Topic summary
Connor Herson
Connor Herson (born 8 July 2003) is an American rock climber known for his achievements in traditional climbing and big wall climbing.
He has redpointed some of the hardest traditional routes in the world, including Cobra Crack (5.14b), Meltdown, Magic Line, Blackbeard's Tears, Crown Royale and Recovery Drink (all at 5.14c), and Bon Voyage (5.14d). He has also greenpointed notable hard sport climbing routes such as Empath at 5.14+ (8c+/9a).
On 14 July 2025, Herson completed the first free ascent of Drifter's Escape, an established aid climbing route on the Stawamus Chief in Squamish, using traditional climbing protection. After completing the route, he proposed a difficulty grade of 5.15a, making it the first-ever traditional rock climb in history to carry that grade.
In Yosemite, he is one of only a few climbers to have free climbedThe Nose5.14a (8b+), which he did in 2018 when he was aged 15. In 2025, he repeated a second free-climb of the The Nose and became only the third person after Lynn Hill and Tommy Caldwell to free-climb The Nose in a day (the NIAD), setting a new speed record at 9.5 hours. Herson has free climbed several other major big wall routes on El Capitan including making the first free ascent of Triple Direct5.14a (8b+), and repeating major routes such as Pre-Muir Wall5.13d (8b), The Heart Route5.13b (8a), The Salathe Wall5.13c (8a+), El Corazon5.13b (8a) and Golden Gate5.13a (7c+).
Herson comes from an established rock-climbing family—his father Jim Herson made the second free ascent of the Salathé Wall on El Capitan, and his mother Anne Smith, was a competition climber. His sister Kara is also a competition and big wall climber.
In 2026, Climbing magazine gave him their for his traditional climbing. In 2023, The American Alpine Club gave him their Robert Hicks Bates award for outstanding accomplishment and promise by a young climber. During this time he was studying for a degree in Electronic Engineering at Stanford University. As a senior, he received the Terman Award for outstanding academic achievement.