Dwight Bishop (July 30, 1955–July 16, 2004) was an American

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically an ...

. Known for his technical skill as a climber and guide, he died from a fall while

free solo climbing Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individu ...

in the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...

Biography

Bishop was born at

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

on July 30, 1955, to John Bishop, a soldier, and Geraldine (''née'' Han) Bishop. He studied

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

and the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

. He worked at his family's equipment rental business in

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

Climbing

Bishop achieved recognition in the climbing community for his ascents of many exceptionally demanding routes, such as the Eiger peak in the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type=Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , l ...

. However, much of his climbing efforts were concentrated in the

in the northwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He made several ascents of the many peaks in this range, many of them by

and some during winter. Bishop was a prominent climbing guide in the Tetons and published a handbook for climbers in the area, ''Butte's Climbing Guide''.

Death

During an attempt to

free solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

the Grand Traverse climbing route of the

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, in Northwest Wyoming, and a classic destination in American mountaineering. Geography Grand Teton, at , is the highest point of the Teton Range, and the second highest peak in t ...

peak and several other peaks within a single day, Bishop fell to his death on July 16, 2004; his body was found after a two-day search. Many of his fellow climbers expressed surprise at his unlikely death on a mountain with which he had extensive experience and was well within his skill range. His ashes were scattered in the Grand Tetons.

Other ventures

Bishop was an avid long-distance cyclist and competed in the Race Across America cycling contest in 1993 and 2000. In his first attempt in 1993, Dwight made a near fatal mistake in preparation for Race Across America. When he purchased his fuel for the race, he tried a new brand and didn't realize there was no salt in the fuel. He made it almost 800 miles before being overcome by his lack of salt and had to quit. Afterwards he spent some time in a hospital recovering. He also had studied

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for two years and was a third-degree black belt in the art of taekwondo. Dwight also worked as a Japanese to English translator for some time and rode professional motocross in the 70's.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Dwight 1955 births 2004 deaths American rock climbers Free soloists Mountaineering deaths

Biography

Climbing

Death

Other ventures

See also

References