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Oliver Perry Smith

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Name
  
Oliver Perry-Smith

Role
  
Rock climber

Oliver Perry-Smith www128paircomr3d4k7HistoryGerman1jpg
Died
  
May 13, 1969, Denver, Colorado, United States

Oliver Perry-Smith (October 11, 1884 in Philadelphia – 13 May 1969) was an American rock climber, mountaineer and skier who moved to Dresden in 1902 to attend a technical university.

Contents

Climbs in Saxon Switzerland

He became well known in the Sachsische Schweiz for the first ascents of major sandstone rock towers such as:

  • Schrammtorwachter (VI) in 1905
  • Kanzelturm (VI) in 1905
  • Teufelsturm (VIIb) in 1906 (at 5.8+ - with a shoulder stand - a very difficult rock climb)

    • and first ascents of several climbing routes that are still very popular today, e. g.:

  • Spannagelturm Perrykante VIIb in 1906
  • Falkenstein Sudriss (VIIa) in 1913
  • Daxenstein Klavier (VIIa) in 1913
  • Daxenstein Perryriss (VIIb) in 1913

    • (All grades Saxon rating)

    In total "he made more than 90 ascents in Saxon Switzerland, 33 of which are rated VI or above; there were 32 first ascents, 13 solo climbs and 36 additional ones on which he led".

    Alps

    On a trip to the Alps in 1908 he and his friend Rudolf Fehrmann made a number of first ascents.

  • The most famous is the "Fehrmann Corner" (in German, Fehrmannverschneidung), V-, on Campanile Basso, SW face (also known as "Guglia di Brenta", in Brenta group in Dolomites, on August 28). Despite its name, this route was led by Perry-Smith (because, as explained in biographical article in AAJ 1964, "Fehrmann was the first to sign the summit book and later he was assumed by later climbers to be a leader").
  • One of others of their new routes is the north face of Cima Piccola di Lavaredo (in German: Kleine Zinne), Aug 15.

    • In the Alps "his repeated ascents include also Weisshorn, Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Zinalrothorn, Wellenkuppe, Obergabelhorn, Kleine Zinne".

    Skiing

    Beside his achievements in climbing, he also won the Austrian championship in cross-country-skiing and ski-jumping in 1914.

    Other aspects

    There are a number of anecdotes depicting Perry-Smith as a rather unusual character:

  • When people doubted his ascent of 'Perryriss', he climbed that route again and wrote in big letters 'Perry' on the rock. (it can still be read today)
  • He owned a Bugatti race car and got in trouble with the police several times for driving fast and hazardously.
  • He was once arrested for getting drunk and disturbing the peace in the town of Bad Schandau.

    • In the year 1914 Oliver Perry-Smith returned to the US, never to visit Saxony again.

    References

    Oliver Perry-Smith Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA