Derek Geoffrey Hersey (26 October 1956 – 28 May 1993) (Gives Hersey's date of death incorrectly as 20 May 1993.) was a British

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 ...

and for many years an active participant in the Boulder, Colorado climbing scene.

Climbing specialization

Hersey specialized in unroped " free solo" climbing, often in the 5.10–5.11 range; he died during such a free solo climb. Few climbers have tried to repeat his achievements, which include many of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

's hardest traditional routes.

Background

Originally from Stretford,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Hersey referred to

Eldorado Canyon El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

as his 'office', where he could be seen on any day of the week, if not on a road trip to

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

or elsewhere. He also referred to Boulder, Colorado's Liquor Mart as 'The Shrine', and described his climbing-chalk bag as 'my bag of courage'. Hersey was featured in ''Climbing Magazine''''Climbing'', April/May 1992, quoted in Ghiglieri and Farabee. and posthumously in the film ''Front Range Freaks''. He was tall and weighed . He spoke with a strong

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

accent. Hersey was introduced to climbing by his father, who went hiking near Manchester every week. Hersey learned to climb on the gritstone of the

Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. In 1983, after being unemployed for five years in England, Hersey decided to travel to the

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 territori ...

, where he lived for the rest of his life. Hersey's efforts to push the limits of his sport earned him the nickname "Dr. Death". Hersey was perhaps best known for his exploits in Eldorado Canyon, but his résumé included many other challenging ascents (and descents). Among them was his free-solo ascent of Crack of Fear, a sustained 5.10+ off-width route at Lumpy Ridge, Colorado; and an impressive effort on the Diamond (a wall on

Longs Peak Longs Peak (Arapaho: ) is a high and prominent mountain in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, southwest by south ( bearing 209°) of th ...

), when he free-soloed ascents of two routes and downclimbed another in a single day. He was well known for pumping up and down laps on the sustained 5.10 route Rosy Crucifixion in Eldorado Canyon as a work-out regime.

Death

Derek Hersey died on 28 May 1993 in an accident while soloing the Steck-Salathé Route without protective gear, on Sentinel Rock in

., cited in He fell several hundred feet to his death. Craig Luebben, a friend of Hersey, speculated that he encountered slippery rock. Although there was no rainfall officially reported in the area that day, a later report concluded that "rain-slicked rock" contributed to his fall. The search for Hersey's body was featured in a report on the CBS News program '' 48 Hours''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hersey, Derek Geoffrey 1956 births 1993 deaths British rock climbers Deaths in Yosemite National Park Free soloists Mountaineering deaths People from Stretford Sports deaths in California