Tom Higgins (rock Climber)
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Tom Higgins (rock Climber)
Thomas John Higgins (November 7, 1944 – March 21, 2018) was an American rock climber with many first and first free ascents primarily in the western United States. He was noted for pushing standards using a purist, free climbing style. Early climbs, Tahquitz Rock He began climbing in the early 1960s with partners Bud (later Ivan) Couch and Russ McLean on the sandstone boulders and short cliffs of Stony Point near Los Angeles. He soon teamed up with lifelong climbing partner Bob Kamps. Together they did the 1963 first free ascent of ''Blanketty Blank'' at Tahquitz Rock (5.10c) in Southern California. On this and other routes to follow, they employed ground up climbing without previewing or rehearsing the route or resting on the rope. They also placed protection (including bolts) on lead, all elements of a climbing style now termed Traditional climbing in contrast to Sport climbing. Another notable first ascent at Tahquitz was 1964's ''Jonah'' with Mike Cohen and Roy Coats. Near ...
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Tom Higgins, Yosemite Valley, 1968
Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character in the 1998 American science-fiction disaster movie '' Deep Impact'' * Tom Buchanan, the main antagonist from the 1925 novel ''The Great Gatsby'' * Tom Cat, a character from the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons * Tom Lucitor, a character from the American animated series ''Star vs. the Forces of Evil'' * Tom Natsworthy, from the science fantasy novel ''Mortal Engines'' * Tom Nook, a character in ''Animal Crossing'' video game series * Tom Servo, a robot character from the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' television series * Tom Sloane, a non-adult character from the animated sitcom '' Daria'' * Talking Tom, the protagonist from the ''Talking Tom & Friends'' franchise * Tom, a character from the '' Deltora Quest'' books by Emily Rodda * Tom, a c ...
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Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines. The valley is drained by the Merced River, and a multitude of streams and waterfalls flow into it, including Tenaya Creek, Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite Creek, Yosemite and Bridalveil Creeks. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America and is a big attraction especially in the spring, when the water flow is at its peak. The valley is renowned for its natural environment and is regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park. The valley is the main attraction in the park for the majority of visitors and a bustling hub of activity during tourist season in the summer months. Most visitors enter the valley from roads to the west an ...
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American Rock Climbers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ...
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Ken Wilson (mountaineering Writer)
Kenneth John Wilson (7 February 1941 – 11 June 2016) was a British writer, publisher and editor of books and magazines about climbing and mountaineering. The British Mountaineering Council's ''Summit Magazine'' described him as "one of the most influential voices in British climbing". In 1974 he edited and contributed to the first editions of the book ''Hard Rock'' which ''The Guardian'' considered was "among the most influential climbing books of the 20th century." Early life Wilson was born in Solihull to Blanche (née Colman) and John Wilson, a salesman of stationery. He attended Birmingham College of Art where he studied architecture and photography before working for the architectural photographer Henk Snoek for four years in London. During this time he met his future wife Gloria – they married in 1971 and had two children. Based on his experience from the early 1950s with a holiday in the Lake District and with climbing and walking with the scouts, in 1968 he took up ...
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Pinnacles National Park
Pinnacles National Park is an American national park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about east of Soledad, California, Soledad and southeast of San Jose, California, San Jose. The park's namesakes are the erosion, eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness. The national park is divided by the rock formations into East and West Divisions, connected only by foot trails. The east side has shade and water, the west has high walls. The rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles that attract rock climbing, rock climbers. The park features unusual Cave#Talus, talus caves that house at least 13 species of bats. Pinnacles is most often ...
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Traditional Climbing
Traditional climbing (or Trad climbing) is a style of rock climbing in which the climber places all the necessary protection gear required to arrest any falls as they are climbing, and then removes it when the pitch is complete (often done by the second/follow-on climber). Traditional bolted aid climbing means the bolts were placed while on lead and/or with hand drills (the bolts tend to be much farther apart than for sport climbs). Traditional climbing carries a higher level of risk than bolted sport climbing, as the climber may not have placed the safety equipment correctly while trying to ascend the route; for some of the world's hardest climbs (e.g. '' Realization/Biographie''), there may not be sufficient cracks or features in the rock that can accept protection gear, and the climb can only be safely attempted by bolting as a sport climb. Overview Characterizing climbing as ''traditional'' distinguishes it from bolted climbing—either trad bolted or sport climbing ...
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Tuolumne Meadows
Tuolumne Meadows () is a gentle, granitic dome, dome-studded, sub-alpine meadow area along the Tuolumne River in the eastern section of Yosemite National Park in the United States. Its approximate location is . Its approximate elevation is . The term ''Tuolumne Meadows'' is also often used to describe a large portion of the Yosemite National Park, Yosemite high country around the meadows, especially in context of rock climbing. Natural history The meadow vegetation is supported by shallow groundwater. The water comes from 1,000 mm (39 inches) of precipitation annually, predominantly in the form of snow. Water arises from snowmelt and hill-slope aquifers, and flows through the Tuolumne River, Budd Creek, Delaney Creek, and Unicorn Creek. In spring, as soon as the snow melts, it is not uncommon to see large areas of the meadows flooded and practically transformed into lakes. While the mountains of the Sierra near the meadows have had some permanent snowfields, in the summer they ...
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Steve Roper
Steve Roper is a noted climber and historian of the Sierra Nevada in the United States. He along with Allen Steck are the founding editors of the Sierra Club journal ''Ascent''. Roper is the winner of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award for 1983. He is also, with Allen Steck, the recipient of the American Alpine Club's Literary Award (1995). Publications * "A Climber's Guide to Yosemite Valley" (1964) LCC # 63-21911 * ''A Climber's Guide to Pinnacles National Monument'' (1966), * "Climber's Guide to Yosemite Valley" (1971), * ''The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra,'' (1976), * ''Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'', (1979), * "Timberline Country: The Sierra High Route" (1982) * ''Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country'' (1997), * Publications as editor * * Notable ascents * 1959 ''North Face'' of Middle Cathedral Rock, Yosemite Valley, CA (VI 5.9 A4), with Bob Kamps and Chuck Pratt. * 1963, first free ascent of the Kor-Ingall ...
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Royal Robbins
Royal Robbins (February 3, 1935 – March 14, 2017) was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. After learning to climb at Tahquitz Rock, he went on to make first ascents of many big wall routes in Yosemite. As an early proponent of boltless, pitonless clean climbing, he, along with Yvon Chouinard, was instrumental in changing the climbing culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s by encouraging the use and preservation of the natural features of the rock. He went on to become a well-known kayaker. Notable ascents * 1952 First free ascent (FFA) of Open Book (Tahquitz), the first route to be rated 5.9 in the Yosemite Decimal System. * 1957 '' Northwest Face'' of Half Dome, Yosemite, CA. First grade VI climb in America. With Mike Sherrick and Jerry Gallwas. * 1960 '' The Nose'', El Capitan, Yosemite, CA. With Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt, and Joe Fitschen, Second Ascent completed in 7 days * 1961 ''Salathé Wall'', El Capitan, Yosemite, CA. Hardest big wall grade VI climb in wo ...
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Free Climbing
Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. The climber ascends or traverses by using physical ability to move over the rock via handholds, footholds, and body smears. The term ''free climbing'' is used in contrast to aid climbing, in which specific aid climbing equipment (such as mechanical ascenders) is used to assist the climber in ascent. The term ''free climbing'' originally meant "free from direct aid". Free climbing more specifically may include: * traditional climbing * sport climbing * bouldering * solo climbing (excluding solo aid climbing) Common misunderstandings of the term While clear in its contrast to aid climbing, the term ''free climbing'' is nonetheless prone to misunderstanding and misuse. The three most common errors are: * Confusing ''free climbing'' ...
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Sierra Nevada (U
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas. The Sierra runs north-south and its width ranges from to across east–west. Notable features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at , the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils ...
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Sport Climbing
Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to arrest a fall; it can also involve climbing short distances with a crash pad underneath as protection. This is in contrast to traditional climbing where climbers must place removable protection as they climb. Sport climbing usually involves lead climbing and toproping techniques, but free solo and deep-water solo (i.e. no protection) climbing on sport routes is also sometimes possible. Since sport climbing routes do not need to follow traditional climbing route lines where protection can be placed into natural features (e.g. cracks), they tend to follow more direct lines up crags. This aspect, in addition to the lack of any need to install protection during the climb (e.g. the sport climber just clips into pre-installed bolts along th ...
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