Lynn Hill

Lynn Hill is one of the best climbers in the world. A natural athlete, she has competed in track and gymnastics as well as climbing. She first roped up at age 14, excelling immediately. By the late 1970s, she was climbing near the highest standards of the day. Hill discovered competition climbing during a visit to France in 1986. She quickly moved into the top ranks and won more than 30 international competitions, including five times at the Arco Rock Master, the Wimbledon of competitive climbing. Hill has also climbed some of the hardest routes in the world, succeeding on a 5.14a route in France called Masse Critique in 1991, the first 5.14 completed by a woman.

Hill possesses a combination of power, grace and endurance which has enabled her to tackle some of the more difficult challenges in the world of climbing. In 1992, she climbed The Nose on El Capitan, Yosemite’s most famous aid route, in just over eight hours. The following year, she returned to Yosemite to make the first free ascent, encountering two pitches of 5.13 and several 5.12 pitches. A year later, she topped that feat with the first one-day free ascent of The Nose, leading every one of The Nose’s 34 pitches in 23 hours. The feat will long stand among the world’s great rock-climbing accomplishments. It has yet to be repeated by man or woman. In 1995, Hill took her big-wall skills to the high peaks of Kyrgyzstan. There she made the first free ascents of two 5.12 walls, the 4000-foot west face of Peak 4810 with Alex Lowe and Perestroika Crack on Peak 4240 with Greg Child. Most recently on an expedition to Morocco, she established Tête de Chou, rated 5.13b. This route is the hardest climb established by a woman in Morocco.

Among the United States’ best-known climbers, Hill has been a guest at the White House and has been featured on television and in many newspaper and magazine articles. She has produced a film about climbing and has recently finishing her autobiography.