RECORD of Royal Robbins Alpine Accomplishments?

In July and early August of 1969, Royal Robbins, Charlie Raymond and Joe Fitschen made first ascents of Mts. Nevermore, Jeffers and Sasquatch (formerly South Triple Peak) in the Cathedral, or Kichatna Spires of the Alaska Range. It could well be that this area, with its harsh weather and forbidding walls, is destined to become a mecca for those interested in El Capitan type climbs in Alpine conditions.

By and by a car pulled up and man dressed in casual business clothes walked over to us. We did not for one second realize that ordinary looking man was, in fact, Robbins.

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Some of Royal's friends lost track of him during the early 70s, although he did not lose track of himself. He and Liz opened another climbing equipment store in 1971 in Fresno, California. He raced up the Salathe-Steck on Sentinel in ten hours with Doug Scott and Tony Willmott. He was climbing in Tretorn tennis shoes which he felt were the best combination of comfort and rockclimbing performance. These were not the usual stiff climbing shoes that provided support on small holds. They could not be jammed into cracks the way the hard Robbins Boot could. Yet Royal was climbing better than ever. In his Tretorn tennis shoes, he climbed the Salathe Wall of El Capitan with a friend from Madison, Wisconsin. He climbed the Direct North Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock in Tretorns and also led his friends Egon and Joanna Marte up the Salathe Wall of El Capitan. El Cap was now hosting guided tours.

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One day at the base of El Cap, in May 1974 on the shorter pinnacle routes, Royal solo free-climbed "Ahab" (a 5.10 off-width originally led by Frank Sacherer). From the top of Ahab, he down climbed "Moby Dick," all in his Tretorn tennis shoes. He free-soloed the exacting 5.11 start to "the Slack," continued up the Slack, crawled through the space behind the pinnacle, and climb down the strenuous lower pitches of the left side of the Slack.

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Elsewhere in Yosemite during the early and mid-‘70s, Royal free-soloed the difficult off-width cracks that form the Right and Left sides of Reed Pinnacle (both 5.10). These illustrations of mastery were daring enough with a rope and in regular climbing shoes, much less free-solo and in his Swedish-made, low-cut, flimsy tennis shoes. This was, arguably, the highest standard of free-solo climbing in the world at the time. He also free-soloed the left side of the Cookie (5.10), Chingando (5.10), Moby Dick-Left Side (5.10-), the Crack of Despair (5.10 off-width), and the East Buttress of El Capitan (5.10). He made countless other solo ascents of slightly less difficulty (such as Commitment, 5.9, Cleft, 5.9, the Mouth, 5.9, and the Right and Center routes on the Cookie, both 5.9). Several of these routes were conservatively graded and closer to 5.10 than 5.9. Royal self-belay soloed many longer routes, including the North and Direct North Buttresses of Middle Cathedral Rock.

Swedish-made, low-cut, flimsy tennis shoes