Occupation Rock climber Name Beth Rodden | Type of climber TradSport Role Rock climber | |
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How to rack for trad climbing with beth rodden
Beth Rodden (born May 5, 1980) is an American rock climber. She was the youngest woman to climb 5.14a (8b+), and is one of the only women in the world to have redpointed a 5.14c (8c+) traditional climb. She lives near Yosemite, California. Rodden and Tommy Caldwell met at a junior climbing competition in 1995 and were married in 2003. They divorced in 2010. In 2014, she had a son with husband Randy Puro.
Contents
- How to rack for trad climbing with beth rodden
- Rock climber beth rodden is climbing back
- Climbing career
- Hostage in Kyrgyzstan
- Notable ascents
- Filmography
- References
Rock climber beth rodden is climbing back
Climbing career
Rodden started climbing in 1995 at The Rocknasium, a local climbing gym in Davis, California. She won the Junior National JCCA Championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998; ranked first overall in the ASCF adult national series in 1997 and 1998; and placed third at the ASCF Fall Nationals in 1998.
In 1998 Rodden redpointed the sport route To Bolt Or Not To Be, the historical first 5.14 established in America, and became the youngest woman to ascend 5.14a. Her work impressed free climbing pioneer Lynn Hill, who invited Rodden to make the first all-female ascent of Madagascar's Tsaranoro Massif in 1999. The trip to Madagascar marked Rodden's move to a less mainstream trad climbing career. In 2000, she put up the first free ascent of Lurking Fear with Tommy Caldwell, marking El Capitan's second free ascent by a female. With Lurking Fear and her 2005 free ascent of The Nose, she became the first woman to free climb two routes on El Capitan. In October 2005 she free-climbed The Optimist, becoming the first American woman to redpoint 5.14b. In 2006, Beth and husband Tommy Caldwell, competed in the 2006 Triple Crown Bouldering Series to raise money for climber's access. In February 2008, Rodden redpointed the first ascent of Meltdown. A proposed grade of 5.14c makes Meltdown the hardest climb in Yosemite, the hardest traditional pitch in America, the hardest first ascent by an American woman, and hardest traditional route led or established by a woman.
Hostage in Kyrgyzstan
On a climbing trip to Kyrgyzstan's Kara Su Valley in August 2000, Rodden, then-boyfriend Tommy Caldwell, and fellow climbers, Jason "Singer" Smith and photographer John Dickey were held hostage for six days by rebels from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The four climbers overpowered one of their captors and escaped to a Kyrgyz army camp. The climbers were held captive for six days and nights. The ordeal finally ended when Tommy Caldwell pushed one guard captor off of the edge of the cliff. At midnight on Aug. 18, the commander left them all to search for batteries for the radio as well as food, leaving only one guard, Usuph, to watch the four captives. All four climbers attest to the incident that Usuph was pushed off that cliff. Usuph survived . A press aide to the Kyrgyz president, Mycaev Aibek, believes the climbers' account of this incident to be true. About the decision to take that life, Beth quotes "It's so hard to think about that now, but we were afraid we wouldn't survive". Their story was a brief sensation for the American media.
Rodden's climbing suffered and she did not travel internationally for a year. Then in October 2001 she climbed El Capitan in an Americares event to raise money for the families of 9/11 rescue personnel. She returned to the top tier of rock climbing, onsighting Phoenix, a 5.13a crack in Yosemite, in May 2002.
Notable ascents
Filmography
