ROYAL ROBBINS

Posthumous

Royal Robbins was a leader in what is known as the Golden Age of Yosemite rock climbing. He was at the forefront of a trend called “clean climbing,” in which he used only removable nuts to hang his climbing rope for protection while making an ascent of Nutcracker, a classic Yosemite route, in 1967.

This became the first ascent of its kind in the United States, and started a revolution and ongoing debate over how much mechanical and safety equipment a climber should use. The standard was to pound or drill pitons into the granite. Once set, they could be used by climbers over and over. In Mr. Robbins’ mind, a climber should have left nothing behind.

In 1947, at age 12, Robbins was a fatherless train-hopper on his way to a life of crime. After being released from juvenile detention, Robbins realized he was hanging with the wrong crowd. So he found a new outlet for his time: the Boy Scouts.

At age 14, he became a Boy Scout and found a different sort of adventure. “The Scouts got me off the streets of Los Angeles,” he said. “Into the out of doors. Into the mountains. Out into the good stuff.”

A year into his Scouting tenure, Robbins was invited to join Scouts from 35 other troops on a backpacking trip in Yosemite National Park. “That trip was the first time I ever tried rock climbing,” he said, as reported in the September 2005 issue of Boys’ Life magazine. “I liked the thrill of being up high and doing challenging stuff. In hiking, I was average. But in climbing, I had a little something else.”

Though many today recognize the Royal Robbins name from the travel and outdoor apparel company, Robbins first achieved fame as a rock climber.

In 1969, he became the first to solo climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

He changed the culture of climbing to better protect the natural features of the rock — so the mountain would remain intact for the next climber.