Royal Robbins
| Royal Robbins | |
|---|---|
Royal Robbins in the early 1960s.
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| Born |
February 3, 1935 West Virginia, U.S. |
| Occupation | rock climber, author, CEO |
| Known for | Big wall climbing, clean climbing |
| Spouse(s) | Liz Robbins |
Original Cover
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| Author | Royal Robbins |
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| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Rock climbing |
| Publisher | La Siesta Press |
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Publication date
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1973 |
| Pages | 96 pages |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Basic Rockcraft |
Royal Robbins (born February 3, 1935) is one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. After learning to climb at Tahquitz 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.
In 1971, Robbins completed the second ascent, with Don Lauria, of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan, with the (controversial) intention of erasing the route as they climbed it.
Their ascent closely followed the 1970 first ascent by Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell, completed with a heavy-handed reliance on bolts - a method that offended Robbins and other clean climbing advocates. Harding had left all his bolts in the rock; Robbins and Lauria used the bolts to repeat the climb; and Robbins then chopped the heads off the bolts behind them. After two pitches, Robbins stopped chopping the bolts because (according to Lauria) "the quality of the aid climbing was much higher than he had ever expected of Harding or Caldwell and, of course, it was also taking us an awful long time to chop all those goddam bolts."
Following his success as a climber, Robbins founded an eponymous outdoor apparel company with his wife Liz Robbins. Royal Robbins, LLC is currently owned by the New York-based private equity fund Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. (BRS). Liz Robbins rejoined the company in December 2015 as a Senior Advisor.
Robbins authored two seminal books, Basic Rockcraft and Advanced Rockcraft, which emphasized free climbing skills and a clean-climbing ethic. In a section of Advanced Rockcraft called Values, he described his climbing philosophy. He believes that "a first ascent is a creation in the same sense as is a painting or a song", and that choosing a climbing line may well be "an act of brilliant creativity". Another creative aspect of a first ascent involves the aids that the leader of the climb rejects. With modern technology of aid climbing available, a first ascent is more artistic if it consciously rejects the use of certain climbing aids that are not essential to the success of the climb. He places emphasis on using equipment which is non-destructive to the mountain environment. He opposes climbs done outside the accepted mores of a given climbing center, or the prevailing style of an area. He favors what he calls "upward variations", or completing a climb using more stringent standards than used on the first ascent. In Robbins' view, the decision to place a single piton is a matter of "enormous importance" because "like a single word in a poem, it can affect the entire composition".
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