‘Royal Robbins had an outsized impact on climbing history. This great new biography by David Smart brings the man behind the famous climbs to life in a way that’s both relatable and inspiring.’–Alex Honnold
- Robbins’s passing in 2017 was covered from the BBC News to NPR to the New York Times, which deemed him the ‘conscience of rock climbers’
- Includes never-before-published information drawn from Robbins’s family archives and personal papers
- International interest in the Golden Age of Yosemite only continues to grow
Royal Robbins chronicles his early years growing up as a latchkey kid in Southern California, the push and pull between being an aspiring banker or one of the original Camp 4 dirtbags, and his later decades as a father, husband, kayaker, and the trailblazing founder of the outdoor apparel company that bears his name. This intimate, colorful tour of climbing history covering Yosemite, the Tetons, the Gunks, the Alps, the United Kingdom, and more from the 1960s onward features star characters such as Liz Robbins– Robbins’s wife and a pioneering adventurer in her own right– Yvon Chouinard, John Harlin, Steve Roper, Warren Harding, Tom Frost, and Doug Tompkins.
An important addition to our knowledge of the Golden Age of rock climbing in Yosemite and the development of the clean climbing ethos,
Royal Robbins sheds new light on an elemental figure of outdoor culture.
About the author
David Smartis founding editor of Gripped magazine, editorial director at Gripped Publishing, and author of five guidebooks. His biography of Austrian solo climber Paul Preuss was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize, and his biography of Italian climber Emilio Comici won that prize along with the Banff Award for Climbing Literature. Other honors include the H. Adams Carter Award for Mountain Literature from the American Alpine Club. His work has appeared in Climbing, Rock and Ice, The American Alpine Journal, The Canadian Alpine Journal, and Alpinist. Smart resides in Toronto.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
11,908 Ebooks in this category
