Tom Frost

1937–2018

Tom Frost was one of the original Yosemite climbers to push big routes up El Capitan and the other walls in the valley. He died of cancer in Oakdale, Calif., at 81. Frost spent his time climbing with many of the Yosemite legends, including Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard and Chuck Pratt. Frost was on the team that made the second ascent of The Nose in 1960, the first ascent of the Salathe Wall in 1961 and the North America Wall in 1964.

In Steve Roper’s book Camp 4, Roper said, “Tom Frost was the quietest and most modest person to inhabit Camp 4 during these early years. Only much later did I learn that he had been a champion sailboat racer in his early 20s. Bright and super clean both in looks and language, he preferred to stay out of the limelight, rarely arguing, rarely writing about his exploits. Robbins later described Frost ‘as one of those spirits I cite to illustrate that the quality of people in climbing is one of the reasons I love the sport. Tom, besides being an outstanding climber, is a walking emanation of good will.’”

Frost was a mechanical engineer and helped create the Realized Ultimate Reality Piton ( rurp) with Yvon Chouinard in 1960. Frost and Robbins later promoted the clean climbing revolution and created the first passive protection, such as hexes. Frost once said, “Designing was as much fun as the climbing. Yvon was the idea man, and I was the engineer.” Back in 1998, Frost told Alpinist editor Katie Ives: “How you do anything is how you do everything. We were defining who we were to ourselves. How you climb is who you are. El Cap was the best of the rocks, so we tried to be the best we could for it.”— Gripped