Climbers We Lost

Each year we compile a tribute to the climbers who’ve passed away in the previous 12 months. This year’s list includes 44 climbers ranging in age from 18 to 96. Some of these climbers died of natural causes, at home or in hospitals, among relatives or friends. Others died from rockfall or avalanches, exposure or altitude-related illness. Several died free soloing, or when their gear ripped, or while participating in other mountain sports. 

Quite a few of these climbers were widely known for their on-the-wall accomplishments. They established new routes on Everest’s West Face and Scotland’s Ben Nevis; in Tahquitz and Yosemite and Cathedral Ledge; and among Colorado’s alpine boulderfields. They competed in World Cups and climbed some of the world’s hardest routes and boulders. Several were original Stonemasters and Stonemonkeys. One of them helped found Black Diamond. Another holds nearly two dozen speed records on El Cap and in Zion. A third lived for more than a decade in a Yosemite cave, free soloed the Steck-Salathé (5.10- 1,600 feet) more than 300 times, and made the first ski descent of Half Dome. One of them did the first ascent of the Steck-Salathé.

Yet while most of the climbers remembered here were more local in their name-recognition, they all played essential roles in their communities, their friend groups, and their families; they were climbing guides and physicists, teachers and students, musicians and EMTs and firefighters; they were essential threads in the wide and varied fabric of the climbing world.

Building this list was both a celebratory and a somber task, one that reminds us of our rich history, our strong community, and the dangers inherent in our sport. For those experiencing a loss, we recommend visiting the American Alpine Club’s Climbing Grief Fund. It’s an amazing resource. 

We acknowledge that, despite our best efforts, this list is almost certainly incomplete. In this matter, we ask for your understanding.

We also ask that you please be safe out there. 

—Delaney Miller, Anthony Walsh, and Steven Potter

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