Best Climber

Coeus wrote: Not really my point, I am just commenting that some people try to say that being successful at climbing is about how much fun you are having, not if you actually succeed at climbing. My point really is, things worth having (sending routes) is often hard work and is not always fun, yet if you perservere you get a reward greater than fun. Don't get me wrong, I am getting ready to go climbing this afternoon with my girlfriend simply to go have fun, but my addiction to climbing comes from achievement of goals. There is a reason that most high profile athletes mention "sacrifice" as part of what it takes to be where they are, not "fun". I think those at the top of any game recognize this concept, ask most successful athletes if they are having fun all the time while practicing their craft. I would bet most of them would tell you that they love their sport, but are not always having fun putting in the hard work it takes to be good at something.

I completely agree. Saying the "best" climber is the one having the most fun is a gross distortion of what "best" means. Climbers of equal ability have equal ability regardless of how whiny one of them is. Pissing and moaning about everything and everyone in sight doesn't make you a bad climber it makes you a PITA to be around.

Maybe the title of the tread should be "climber with best ability".

Ok, ok I'm just arguing semantics, but hell...it's 3:00 on a Friday and I'm still at work!!!

Ian F. wrote:Okay so back on topic - Best climber? Accounting for variety of disciplines, and alt to excel in each it's a hard call. Historically, Messner was hands down (Taking Era into Account), the best. His early Rock Climbing, Soloing, etc was way out there for the time. He later applied those tactics and thoughts to the Alpine world, turning climbing on it's head. But now, it's hard because there are so many that are great. With Alpine being the key, as it is where the real commitment and balls come into play. All other skills are weak sauce if you don't have the mind and balls to take it into the hills. Steve House, I guess? ............................F-it to hard. No one has topped Messner yet. No one has excelled so much at each discipline, at one time. You would have to combine Steve House, Tom Caldwell, Dean Potter, and maybe that scottish/english (McCloed or something) together to get a modern climber that is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest, to match what Messner did in his day. So, Messner it is.

Messner was absolutely awesome, but most of what he did was totally change climbing. He was a visionary and great all around climber, no question!

But...could he redpoint 5.13? Probably not, Steve House can.
Steve could obviously free solo Everest without O2. But the first assent in that style will always be Messner's.

I don't mean this to be a Steve House love fest, this is just why I chose him.

I don't think that there is much room to "change" climbing anymore. So, Messner will go down in history as a great and rightly so! You can only excel at whatever discipline that you enjoy. The pro-climbers out there have become to specialized. Could Sharma climb the Rupal face, no. Just like Steve House couldn't climb Jumbo Love.

Perhaps not the best, but I vote for Henry Barber, Gill and Jeff Lowe. Old school name dropping...

As pointed out above there are so many different elements that go into this. What about the old school climbers that were doing things that "weren't possible". Chris Sharma knows the impossible is possible, but Underhill, Fritz, Robbins...nobody KNEW if that stuff could be pulled off.

Astronauts man...astronauts.

Dave Macleod
5.14+ r/x trad
14c/d sport
Hard Bouldering
Hard Ice
Hard Mixed
All that Scottish mountain(hill)eering in nasty winter conditions.

I guess just the high altitude stuff is missing...unless I am remembering incorrectly

I don't think any other climber dominates their home country as thoroughly as Dave Macleod dominates Scottish climbing. He is (or at least at one point was...my knowledge may be out of date) his country's hardest trad route, hardest sport route, hardest boulder problem, and hardest mixed route. This not only requires a high level of skill. but it also takes some extraordinary dedication considering the uncooperative nature of Scottish weather and conditions. Very impressive.

Stateside, I might put in a vote for Tommy Caldwell as the most well-rounded performer on rock-- very high end sport, trad, and bouldering.

If you want to include ice/mixed/alpine, someone like Josh Wharton should be considered. Although he may not climb on rock at the same level as some specialists, he does show an ability to perform on the full range of mediums, form Rifle to the Black to Ouray mixed to greater ranges alpinism to bouldering.

Isn't this just an excuse to google sweet climbers we haven't heard of?

Historically I'd have to put Bonatti and Messner right up there though compared to "modern" grades the climbing hadn't quite progressed to the level it has now. No doubt they were both hardmen.

All 3 Lowes were damn bad asses.

Macleod for sure. Alex Huber for sure.

But we'll never agree which is part of why climbing is so awesome. There isn't a home run record to juice and break. Big improvements are from creativity and visionary thinking.

Top of their game, but hard to call a winner:

1. Ueli Steck
2. Dave Macleod
3. Stevie Haston

Me

good call on Ueli Steck. He is a beast in some many disciplines.

Jeremy McGrath. The king of supercross!

Speaking of Jeremy, I saw he is racing 4x4's now and doing very well.

C'mon;....everyone KNOWS it's Kevin Thaw.......rock, boulder, ice, alpine, 8000m, aid ,........it's Kevin Thaw...

The title of this thread should be "Your Favorite Climber"

"Best" is subjective, pure and simple. Nothing but fodder for eternal arguments.

Now that that's all cleared up;

Lionel Terray.

I'd say Messner, except that Messner obsesses too much about his critics.

My purely subjective and biased Best AND favorite climber: My dad, Vern Twombly. Climbed the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak area in the 1940'sand 50's. This is the picture of my dad climbing the North Ridge of Kindergarten (Grey) Rock in 1945. They were just starting to get army surplus gear. He says they couldnt get carabiners, so they used saddle cinch rings and pieces of rope as slings. They tied into the rope through a stack of cinch rings, climbed with the rope over their shoulder, taking the cinch ring/slings over their shoulder one at a time to loop on any available rock projections to protect the climb. He is credited in the guidebooks with the Boucher-Twombly route on North Gateway and the North Chimney on North Gateway, but did many more routes they didnt record and didnt receive credit for (like this route). You can see the Mesa in the background without any houses on it. He also did many routes up in the Cirque and other crags on Pikes Peak. He's in his eighties now. His most recent injury (in his mid 70's) was a shattered elbow (requiring pins, plates and screws) from snagging his front wheel on a hedge top jumping his mountain bike between parking lots.

I forgot to mention the picture was taken by his long time climbing partner, co-author of the Boucher-Twombly route over the Kissing Camels on North Gateway rock in the Garden of the Gods, Boulder resident Stanley Boucher. Dad forged is first ice axe and made his own pins, among many other cool and fantastic achievements.

Eric8 wrote:Probably not American... Its surprising that climbers like Alexander Huber and Voytek Kurtyka haven't been mentioned and Dean Porter/Alex Honhold have...

It's surprising that I was able to comprehend your statement with all its spelling mistakes.

As a brief explanation/justification, when Vern Twombly was putting up his new routes, he had no guidebooks, no climbing shoes, no single purpose climbing ropes, no nuts, cams, and only the few pins he forged by hand. Most climbs were multi pitch, seldom had good belay anchors and sometimes no belay anchors. The routes were not cleaned, and the outcome always in doubt.

In modern terms they were tandem onsite unprotected roped soloing in leather soled street shoes on loose and sandy rock.

I think about that when I'm freaked out on a sport route when the bolt is below my feet.

Ted Farley wrote:alpinism....ill throw out Alex Lowe

Seconded

Jim Ebert, of course.