Historical Ascents (for example first 5.12 in canada, First 5.13 in the world)

Looking for a list of historical first ascents around the world could be a first in your country or worldwide. Looking for mostly trad and sport climbs with the date and location.

First 5.13 Grand Illusion, Sugarloaf, Kyburz California. Tony Yaniro 1979

biographie/realization...1st 5.15.....sharma

or huber.... open air

also 1st....15b was sharma

then ondra took over with 15c,d in flatanger

Gullich....!st 5.13d,14a,14b also 14d!

action direct 14d 1991
jumbo love 15b 2008 sharma^
17 year gap!

Clint Cummins used to have a website with a lot of notable ascents in the world and also the US. It has since gone down, but he probably still has that information somewhere...

athletes feet on castle rock in boulder canyon Colorado was the first ever 5.10  

Hayden robinson wrote: athletes feet on castle rock in boulder canyon Colorado was the first ever 5.10  

Pretty sure 5.10 was climbed in the 1910s in Europe

Gill did the Thimble 3 years earlier.

And fwiw, Athlete's Feet is now called 5.11.

No need to re-invent the wheel-

Historical list of climbs

There may well be a better list elsewhere 

Such lists usually just lead to arguments, partially because grades are subjective and region-dependent.  Anyway, just for fun here are a couple fairly well-established American firsts:

First 5.9:         Open Book, Tahquitz, Royal Robbins 1952
First 5.10-5.12 are going to be hard to establish, for various reasons.   Crack of Doom in City of Rocks is usually called the world's first 5.11c (Greg Lowe, 1965).  The Thimble in Custer SD could be called the first 12a "route" in the states, though it is technically a highball boulder.  (John Gill 1961).
First 5.13a:    The Phoenix, Yosemite, Ray Jardine or Mark Hudon (depending on who you ask), 1977-1978
First 5.14a:    To Bolt or Not to Be, Smith Rock (JB Tribout, 1986)
First 5.15a:    Flex Luthor, Fortress of Solitude (Tommy Caldwell 2003)

Pulse, Jim Sandford, first .14 in Canada. ..

I'd say that the young native Americans who did their vision quests on top of Devil's Tower were pretty hard core in their time.

Alan Zhan wrote: Clint Cummins used to have a website with a lot of notable ascents in the world and also the US. It has since gone down, but he probably still has that information somewhere...

It's still around (2012 version) at archive.org, but it's difficult to link to from MP.

Here's the text without much formatting, plus a few updates:
-----
Hard rock climbs - First routes of each grade
bold = first route of that grade or higher.
Other well-known routes (or hardest in the US or Yosemite) are listed for reference.

6a (5.9, DDR VIIb) 1906 Teufelsturm Elbsandstein Oliver Perry-Smith, W. Huenig, Rudolf Fehrmann  Note: another grade VIIb was done a few days earlier, but this is the more famous route.
6a+ (5.10a, DDR VIIc) 9/1910 Kreutzturm, Suedriss Elbsandstein Max Matthaeus
6a+ (5.10a), E1 5b 1914 Cave Crack Direct Laddow Rocks, Western Grit Ivar Berg
4A or 4B (5.8/5.9) 1914 Prestat Fontainbleau Jacque de Lepiney highball boulder problem
6b (5.10c) 1918 The Wilder Kopf, Westkante Elbsandstein Emanuel Strubich
6a+ (5.10a), E1 5b1930 Hollytree Wall, Javelin Blade Idwal Jack Longland
5c (5.8) 1933 Wiessner Corner Ragged (CT) Fritz Wiessner
6c+ (5.11c) 1934 south wall Torre Trieste, Dolomites Raffaele Carlesso, barefoot
6a (5.9) 1935 Vector Ragged (CT) Fritz Wiessner
6a (5.9, toprope)1936 PhD or Coffin Climb Cupid's Bower (Great Falls, VA) Marshall Wood
5c (5.8) 1937 Mechanic's Route Tahquitz Dick Jones, Glen Dawson
6b (5.10b/c/d) 1938 L'Angle Allain Cuvier Rempart, Fontainbleau Pierre Allain
6a+ (5.10, toprope) 1943 Leonard's Lunacy Carderock (MD) Donald Hubbard
6a+ (5.10, led) 1945 Leonard's Lunacy Carderock (MD) Herb Conn
6b (5.10c) 1949 Goodro's Crack Wasatch (UT) Harold Goodro
6a (5.9) 1952 Open Book Tahquitz Royal Robbins, Don Wilson
6a+ (5.10b) [rated 6b in guide] 1954 Aiguille de Balitiere, West Face including Fissure Brown Alps Joe Brown, Don Whillans
V8 1957 John Gill
6a+ (5.10a) 1958 Repentence Cathedral Ledge (NH) John Turner, with point of aid lower on the pitch
7C (5.13d?, V9) 1959 Red Cross Overhang (original dynamic style) Jenny Lake, Tetons John Gill maybe too short to be considered (3-4 moves).
6b+ (5.10d) 1959 Bastille Direct Start Eldorado Ray Northcutt
6b+ (5.10d) 1959 Gill's Crack Devil's Lake (WI) John Gill
6b (5.10c) 1959 Split Pinnacle Lieback Yosemite Dave Rearick
6a+ (5.10a) 1960 The Blank Tahquitz Tom Frost, Bob Kamps
6a+ (5.10a) 1960 Rixon's East Chimney Yosemite Royal Robbins, Dave Rearick
6a+ (5.10a) 1961 Crack of Doom Yosemite Chuck Pratt, Mort Hempel
7a+ (5.12a/b, V5) 1961 Thimble, North Face Needles (SD) John Gill 30' high.
6c (5.11b) 1964 Frienstein, Konigshangel Elbsandstein Fritz Eske
6c (5.11) 1964 bouldering? Shawangunks (NY) Larsen, Williams
6c+ (5.11c) 1965 Crack of Doom City of Rocks (ID) Greg Lowe
6c (5.11) 1965 Son of Great Chimney Devil's Lake (WI) Pete Cleveland
6b+ (5.10d) 1965 Twilight Zone Yosemite Chuck Pratt
6c/6c+ (5.11b/c) 1966 Supremacy Crack Eldorado Pat Ament led clean after toprope in 1965, and led with rest on rope earlier in 1966
7b+ (5.12c) 1967 Macabre Roof Ogden, UT Greg Lowe
6c/7a (5.11d R) 1967 Superpin Needles Pete Cleveland
6c+ (5.11c) 1967 Foops Shawangunks John Stannard
6c (5.11) 1967 Slack Center Yosemite Pat Ament flake removed shortly after and is now 5.10d
7a (5.11d) 1968 Pilastro di Mezzo, Messner Slab Sass dla Crusc, Dolomites Reinhold Messner
7c (5.12d, toprope) 1969 Bagatelle Devil's Lake Pete Cleveland
7b (5.12b) ca 1970 English Hanging Gardens Big Rock (CA) John Gosling
7a (5.11d) 1970 Schwager, North Face Elbsandstein Bernd Arnold
7a (5.11d) 1971 Persistence Shawangunks John Stannard
7b+ (5.12c) 1973 Paisano Overhang Suicide Rock John Long
7b (5.12b) 1973 Kansas City Shawangunks John Bragg
6c+ (5.11c) 1973 Butterballs Yosemite Henry Barber
7b+ (5.12c) 1974 Supercrack Shawangunks Steve Wunsch
7a (5.11d) 1974 Overhang Overpass Yosemite Jim Donini
8B (5.14?, V13) 1975 Trice (AHR) Flagstaff Mtn. (CO) Jim Holloway maybe too short to be considered.
7c (5.12d) 1975 Psycho Roof Eldorado Steve Wunsch
7b+ (5.12c) 1975 City Limits Giant City (So. IL) Joseph Healy
7b (5.12b) 1975 Fish Crack Yosemite Henry Barber
7a+ (5.12a) 1975 Split Pinnacle, Left Side Squamish Chief Nick Taylor, Peter Peart
7a+ (5.12a) 1975 Hot Line Yosemite Ron Kauk, John Bachar
7c+ (5.13a) 1977 The Phoenix Yosemite Ray Jardine
7c+/8a (5.13a/b) 1977 Phlogiston Devil's Lake Pete Cleveland
7c+ (5.13a) 1978 Hangover Tahquitz John Long, Rick Accomazzo, Rob Muir, Mike Lechlinski
8a/8a+ (5.13b/c) 1979 Grand Illusion Sugarloaf (CA)Tony Yaniro
7c+ (5.13a) 1979 Hells Wall Bowderstone Crag, Lake District, UK Ron Fawcett
7c+ (5.13a) about 1979 Yasha Hai Vedauwoo Japanese climber
8a (5.13b) 1980 Cosmic Debris Yosemite Bill Price
8a (5.13b) 1981 Sphinx Crack South Platte (CO) Steve Hong
7c (5.12d) 1981 Chasin' the Trane Frankenjura John Bachar
8a+ (5.13c) 1984 Maniac Quoddy Head (ME) Dan Goodwin
8b (5.13d) 1984 Kanal im Rucken Altmuehltal Wolfgang Gullich
8b+/8c (5.14a/b) 1985 Punks in the Gym Mt. Arapiles Wolfgang Gullich
8b+ (5.14a) 1986 Ghetto Blaster Frankenjura Wolfgang Gullich
8b+ (5.14a) 1986 La Rage de Vivre Buoux Antoine Le Menestral
8b+ (5.14a) 1986 Ultimo Movimento Totoga Manolo
8b+ (5.14a) 1986 To Bolt or Not to Be Smith Rock Jean Baptiste Tribout
8c (5.14b) 1987 Wallstreet Frankenjura Wolfgang Gullich
8b/8b+ (5.13d/5.14a) 1987 Tour de Jour Yellow Bluff (AL) Jesse Guthrie
8c+ (5.14c) 1990 Hubble Raven Tor Ben Moon
9a (5.14d) 1991 Action Directe Frankenjura Wolfgang Gullich
8c+ (5.14c) 1992 Just Do It Smith Rock Jean Baptiste Tribout
8c (5.14b) 1994 Super Tweak Logan Canyon (UT) Boone Speed
9b (5.15b) 1995 Akira Charente Fred Rouhling (unrepeated)
8c+ (5.14c) 1996 Necessary Evil Virgin River Gorge Chris Sharma
8c (5.14b) 1996 Magic Line Yosemite Ron Kauk
9a+ (5.15a) 1998 Orujo Malaga Bernabe Fernandes (unrepeated; bolted-on holds removed)
9a+ (5.15a) 2001 Realization/Biographie Ceuse Chris Sharma
9b (5.15b) 2008 Jumbo Love Clark Mountain (CA/NV) Chris Sharma
8c+ (5.14c) 2008 Meltdown Yosemite Beth Rodden
9b+ (5.15c) 2012 Change Flatanger Norway Adam Ondra
9A (5.15d?, V17) 2016 Burden of Dreams (The Lappnor Project) Finland Nalle Hukkataival
9c (5.15d) 2017 Silence Flatanger Norway Adam Ondra

Sources

• Fabio Palma's list
• James ____'s list (in French)
• 8a.nu
  ratings conversion table
• Ament, Pat A History of Free Climbing in America: Wizards of the Rock, 2002
• Broscovak, Phil post on supertopo.com forum (1918, 30, 54, 57, 64, 70), 3/24/2012  http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1783404/Fifty-years-of-hardest-climb-in-the-US
• Godfrey, Bob and Chelton, Dudley, Climb!, 1977, p.90
  List of first 5.10s in Colorado, Tahquitz, and Yosemite.
• Hasse, Dietrich, Wiege des Freikletterns, 2000 (cited by klk on supertopo.com)
• Long, John post on supertopo.com forum, 3/28/2012
• Meyers, George, and Reid, Don, Yosemite Climbs, 1987
• Rubin, Alan posts on supertopo.com forum, 3/27-4/2/2012
• Sherman, John, "Hot Flashes" Climbing 128, 1991, p.40
  Info on Jim Holloway's climbs, no doubt also included in his Stone Crusade book.
• Stefanello, Vinicio, "The Messner slab on the Sass dla Crusc,"  planetmountain.com/english/…
• Thorington, J. Monroe, "Oliver Perry-Smith: Portrait of a Mountaineer," AAJ, 1964
• Thornburg, Jim post on supertopo.com forum, 3/25/2012
• Werntz, Brad, "Pete Cleveland: The Alchemist," Climbing 128, 1991
• wikipedia,  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histo…
• Zak, Heinz and Gullich, Wolfgang, High Life: Sportklettern Weltweit, 1988
  Ratings table, dates for Gullich's climbs

rev. 5/2012, 5/2009, orig. 2/2003, Clint Cummins

Hayden robinson wrote: athletes feet on castle rock in boulder canyon Colorado was the first ever 5.10  

As others have said there 5.10 climbs decades before that. In North America, Goodro's was one of the earliest if not the first 5.10.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105739892/goodros-wall

There were plenty of hard climbs before grading systems were really used. For example John Gill's boulder problems in the 1960s were far ahead of their time and wouldn't be rated for years.

As mentioned there are some disagreements around "the first X" in the US or world.

Here's some notable ones I like:

NorCal was cutting edge in these days:
5.12b (or 5.12a, 5.11d depends who you ask) 1975 Fish Crack Yosemite Henry Barber claimed by some as First 5.12 in the world
5.12b 1976 Crimson Cringe Yosemite Ray Jardine
5.12c 1976 Hang Dog Flyer Yosemite Ray Jardine
5.13a 7C+ 1977 The Phoenix Yosemite Ray Jardine claimed by some as First 5.13 in the World
V8 5.13 1978 Midnight Lightning Yosemite Ron Kauk
5.13b/c 8A/8A+ 1979 The Grand Illusion Sugarloaf Tony Yaniro First 5.13b/c in the World

After that the hardest climbs tended to be in Europe (along with a shift from cracks to face / sport climbing), but here' some notable ones in the US:
5.13d 1985 East Face Monkey Face - single pitch Smith Rock Alan Watts
5.14a 8B+ To Bolt Or Not To Be 1986 Smith Rock Jean Baptiste Tribout First 5.14 in US
VI 5.13b Salathé 1988 Todd Skinner
5.14c Just Do It Smith 1992 Rock Jean Baptiste Tribout First 5.14c in US
VI 5.14a/b The Nose 1993 Lynn Hill
VI 5.12d Free Rider 1998

Starting at 5.13b this page lists a lot of firsts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_ascents_(sport_climbing)

Some important climbers for these eras:
5.13c to 5.14d 1983 to 1991 Jerry Moffatt and Wolfgang Gullich
5.15a to 5.15d 2001 to 2017 Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra

I'm a bit of a climbing history buff and I love this shit. Here's a timeline of significant ascents

1985: First 5.14a, Punks in the Gym; Arapalies, Australia, Wolfgang Gullich
1987: First 5.14b, Wallstreet; Frankenjura, Germany, Wolfgang Gullich
1990: First female 5.14a, Masse Critique, South France, Lynn Hill
1990: First 5.14c: Hubble; Raven Tor, Great Brittain, Ben Moon (Could be argued as the first 5.14d, as some climbers in recent years suggest an upgrade)
1991: First 5.14d: Action Directe; Frankenjura, Germany, Wolfgang Gullich
1995: First 5.15b (alleged/unconfirmed): Akira; South France, Fred Roughling
1996: First 5.15a: Open Air; Austria, Alex Huber
1998: First female 5.14b: Honky Tonky; Spain, Josune Bereziartu
2000: First Female 5.14c: Honky Mie, Spain, Josune Bereziartu
2001: First Proposed and Confirmed 5.15a: Biographie; Ceuse, France, Chris Sharma
2002: First Female 5.14d: Bain de Sang, Switzerland, Josune Bereziartu
2005: First Female 5.14d/5.15a: Bimbaluna; Switzerland, Josune Bereziartu
2008: First Confirmed 5.15b: Jumbo Love, Clark Mountain, USA, Chris Sharma
2012: First 5.15c: Change; Flatanger, Norway, Adam Ondra
2017: First Female 5.15a: La Rambla; Siurana, Spain, Margo Hayes
2017: First Female 5.15b: La Planta de Shiva, Spain, Angy Eiter
2017: First 5.15d: Silence, Flatanger, Norway, Adam Ondra

I left out significant flashes and onsights, but I think this just about covers 5.14 and up sport ascents. A couple notes.

Akira by Fred Rouhling was one of the most infamous routes that a lot of people have forgotten about. It was proposed as 5.15b at a time when 5.14d was the hardest grade in the world, and people were either skeptical that the route was that hard, or skeptical that Rouhling actually climbed it. Personally, I believe that it was a futuristic route that was ahead of its time and deserves more credit and recognition. Here is an excellent old Climbing Magazine article about Fred and the route. climbing.com/people/fred-ro…

The grades of many of these routes are different that what were originally proposed. Action direct was originally proposed 5.14c and it was quickly upgraded. Open Air was proposed 5.14d, and it took 16 years for it to get its first repeat, Adam Ondra, who suggested an upgrade. Further repeaters have concurred with the 5.15a rating, making it the first confirmed 5.15a.

Josune Bereziartu was incredibly ahead of her time and deserves way more credit. Most climbers today don't even know her name, yet she was arguably closer to the very top level of sport climbing than any other woman in history. She climbed a 14d/15a when 15a was the hardest confirmed grade in the world.

Angy Eiter is another climber I believe that does not get enough credit. She climbed a significantly harder route than any of Margo's 5.15a's and got a fraction of the publicity/attention. Not trying to bring down Margo cause she is incredible, I just don't think Angy gets enough credit.

Katie Brown’s   onsight of Hydrophobia was cutting edge, they had to downgrade the thing because a girl did it.

Scott Cosgove’s routes in J-Tree seem to be contenders with Scarface for the first 14 established by an American