Unsung Heroes of Climbing History

Mitch Montywrote:

My vote would have to be the Doug Reed. (Porter Jarrard already mentioned above)

The sheer number of quality routes he's put up between the NRG, WNC, and the Little River Canyon is mind boggling. A nice guy to boot

I totally forgot about Doug, I second this post. He’s contributed a good amount to the RRG as well. 

James Arnoldwrote:

Anyone remember Raleigh(?)  _______ ? He committed suicide some years back iirc---  I always used to run into him a ton on the Eastside (CA). Shared a rope a few times, wish it would have been more. 

On that same note, I had a similar  relationship with Dave Pegg out in Rifle. Miss 'em both. 

Raleigh Collins.

Also, I must mention, one of the most unsung, big wall climbers, Steve Gerberding

Greg Miller wrote:

Joe kinder for his memes

Strictly for his memes   

Pete Cleveland!

The theme here is that the unsung hero's are the people whos climbs you actually do.

The overrated hero's are the people whos climbs you will probably never do. 

Dares Krol and Owen Summerscales 

If we open up the prompt to contemporary crushers, my top vote is Rob Pizem. Despite having a full+ time job and a family, he slays hard trad in a variety of styles and regularly puts up big new routes. Blue collar work ethic and razor-sharp time management skills. The man earns it.

Came in to say Cosgrove, and have to second Bill Price.  He put up pretty much every dream crack near me, and I'm sure it's tip of the iceberg. 

Ray Olson and the Poway Mountain Boys, the SDSU kids who have unknowingly soloed everything at Mission Gorge, & a cool dude named Local Bias.

Joanne and George Urioste.  I think they have a solid title to having some of the most frequently traveled routes anywhere.  People from all over the world line up to climb their classic routes in Red Rock.

Fred Beckey, Todd Skinner-Paul Piana big wall team, John Roskelly (as good as Messner @ high altitude in the day & for years America’s best ice climber & good rock climber to boot- Ed Viester’s self professed  limit was 5.6 & WI 3 & mediocre skiing) Doug Englekirk (unrivaled American crimp endurance) Jim Karn (really the only American male to do well at world cups for the last 30 years until this last year), Scott Cosgrove, Louie Anderson for general contributions.
Lets do this thread with just the opposite- Overhyped American climbers that have never been even close to the top of their respective disciplines, & done few significant first ascents. Many names come to mind. Sponsors would dislike the direction this thread would take. 

I met some guy at the gym today... said his name was Pat Adams.

Rusty Ballie - old man of hoy, routes in PNW, ect. 

Josune Bereziartu

Roger Briggs

Peter Mayfield and Bill Price for sure

Phil Knight deserves some praise as well for not letting Nike takeover the climbing shoe industry. However I would be lieing if I didn’t say climbing Jordan’s would be so ill.

Hopefully she doesn't mind the attention, but Shannon Stuart Smith is the most underappreciated climbing figure in America. She's the reason the Red River Gorge southern regions are climbable for all of eternity, and she's the reason that the Access Fund has a rock solid approach to help buy properties for Coalitions around the country.

She is still actively crushing and developing too,  and has put up some extra nice routes on top of all the rest.

Mark Hudonwrote:

Peter Mayfield and Bill Price for sure

I'd put you up there, Mark, but your accomplishments are pretty sung...;)

We should also mention Tony Yaniro...FA of Grand Illusion hardest route in the world at the time and co-inventor of Levittation for climbing teh wide.

Viciously slandered in the Valley for his efforts...

I'm surprised Pete Cleveland's name has only come up a couple of times here. Maybe it's because he belongs to an older generation. Pete was a fierce competitor on the boulders, and if you had watched him, poised and confident high up on tiny nubbins in the Needles of the Black Hills, you would never have forgotten his performances. His climbs at Devils Lake, of course, are legendary. And after Chounard and Kamps had attempted the north face of the Crooked Thumb on Teewinot in the Tetons, with Yvon doing a swan dive off an errant piton, Pete went up and completed the climb. I have nothing but praise for Pete.