It's no wonder many of the planet's greatest rock climbers are American. This vast nation contains more than its fair share of world-class climbing venues, from the big walls of Yosemite Valley and Zion to the world-renowned sport climbing in places like Smith Rock State Park. With new routes being sent in ever more dazzling fashion, sometimes it's worth pausing and taking stock of the achievements of the elite.
In this feature, one of our mountaineering experts attempts to answer the question: who are America's greatest climbers? Our selection is not exhaustive and, as with any such list, by no means definitive. Many greats have been left off the list and we've trended towards the modern era, highlighting those pushing the grades to the max. Treat the selection as a celebration of some of America's elite and enjoy delving further into their seemingly impossible accomplishments. Hopefully it'll inspire you to dust off your best climbing shoes and get out there yourself.
We've considered legends in the disciplines of trad, sport, bouldering and free soloing, though we've not delved into America's greatest mountaineers, which would be a whole other feature entirely! So, you won't find any mention of Lowe, Roskelley, House or Anker here.
America’s greatest climbers
Below are some of America’s greatest ever rock climbers. The grades of their landmark climbs are often given. If this feels like a bit of a foreign language, see our feature on climbing rating systems for the lowdown.
For more about each climber, click the link or scroll down the page.
The grandfather – Royal Robbins: Pioneering Yosemite climber who championed the ethics of free climbing.
The benchmark setter – Lynn Hill: Dominated sport climbing in the 80s and wowed the world with her free climb of El Capitan's The Nose.
The megastar – Alex Honnold: The most famous rock climber in the world: reached the pinnacle of his career in 2017 when he successfully free soloed El Capitan.
The big wall climber – Tommy Caldwell: A big wall legend, Caldwell is most famous for his free-climb on El Capitan’s Dawn Wall in 2015.
The boulderer – Daniel Woods: Superstar of the bouldering scene, Woods has sent some of the world's most challenging boulder problems.
The sport climber – Chris Sharma: One of the world’s finest sport climbers and the first person to climb a 9b (5.15b) in 2008.
The modern climber – Margo Hayes: First woman to send a 9a+ (5.15a) in 2017 aged just 19. A modern sport climbing icon.
Meet the expert
Royal Robbins
It isn’t only Royal Robbins’ pioneering first ascents of many of Yosemite’s big wall routes that make him such a legend but also the free climbing ethics that underpinned his approach. Born in 1935, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Robbins began his climbing odyssey in the 1950s on Tahquitz Peak in Southern California, which is incidentally also the birthplace of the modern Yosemite Decimal System for grading hiking and climbing routes.
Many adventures in Yosemite were to follow, including the first ascent of the Northwest Face of Half Dome in 1957 and the second ascent of El Cap's The Nose in 1960. In 1961, Robbins, along with Chuck Pratt and Tom Frost, claimed the first ascent of the 884-meter Salathé Wall, only the second route ever accomplished on El Cap. Robbins led a particularly daring section called the Ear – an unprotected chimney that was horrifyingly exposed.
During this golden age of Yosemite climbing, Robbins had a rivalry with Warren Harding, the often-controversial figure who achieved the first ascent of the Wall of Early Morning Light (now known as The Dawn Wall) in 1970. It took Harding and partner Dean Caldwell 28 days to climb the route, which they protected using many expansion bolts.
In Robbins’ view, the indiscriminate use of such protective aids took away from the purity of the climb and the environment. In 1971, he and Don Lauria set out on the climb with the intention of removing the bolts as they went. While they completed an impressive second ascent, Robbins stopped chopping the heads from the bolts after a couple of pitches. He’d later pay respect to Harding, commenting that the route was harder than it looked. The 2014 documentary film Valley Uprising is a great watch and reveals more about these important characters in American climbing's history.
Robbins also authored two key pieces of climbing literature: Basic Rockcraft and Advanced Rockcraft. These championed the free climbing approach over aid climbing and were influential in the development of clean-climbing ethics. In later life, psoriatic arthritis brought his time on the walls to a halt and he became a hugely proficient kayaker.
Along with his wife Liz Burkner, Robbins also founded the Royal Robbins clothing company, which was conceived on Half Dome in 1968 and is still going strong today.
Lynn Hill
Undoubtedly one of the most famous rock climbers of all time, Lynn Hill is a Yosemite icon and dominated the world of female sport climbing during the 1980s along with France’s Catherine Destivelle, who went on to become one of the world’s greatest alpinists. Like Destivelle, Hill turned away from indoor competition climbing to focus on grander, outdoor goals…
She’s best known for her staggering world’s first free climb of The Nose on El Capitan in 1993 (5.13b). She then repeated the feat in less than 24 hours just a year later. The 1994 climb was unprecedented. Back then, most climbers would take several days to complete the route, often aid climbing, using mechanical assistance rather than relying on their own strength and technique. At the time, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and yet another climbing legend, said that Hill’s ascent was “the biggest thing that’s ever been done on rock”.
As well as her exploits on the Nose and in her competition career, Hill’s list of first ascents and notable climbs is as impressive as it is lengthy. She’s long been an inspiration for women’s rock climbing and has repeatedly raised issues around gender equality in the sport.
Alex Honnold
The world of big wall climbing was brought to worldwide audiences in dramatic style with the release of Free Solo in 2018, a documentary film that followed Honnold’s quest to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan solo and without ropes. This jaw-dropping achievement made Honnold a global superstar and raised rock climbing’s profile to new heights.
However, Honnold’s famous ascent of Freerider (5.13a) on 3 June 2017 is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his achievements over the years. He shot to prominence in the climbing world in 2007, soloing Yosemite’s Astroman and Rostrum (both 5.11c), matching the great Peter Croft’s achievement from 1987. In the years that followed, he continually raised the bar, notably by free soloing the 610-meter Northwest Face of Half Dome. This incredible ascent featured in the film Alone on the Wall and brought mainstream recognition – something of a precursor for Free Solo’s later success.
Tommy Caldwell
Seminal climbing films are like buses, you wait forever for one and then two come along at once. As well as Free Solo in 2018, The Dawn Wall also garnered critical acclaim upon its release in 2017. This was the tale of Tommy Caldwell’s project to free climb El Capitan’s magnificent Dawn Wall, the first 9a (5.14d) big wall route in history. Caldwell achieved the feat alongside Kevin Jorgeson, in January 2015, astonishing the climbing world.
Before this, Caldwell had already achieved staggering sport climbing first ascents throughout the US, including Colorado’s Flex Luther 9a+ (5.15a). As well as the ascent of The Dawn Wall, his other exploits on El Capitan are hugely impressive too. During a prolific spell in 2005, he managed to free climb both The Nose and Freerider in less than a day, making him the first in history to ascend two such routes on El Cap in a 24-hour period.
Prior to completing his Dawn Wall project, he also completed a remarkable traverse of the Fitz Roy (Cerro Chaltén) ridge in Patagonia between 12 and 16 February 2014. This was the first time such a traverse had been completed and Caldwell won the Piolet d’Or – often touted as mountaineering’s Oscars – alongside his climbing partner for the trip… a certain Alex Honnold.
Daniel Woods
Where the other climbers on this list are better known for their trad, sport or free soling exploits, Daniel Woods is America’s greatest boulderer. In April 2021, he sent Return of the Sleepwalker in Nevada’s Black Velvet Canyon, one of only a handful of V17 boulder problems in the world and arguably the toughest in America.
Born in Richardson, Texas, Woods has been bouldering since 2003 and has made many impressive first ascents of boulder problems across the world. No one can match his haul of problems rated V15 and above. His competition record is just as impressive, winning the American Bouldering Series national championship seven times between 2005 and 2013.
Most renowned for his bouldering exploits, Woods has also achieved impressive feats in the sport climbing scene, sending a number of 9a+ (5.15a) routes in his time. These include Tinipi near the summit of Mount Kinabalu, thought to be the highest altitude route of the grade in the world.
Chris Sharma
By common consent, Californian sport climber Chris Sharma vies with Adam Ondra for the title of best climber in the world today. In July 2001, he achieved the first redpoint in history of a consensus 9a+ (5.15a) on Biographie, on an overhanging limestone cliff on Céüse, a mountain in France’s Hautes-Alpes. To claim victory, rather than ram the Star-Spangled Banner into the ground, he renamed the route Realization.
Another milestone came in 2008, when Sharma redpointed Jumbo Love on Clark Mountain in the Mojave Desert, then the world’s first 9b (5.15b). It’s still one of the most challenging climbs in the States and has been built upon by French climber Seb Bouin, who created Suprême Jumbo Love, 9b+ (5.15c). There’s a pleasing balance brought about by a French climber rebranding a route in the US after Sharma’s renaming of Biographie back in 2001.
More recently, Sharma has been establishing mind-bogglingly difficult routes in Catalonia, Spain, such as La Dura Dura 9b+ (5.15c). This was first sent by Adam Ondra in 2013 and was followed by Sharma’s own climb of the route a month later. He also brought mainstream attention to deep water soloing in the early 2000s with his first ascent of Es Pontas in Mallorca, an astounding 9a+ (5.15a) route on a natural rock arch over the sea. He’s still pushing the boundaries of the pursuit, sending Black Pearl, also in Mallorca, in November 2023, which he was quoted as saying may also be a 5.15a (9a+).
Sharma is currently working on two major projects: Perfecto Mundo 9b+ (5.15c), Margalef, Spain and Le Blond in Oliana, Spain – a route that’s yet to see a first ascent but has been touted as a potential 9c.
Margo Hayes
Margo Hayes from Boulder, Colorado is one of the leading contemporary rock climbers. In 2017, aged just 19, she stunned the world by becoming the first woman in history to send a 9a+ (5.15a) on La Rambla, Siurana, Spain. As well as the incredible feat, Hayes sent many 5.14 routes the year before, earning her Climbing Magazine Golden Piton award for sport climbing.
She followed up her success on La Rambla by achieving the first female redpoint of Realization, the 9a+ (5.15a) route first climbed by Chris Sharma in 2001, before also sending Papichulo, another Spanish 9a+, in 2019. She called the region “an amazing place for people to develop as a climber”.
