Pat Ament (born September 3, 1946) is an American rock climber, filmmaker, musician, and artist who lives in Fruita, Colorado. Noted for first ascents in the 1960s and 1970s, he is the author of many articles and books.
Pat Ament (born September 3, 1946) is an American rock climber, filmmaker, musician, and artist who lives in Fruita, Colorado. Noted for first ascents in the 1960s and 1970s, he is the author of many articles and books.
Ament began climbing in 1958, and by the mid 1960s had established the first 5.11 climbs in Colorado (Supremacy Crack) [1] and Yosemite (Center Route on the Slack). [2] A college gymnast, he was a dedicated boulderer and put up many challenging problems on Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, Colorado, elsewhere in Colorado and in Yosemite Valley. His climbing and bouldering companions over the years have included Royal Robbins, Bob Kamps, Don Whillans, Tom Higgins, John Gill, and Layton Kor.
Ament's best-known written works are his biographies of Royal Robbins and John Gill. He wrote a compendium of ascents and climbers in his 2002 work, "Wizards of Rock: A History of Free Climbing in America," and his "Climbing Everest" is a philosophical essay, adorned with cartoons by the author. Ament is a poet and artist. He won the "Artist Award" from the Art Department of the University of Colorado in 1967. He is a photographer and has given talks around the country, illustrated with his photos. He was twice guest speaker for the British National Mountaineering Festival and has won several awards for films he has made, including from Austria and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In September, 2013, Ament was inducted into the Boulder Sports Hall of Fame. [3] [4]
In November 2009, he released his latest film Disciples of Gill, a documentary about John Gill and the boulderers he inspired, such as Jim Holloway and Ament himself. The film features archival footage from 40 years ago as well as modern interviews with older climbers describing where they are now. During the filming, Ament himself took a fall, seriously injuring his leg. [5]
Pat Ament has had over a hundred articles published in mountaineering magazines, journals, and other publications. Dozens of his articles have been included in anthologies of the best climbing and mountaineering writings.
His books include:
Master of Rock and Spirit of the Age have been translated and published in Japanese, Italian, and Spanish.
Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry and to provide a firmer grip, and bouldering mats to prevent injuries from falls. Unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems are usually less than six metres (20 ft) tall. Traverses, which are a form of boulder problem, require the climber to climb horizontally from one end to another. Artificial climbing walls allow boulderers to climb indoors in areas without natural boulders. In addition, bouldering competitions take place in both indoor and outdoor settings.
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains to small boulders. Climbing is done for locomotion, sporting recreation, for competition, and is also done in trades that rely on ascension, such as rescue and military operations. Climbing is done indoors and outdoors, on natural surfaces, and on artificial surfaces
Carolynn Marie Hill is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive climbers, traditional climbers, sport climbers, and boulderers in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she is famous for making the first free ascent of the difficult sheer rock face of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and for repeating it the next year in less than 24 hours. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers in the history of the sport. One of the first successful women in the sport, Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for sex equality. Hill has publicized climbing by appearing on television shows and documentaries and writing an autobiography, Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World.
John Gill is an American mathematician who has achieved recognition for his rock-climbing. He is widely considered to be the father of American bouldering.
Royal Robbins was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. After learning to climb at Tahquitz Rock, 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.
John Long is an American rock climber and author. His stories have been translated into many languages.
Jim Holloway, an American, was one of the first of a new generation of boulderers for whom the sport was a lifestyle rather than a recreation. He began bouldering in the early 1970s in Boulder, Colorado, and in 1973 established his first notable route, Just Right. In 1975 he put up Trice – at today's grade of V12 (8A+), now considered the first-ever at that grade in bouldering history.
Bob Kamps 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 of its great walls in the 1950s and 1960s. He was particularly adept on steep rock faces, and was among the first to shift attention from aid climbing to free climbing. Over the years he made more than 3,100 climbs. Many were first ascents or first free ascents.
In the history of rock climbing, the three main sub-disciplines—bouldering, single-pitch climbing, and big wall climbing—can trace their origins to late 19th-century Europe. Bouldering started in Fontainebleau, and was advanced by Pierre Allain in the 1930s, and John Gill in the 1950s. Big wall climbing started in the Dolomites, and was spread across the Alps in the 1930s by climbers such as Emilio Comici and Riccardo Cassin, and in the 1950s by Walter Bonatti, before reaching Yosemite where it was led in the 1950s to 1970s by climbers such as Royal Robbins. Single-pitch climbing started pre-1900 in both the Lake District and in Saxony, and by the late-1970s had spread widely with climbers such as Ron Fawcett (Britain), Bernd Arnold (Germany), Patrick Berhault (France), Ron Kauk and John Bachar (USA).
Dave Rearick is an American rock climber and mathematician. A pioneer of Yosemite's golden age of climbing, Rearick – frequently climbing with Bob Kamps – was instrumental in shifting the focus from aid climbing to free climbing in the 1950s.
Charlie Fowler was an American mountain climber, writer, and photographer. He was one of North America's most experienced mountain climbers, and successfully climbed many of the world's highest peaks. Along with his climbing partner, Christine Boskoff, he went missing in southwestern China sometime between November 11 and November 14, 2006. His body was found on a Ge'nyen Mountain on December 27, 2006, and was officially identified a day later.
Thomas John Higgins was an American rock climber with many first and first free ascents primarily in the western United States. He was noted for pushing standards using a purist, free climbing style.
Derek Geoffrey Hersey was a British rock climber who specialized in free soloing, and was for many years an active participant in the Boulder, Colorado climbing scene in the United States.
Layton Kor 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, Colorado, The Diamond on Longs Peak, towers in the desert southwest, and Yosemite National Park, among other locations. Notable among his first ascents is the Kor-Ingalls Route on Castleton Tower and The Finger of Fate Route up the Fisher Towers' Titan; both routes are recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
Thomas "Tom" M. Frost was an American rock climber known for big wall climbing first ascents in Yosemite Valley. He was also a photographer and climbing equipment manufacturer. Frost was born in Hollywood, California, and died in Oakdale, California.
Charles Marshall Pratt was an American rock climber known for big wall climbing first ascents in Yosemite Valley. He was also a long-time climbing instructor and mountain guide with Exum Mountain Guides in the Grand Tetons.
In climbing and mountaineering, a traverse is a section of a climbing route where the climber moves laterally, as opposed to in an upward direction. The term has broad application, and its use can range from describing a brief section of lateral movement on a pitch of a climbing route, to large multi-pitch climbing routes that almost entirely consist of lateral movement such as girdle traverses that span the entire rock face of a crag, to mountain traverses that span entire ridges connecting chains of mountain peaks.
Reinhard Karl was a German mountaineer, photographer and writer.
Sender Films is an American film production company based in Boulder, Colorado. Productions include outdoor adventure films, television shows, and commercials.
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