - Mites

Yep - that's the guy. Didn't quite get the clue, but a good effort; I'd forgotten that mites are arachnids. In fact his local range was the Grigna, close to Lecco and somewhat west of the Dolomites. If you lose the G and mix up the other letters you get 'ragni' - which of course is the Italian for 'spiders'. Also the Ragni di Lecco - Lecco Spiders - is the local and very prestigious climbing club of which Cassin was a member.

Over to you!

Fun one! 

I'll use some quotes from this climber, gone way, way too soon. 

What's more important a climb or a partner that you do the climb with? For me it's definitely the partner. The partner is everything in climbing. Especially in alpine climbing cause you're sharing the rope together, and you're sharing the experience together. And no matter how good or how bad the climbing is you're going to have a good time if you are with a good person and a good friend. You're going to have a great experience and for sure, for me it's all about the partner. I think this is the key. 

The ultimate alpine climb would be a spectacular line up a virgin face, no one nearby, with a good partner--and there wouldn't ever be a word uttered about it. Stripping away all desires except the pure experience of the climb, escaping all expectations and our own egos, these are the real achievements. We should all dream of this...maybe one day it will become a reality. 

Unsurprisingly this climber shunned the #instatweetmyfacegram culture, and lost some sponsorships because of it.