Tuesday, July 22, 2008

By BEE NEWS SERVICES

last updated: September 11, 2007 09:47:03 AM

Royal Robbins was born in 1935 in West Virginia. At 5, he moved to Los Angeles with his family. As a teenager, he went to a Boy Scout summer camp at Yosemite National Park.

A love affair was born. Robbins is one of the most influential American climbers and one of the early pioneers of the sport.

During the early 1950s, Robbins and his friends began clambering about on Southern California boulders and rock walls, pushing themselves on harder sections, both with and without ropes.

After a stint in the Army and as a ski instructor, he became serious about climbing.

An early proponent of "clean climbing" (boltless, pitonless, use of natural features for protection) Robbins, along with Yvon Chouinard, was instrumental in changing the climbing culture to minimize overall human impact on the vertical wilderness.

By the spring of 1968, Robbins had made either the first or second ascents of all of El Capitan's major faces and, most famously, made the first ascent of the Northwest Face of Half Dome.

Robbins invented the Yosemite Decimal System, still in use for grading climb difficulty. He has written many influential magazine articles emphasizing a philosophy of minimal climbing equipment and maximum climbing skill. His two books, "Basic Rockcraft" and "Advanced Rockcraft," inspired a generation of climbers.

In the late 1960s, Robbins and his wife, Liz, founded an eponymous import company in Modesto and sold climbing gear. By the late '70s, they were selling their own line of outdoor apparel. By 1988, they had $10 million in sales.

Always active environmentally, the couple stepped up efforts made by their company toward planetary stewardship: 10 percent of net profits are committed to save-the-Earth projects. Theirs became a model company in organizational recycling.

Robbins took up kayaking in the late '70s and made the switch from pioneering ascents to mastering descents on rocky rivers. He made more than 30 descents in California and Chile and has run rivers in Norway and Russia.

His biography, "Royal Robbins -- Spirit of the Age," by climbing author Pat Ament, was published in October 1992.

Royal Robbins: A Time Line

1950: Robbins begins climbing at Stony Point in the San Fernando Valley.

1952: Tahquitz Open Book first ascent (Southern California; first 5.9 in America)

1953: North Face of Sentinel Rock, Yosemite (second ascent)

1957: First ascent of Northwest Face of Half Dome, Yosemite (first grade VI climb in America)

1960: Nose Route of El Capitan (second ascent)

1961: First ascent of the Salathé Wall of El Capitan, Yosemite (Hardest big-wall grade VI climb in world at time of ascent, with improved style over previous first ascents on the Big Stone)

---- Meets Elizabeth "Liz" Burkner in Yosemite

---- Northwest Face of Higher Cathedral Spire, Yosemite (first ascent)

1962: American Direct, Aiguille du Dru, Mont Blanc Range, France (first ascent, with Gary Hemming)

1963: Liz and Royal marry.

---- Leaning Tower, Yosemite (first ascent of 1,000-foot overhanging face, four days, solo of a major route)

---- Direct Northwest Face of Half Dome (first ascent, with Dick McCracken)

---- Robbins Route, Mount Proboscis, Logan Mountains; Northwest Territories, Canada (first ascent, with Jim McCarthy, Layton Kor and Dick McCracken)

1964: North American Wall, El Capitan (first ascent, with Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt and Yvon Chouinard)

---- North Face Mount Hooker, Wind River Range, Wyoming (first ascent, with Dick McCracken and Charlie Raymond)

---- Danse Macabre, Devils Tower, Wyoming (first ascent)

---- Final Exam, Castle Rock, Boulder, Colo. (first ascent, with Pat Ament)

---- Athlete's Feat, Castle Rock, Boulder, Colo. (first ascent)

1965: Liz and Royal teach skiing and climbing in Leysin, Switzerland.

---- Dru, Chamonix, France (first ascent on the Superdirect Route)

1967: Nutcracker, Yosemite (first ascent; first new route in Yosemite using only chocks and natural runners)

---- Liz is first woman to climb Northwest Face of Half Dome, Yosemite.

---- West Face of El Capitan, Yosemite (first time chocks used on big wall)

1968: First solo ascent of El Capitan, Yosemite

---- First solo ascent of North Face of Mount Edith Cavell, Canada

---- Muir Wall, El Capitan; first ascent, first Grade VI solo

1969: Mountain Paraphernalia retail business is formed to import Galibier climbing shoes; Modesto.

---- Prow, Washington Column, Yosemite (first ascent)

---- Tis-sa-ack route, Northwest Face of Half Dome (first ascent, with Don Peterson)

1970: Royal Robbins Mountain Sports retail store opens in Modesto.

---- Arcturs, Half Dome (first ascent, with Dick Dorworth)

1975: Liz designs the classic Billy Goat Short.

1978: Royal takes up adventure kayaking.

1992: Royal's biography, "Spirit of the Age" by Pat Ament, is published.

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