List of first American routes of each grade

Colby Wayment wrote:Macabre Roof would be 12a by today's standards - originally rated 5.10. Off the top of my head, I think it was climbed in 1967. Ken Gygi did what is considered to be the second ascent in 2003 if memory serves me right and the roof has been repeated a number of times since by a few different people.

What year did John Gill first climb The Gill Crack in Boulder Canyon? Seems like that would be one of the earlier 5.12s.

I hadn't heard that Ray hung all over Phoenix on the first ascent. He did hang on it while working it but I thought he had climbed it from the bottom to the top, placing gear as he went. If that's a fact, he did a better cleaner ascent than Max and I!

Mark Hudon wrote:I hadn't heard that Ray hung all over Phoenix on the first ascent. He did hang on it while working it but I thought he had climbed it from the bottom to the top, placing gear as he went. If that's a fact, he did a better cleaner ascent than Max and I!

Mark,

Here is an excerpt from Pat Ament's "Wizards of Rock", page 220:

May 20, 1977. Ray Jardine, with John Lakey, climbed Phoenix, 5.13, in Yosemite, using his prototype "Friends".

Many attemptes were made on Phoenix, including a successful top-rope of it on May 14, 1977. The effort invovled "working" the route, in a style that was a precursor to future "sport climbing". The lead then was done with three rests on gear. Jardine was mostly interested in pushing hard climbs, and was not always very rigorous about style. A climb with three hangs was not the purist's idea of a free ascent, and the route is an endurance feat that is much more difficult when climbed continuously. At the same time, there were others who didn't mind calling Jardine's ascent a first free ascent...[more editorializing about Jardine's style]...

Jardine originally rated Phoenix 5.12, but it was later upgraded to 5.13. His style was to climb as high as he could, hang on the rope, shake out, rest, then continue higher. He would free every move, not pulling on protection, calling such methods "working the route". The phrase began to stick in the community. He then would return and attempt to reduce the number of rest points. He wasn't afraid to work a month or more on a string of moves. Finally the entire climb might be done in one go.

In the spirit of pots calling kettle's black, its worth noting that Ament's "first free ascent" of Supremacy Crack also involved hanging from gear to rest mid-way through the route.

If you ask around on the Taco you could probably get a lot more details.

PS, you and Max were always an inspiration to me. Long, Hard, & Free!

What about the Durrance Route on Devils Tower as the first 5.7. It was put up in 1938. That seems old to me.

Angela Mabe wrote:What about the Durrance Route on Devils Tower as the first 5.7. It was put up in 1938. That seems old to me.

East Buttress of Whitney in 1937...

Bunches of Wiessner routes at that grade in the early thirties.

East Ridge of the Grand in 1929.

Ellingwood Chimney 1924.

Albert Ellingwood did a number of potentially harder routes prior to the Durrance route.

As already mentioned, Lizard head, climbed in 1920, is ~5.8, as is The Bishop in the Cathedral Spires of CO's South Platte, done in 1924.

people say that Just DO IT @ Smith is "a temperature dependent .14B"

that would elevate Necessary Evil to first 14c.

rbardzik wrote: Open Book @ Tahquitz was the first 5.9

I don't know. Herbies Horror at Carderock, I'm pretty sure, significantly predates The Open Book. Though a top rope for most, it is not unlikely it was led (soloed?) by Herb Conn sometime in the 40's.

Wow! So that means that Max and I did the FFA of Phoenix! Dang!

PS, Thanks.

Jcrew wrote:people say that Just DO IT @ Smith is "a temperature dependent .14B" that would elevate Necessary Evil to first 14c.

I disagree. Although I've never been on it, if we're going to generalize what "people" say, my conclusion is that the current median among people who have been on it is soft 14c. BTW, every route is temperature dependent.

Mark Hudon wrote:Wow! So that means that Max and I did the FFA of Phoenix! Dang! PS, Thanks.

Not to mention likely the first consensus 5.13 in the world!

Will S wrote: Well, sort of. Ament's version can be found there....

Great reply all-around!

I feel so special!

;-)

Stettner Ledges, Longs Peak 5.8 in 1920's, Joe & Paul Stettner riding there motorcylces from Chicago to Colorado, buying a rope from hardware store in Este Park,

Joe and Paul Stettner move to to chicago in the 1920's, went to Wisconsin looking for climbing, the a good chance, some of the first 5.7, 5.8, 5.9 were done at Devils Lake, like Water Marks 5.8, that would be 5.9 in Cleer creek, or BC,

I thought first 5.10 was either supremacy crack in Eldo or Athlete's Feat in Boulder canyon... Hard to identify first versus one of the first.

fritz weissner's Vector is said to be the first 5.8, i think. at ragged mountain in CT. really neat historic area.

Clint's list is pretty thorough. Just glancing at it a couple things jumped out at me immediately: John Gill doing V8 back in 1957 and then the Thimble (V4 or 5, 5.12a/b), unroped, back in 1961. The guy was so ahead of his time.

5.15c: Jumbo Love Direct, first ascent Seb Bouin, 2022

The French set a new standard in the US again.

Seconding BCA to confirm that Vector at Ragged Mountain, CT was the country's first 5.8 route. From Yankee Rock & Ice, in 1935 Fritz "completed what probably remained the hardest single lead in the country for almost 20 years". It's an incredible route that was far ahead of its time, a true classic!

Joel Unema wrote: First resource I forgot to mention is here... seems a bit pieced together... but maybe it is fairly good stanford.edu/~clint/yos/har…

this list was so good, but it is now down unfortunately. did anyone save it?