Noted climber behind outdoor apparel line
Royal Robbins, a legendary clean climbing mountaineer who conquered Yosemite’s Half Dome in Tretorn tennis shoes, and opened a clothing line in his own catchy name, died Tuesday at his home in Modesto after a long illness. He was 82.
Mr. 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 a 2010 interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Robbins said he strengthened his courage as a kid by jumping from the roof of a moving boxcar train onto the roof of an oncoming train. These and other exploits got him into trouble, and he spent time in juvenile detention before turning his nervous energy toward the mountains.
In 1957, he made the first ascent of the northwest face of Half Dome as part of a four-man team. His greatest team ascent was probably the Salathe Wall, nine days on El Capitan in 1961, considered the most difficult climb in the world. He was also the first to top El Cap solo, in 1968.
Royal Shannon Robbins was born Feb. 3, 1935 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and grew up in Los Angeles. He made his living as a bank accountant in Los Angeles but preferred to live in a tent at Camp 4 in Yosemite, where the original “dirtbag climbers” converged. It was there he met his future wife, Liz Burkner, who was working at the Ahwahnee Hotel as a concierge. They were married in 1963, and in 1967 they made an ascent of Half Dome on the same route Robbins had pioneered 10 years earlier.
They were the first couple to reach the top, Mr. Robbins in a T-shirt and frayed khaki cutoffs and Liz in a white turtleneck and cutoff jeans. A tourist snapped their photo, and when they got the film back and saw what they were wearing, “They decided they’d better get into the outdoor clothing business,” said Royal Robbins chief executive Michael Millenacker.
The couple started the company in 1968 in the carport of their Modesto home, selling to retailers like REI. A first store in Modesto, called Royal Robbins Mountain Shop, led to a second store on Gilman Street in Berkeley. Both remain open.
Along the way, Millenacker was hired as national sales manager. He had been in the fashion industry in New York, but part of the job was that Mr. Robbins would teach him how to climb.
“His leadership style was unique and uncannily effective,” recalled Millenacker. “He put his harness on, tied in and started climbing and left me with a harness and the end of a rope.”
Millenacker survived and still runs the company, which is based in San Francisco. Mr. Robbins himself cashed out in 2001, when the outfitter was doing $10 million a year in sales.
When Mr. Robbins was in his 70s, he climbed After Six in Yosemite, a 600-foot rock, without ropes. When asked why, he said, “because it was harder that way.”
He also said the only thing he feared was retiring, and he didn’t. In addition to kayaking and climbing all over the world, he published a three-part autobiography, “My Life: Royal Robbins,” which traces his life from being a hellion in Los Angeles to Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley.
Here’s how he described his first climb, in volume one:
“When I touched the rock, it had in turn touched my spirit, awakening an ineffable longing, as if I had stirred a hidden memory of a previous existence, a happier one. While I was climbing, it was glorious to be alive.”
He is survived by wife Liz Robbins, son Damon Robbins, also of Modesto, and daughter Tamara Robbins of Moab, Utah. Services are pending.