Climbing history is replete with certain events that everyone knows to be “true” yet that upon closer inspection reveal a more complex narrative. Some of these “facts” are debatable, some are downright inaccurate, and many have interesting pre-histories or side stories. My hope is that the following anecdotes, spanning nearly 150 years of our sport, will offer deeper insight into a few famous moments in climbing.
Many of these vignettes come from being personally involved with the stories or knowing the people who were involved, over the last 60 years. As sources, I’ve also consulted memoirs, biographies, guidebooks, and climbing-history books, not to mention the “infallible” internet. I do not claim to be the final arbiter on these events, so hopefully others will research some of these stories even more assiduously.
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