Steve Roper is a noted climber and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

of the

Sierra Nevada 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 primari ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He along with

Allen Steck Allen Parker Steck (May 17, 1926 – February 23, 2023) was an American mountaineer and rock climber. Mountaineering Allen Steck was born in Oakland, California on May 17, 1926. He started climbing with his brother George. In 1940 when Allen w ...

are the founding editors of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

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 ''Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'' is a 1979 climbing guidebook Climbing guidebooks are used by mountaineers, alpinists, ice climbers, and rock climbers to locate, grade, and navigate climbing routes on mountains, climbing crags, or ...

'', (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 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, United States. The valley is about long a ...

, CA (VI 5.9 A4), with

Bob Kamps Bob Kamps (1931 – 2 March 2005) was an American rock climber whose climbing career spanned five decades. Born in Wisconsin, he began climbing in California in 1955, and was a member of that cadre of Yosemite pioneers who first ascended many o ...

and Chuck Pratt. * 1963, first free ascent of the Kor-Ingalls Route on

Castleton Tower Castleton Tower (officially, Castle Rock) is a summit on the northeastern border of Castle Valley, Utah. The Wingate Sandstone tower itself is high and stands on a Moenkopi-Chinle cone. Castleton Tower is a popular subject for photography a ...

near

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

, Utah, with Chuck Pratt. * 1963 ''West Buttress'',

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. (VI 5.10 A3+) FA with

Layton Kor Layton Kor (June 11, 1938 – April 21, 2013) was an American rock climber active in the 1960s, whose first ascents and drive for climbing are well known in the climbing world. His routes included many climbs in Eldorado Canyon, near Boulder ...

. * 1963 Third ascent of the ''El Cap Nose'', with Glen Denny and Layton Kor. * 1966 First one-day ascent of the NW face of

Half Dome Half Dome is a quartz monzonite batholith at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three s ...

, with Jeff Foott. * 1966 Third ascent of the Salathe Wall on El Cap, with Dick Long and Allen Steck.

References

External links

The Sierra High Route: A Journey at Timberline
Roper's account of how he forged the Sierra High Route {{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Steve American rock climbers Sierra Club awardees Living people 1941 births 20th-century American non-fiction writers Climbing and mountaineering writers

Publications

Publications as editor

Notable ascents

See also

References

External links