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List of first American routes of each grade
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Vector can't be the first 5.8 in the US - Ellingwood's route on Lizard Head was done in 1920 |
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Hurray, Clint's list is found: Notable Hard FA's by year - Clint Cummins - https://web.archive.org/web/20171013205642/ web.stanford.edu/~clint/yos… Aaron Kwrote: Vector is 5.8+ ;) Locally people are somewhat proud of Jadis but it looks like it was beat by a few years by Goodro's. |
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It's fun to look at the list; most of the hardest routes have been repeated at this point, and there are a few new harder ones.... Maybe it's time for another 10-year update and rehosting? P.S. Ray Jardine led The Phoenix free, as far as I understand. It's true that he originally led just the middle/upper part (1977-05-09), then added the lower pinned crack. From reading Ray's climbing log, he attempted this lead many times (including in 1978 and 1979) and got it free just that once (1977-05-20). https://www.rayjardine.com/Avocations/Rock-Climbing/climbing_log/index.php I don't know what Pat Ament's source is for saying that he rested on gear and did not lead it free. |
petzl logicwrote: Vector scared the crap out of me the first time I did it. And the second time, too. |
Mark Hudonwrote: I feel so special! ;-) You are special. The climbing community values you. (No wink. Straight up.) |
Monomaniacwrote: The Phoenix may stil be the first 13a, just with a different FFA. Can anyone beat May 1978 for 13a? I'm not sure of the month, but Iron Cross in the gunks was FA'd in 1978 by John Bragg. It is graded 12d, but would likely be 13a in any other crag besides the gunks. Take that for what it's worth. |
Clint Cumminswrote: I loved your website Clint, please consider updating it. Pat Ament was an able climber and is a creative writer. Judging from his climbing biographies and other writing I don't regard him as a completely reliable historian. As you know but others may not, Jardine was persona non grata to Valley locals for the heinous sin of working routes before leading them. Many people witnessed the days of practice but not always the final redpoint and drew the wrong conclusions. Some just didn't think a pre-practiced ascent counted period. This sounds like recycled Camp 4 gossip to me. |
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Long ago I had been told that the first 5.11 was done by Barry Bates in Yos: |
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Isaiah, first 5.10 in yosemite was east chimney of Rixon's by Royal Robbins and first 5.11 was Slack center route by Pat Ament (downrated to 5.10c after a block fell out). |
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Slightly off topic, but there's probably a lot of stuff that was absolutely cutting-edge for its time hiding behind extremely sandbagged grades way up in Europe's mountains, particularly the Alps. The Fissure Allain on the Petit Dru was first done in 1935, onsight all free. Ostensibly it's the first 6a (5.10a/b) in the French Alps, but word on the street is that by modern standards it's way harder. When I was up there, I avoided it via a variation, but word on the street is that some people have a harder time on it than on the 5.11a/b crux of the American Direct! An extra bit of trivia is that Allain developed what was arguably the first dedicated rock climbing shoe for this route, a progenitor of what eventually became EBs. Another example that I have personal experience with is the Fissure Knuble on the Mer de Glace face of the Grépon, which was supposedly the first 5c (5.9/5.10a), done in 1911. If it were at a modern crag, I suspect it would get 5.10c, and I'm not alone in this opinion. On the other hand, a lot of that might be the fact that it's an awkward flare at altitude above 2800' of easier climbing... In any case, it's actually pretty cool that the Americans reclaimed the cutting edge for a solid while in the latter half of the 20th century, considering how far behind they were in the first half. |
BCAwrote: fritz weissner's Vector is said to be the first 5.8, i think. at ragged mountain in CT. really neat historic area. I wouldn’t Be surprised if some of Fritz’s other 5.8 s were upgraded. Wiesners chimney at Humphries shares the start of the guides route( crux) which is 5.9 |
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Weissner did Vector in 1935 |
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There is still some uncertainty as to how Weissner actually started his route on Humphrey’s. First time he rappelled down to the start of the chimney, but later came back and started from the ground—though traversed in ( (I forget from which direction) a fair way to get to the base of the chimney. Still was a hard and bold lead for the time, though not as hard as Vector—which would be a pretty solid 5.9 in most areas ( and how it was graded in the first Ragged Guidebook by Streibert and Reppy—who thought that they had made the F.A.—until corrected by Fritz himself!!!!). In Europe 5.9 and 5.10 routes had been climbed both around Dresden (Elbesandstone) and in the UK on gritstone in the first decade of the 20th Century. Additionally, in his biography of Paul Preuss, David Smart contends that routes of those grades were also being climbed in the Eastern Alps during the period prior to World War 1. The problem is that during that era the free/aid distinction wasn’t as clear as it currently is ( shoulder stands and similar shenanigans were considered to be ‘free climbing’ by the Dresden pioneers, for example) nor was it of any significance to the practitioners, so it is really impossible to now determine which of the routes climbed during that time period were ‘free’ climbed according to the ‘modern’ definition. |
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I believe he came back and free soloed the chimney |
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Has anyone rated Ancestral Puebloan ascents ? Did any other people in the New World climb such steep routes ? |
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Cosmic Debris 5.13b (not a sport route) 1980 Bill Price. |
