Timeline

A timeline of climbing history.

Every row below comes from the sources used across the History section. Where sources disagree about a date, the row gives each version and the source column says who gives which.

This table gathers the main dated events from the History pages. Each row names its source; "Wikipedia" means the fact rests on Wikipedia alone in our research. Disputed dates are shown with each version, and the full story behind each dispute is on the page listed under the table. Events the research marked as unconfirmed are left out, except where a row says so.

Date	Event	Source
8 August 1786	Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat make the first ascent of Mont Blanc (credit between them disputed)	ExplorersWeb
3 August 1787	Horace-Benedict de Saussure reaches the summit of Mont Blanc	Wikipedia
1808	Marie Paradis reaches the summit of Mont Blanc, helped over the last stretch	Wikipedia
4 September 1838 (ExplorersWeb gives 1809)	Henriette d'Angeville climbs Mont Blanc; the 1809 date conflicts with her birth year of 1794 or 1795	Wellcome Collection; Wikipedia; ExplorersWeb
1854 to 1865	The "golden age of alpinism", from Alfred Wills on the Wetterhorn to the Matterhorn	Wikipedia
22 December 1857 (or 6 November 1857)	The Alpine Club founded in London; the AAJ dates the start of organisation to a dinner in Birmingham on 6 November	Wikipedia; American Alpine Journal (1958)
2 March 1863	First issue of the Alpine Journal	Alpine Journal archive
1864	Gymnasts from Bad Schandau make the first modern ascent of the Falkenstein, Saxon Switzerland	Wikipedia
14 July 1865	Edward Whymper's party makes the first ascent of the Matterhorn; four of the party die on the descent	ExplorersWeb
1869	John Muir's solo first ascent of Cathedral Peak, Yosemite	National Park Service
22 July 1871	Lucy Walker becomes the first woman on the Matterhorn	swissinfo.ch
1874	The Monch, Saxon Switzerland, climbed without aids; French Alpine Club members begin training on the Fontainebleau boulders	Wikipedia; LaCrux
October 1875	Sally Dutcher becomes the first documented woman to climb Half Dome	National Park Service
June 1886	Walter Parry Haskett Smith climbs Napes Needle alone	Wikipedia (year); FRCC journal (month)
December 1907	The Ladies' Alpine Club founded in London	Wikipedia
1910 to 1912	Carabiners adapted for climbing by Otto Herzog and Hans Dulfer; dates disputed	climbing-history.org; Grivel (maker)
1910 or 1913	Saxon climbing rules first written down: 1913 per Wikipedia, 1910 per the regional tourism board	Wikipedia; tourism board
Summer 1911	Paul Preuss's essay on artificial aids starts the piton dispute	LaCrux
26 March 1921	The Pinnacle Club, for women rock climbers, inaugurated in Snowdonia	Wikipedia
1924	The Groupe de Bleau founded at Fontainebleau	LaCrux
1926	Morley Wood reportedly uses slung pebbles for protection at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu	Wikipedia
24 April 1932	The mass trespass on Kinder Scout	Kinder 80 programme (BMC)
August 1932	The UIAA founded in Chamonix	UIAA
1930s	Pierre Allain's rubber-soled climbing shoe	LaCrux
1938 to 1939	Schurman Rock built in Seattle; Wikipedia also reports a 1937 wall for King Leopold III of Belgium, unconfirmed	Wikipedia
1944	The BMC founded	BMC
1947	John Salathe and Anton Nelson climb the Lost Arrow Chimney (September); Fred Bernick marks the first Fontainebleau colour circuit	American Alpine Journal (2002); LaCrux
Late 1940s	First speed-climbing competitions in the USSR	Gripped
1953	Edelrid says it made the first kernmantle rope	Edelrid (maker's claim)
Autumn 1954	John Gill first uses gymnastic chalk	UKClimbing
June 1957	First ascent of the Northwest Face of Half Dome (start 23 or 24 June)	Wikipedia; PlanetMountain; NPS
12 November 1958	Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore complete the Nose of El Capitan (Rich Calderwood started the final push but, in Harding's account, went down before the top)	American Alpine Journal (1959)
1960	The UIAA begins testing ropes and creates its Safety Label (approved internationally in 1965)	UIAA
1961	John Brailsford reportedly makes the first nuts for climbing; first ascent of the Salathe Wall (September)	Wikipedia; American Alpine Journal (1963)
1964	Don Robinson's wall at the University of Leeds; first dynamic ropes (Edelrid and Mammut per Wikipedia); North America Wall on El Capitan (October)	Wikipedia
1967	Royal Robbins uses only nuts on Nutcracker, Yosemite; Greg Lowe begins work on the Crack Jumar cam	Wikipedia; Climbing magazine
1970	The Whillans harness made by Troll; Harding and Dean Caldwell establish the Wall of Early Morning Light	Wikipedia; Yosemite Climbing Association
February 1971	Robbins and Don Lauria chop bolts on the Wall of Early Morning Light	Yosemite Climbing Association
1971	John Stannard's "The Eastern Trade"; Yvon Chouinard begins making chocks	Wikipedia
1972	The Chouinard Equipment catalogue with Doug Robinson's essay on clean protection	Adventure Journal
1973	Beverly Johnson and Sibylle Hechtel make the first all-female ascent of El Capitan (month disputed)	Gripped
1975	Kurt Albert's first redpoint in the Frankenjura; first one-day ascent of the Nose; the UIAA Safety Commission formed	Wikipedia; UIAA
1977 and 1978	Friends sold by Jardine Enterprises in the US (1977) and taken to the mass market by Wild Country (1978)	Climbing magazine
22 January 1980	Ray Jardine's US Patent 4,184,657	Wikipedia
1982 (Wikipedia also gives 1980 for one climb)	Patrick Edlinger's onsights at Buoux; the film "La Vie au Bout des Doigts"	Wikipedia
1982 or early 1983	Watts Tots at Smith Rock	Gripped; Bend Bulletin
1984	C'etait Demain, called the first 8A in Fontainebleau	PlanetMountain
5 to 7 July 1985 (PlanetMountain refers to 6 and 7 July)	Sportroccia at Bardonecchia, which Wikipedia calls the first international competition	Wikipedia; PlanetMountain
1985	Punks in the Gym (8b+), Mount Arapiles; the American Alpine Club forms an Access Committee	ExplorersWeb; Access Fund
November 1986 (7 or 11 November)	To Bolt or Not to Be, the first 5.14 in the US	Wikipedia; Gripped; climbing-history.org
1986	Francois Savigny makes the first climbing panels, per Climbing magazine; Wikipedia instead credits Pierre d'Haenens with the T-nut plywood wall that year (unconfirmed)	Climbing magazine; Wikipedia
1987	The Vertical Club opens in Seattle (Climbing Business Journal's 2018 anniversary piece implies about 1988); Wallstreet (8c) in the Frankenjura	Climbing magazine; Climbing Business Journal; ExplorersWeb
1988	The UIAA recognises competition climbing and writes rules	BMC
1989	The first UIAA World Cup (location and disciplines disputed)	Wikipedia; BMC; World Climbing
14 June 1990	Ben Moon's first free ascent of Hubble	Wikipedia
1 and 2 October 1991	The first Climbing World Championships, Frankfurt	Wikipedia
1991	The Access Fund becomes independent; Wolfgang Gullich climbs Action Directe; Petzl completes the GriGri	Access Fund; ExplorersWeb; Wikipedia
1992	The BMC agrees a national bolting policy; the Sketch Pad crash pad (first pad dated 1989, 1992 or 1994 by different sources)	BMC; Climbing magazine
1993	Lynn Hill and Brooke Sandahl: first free ascent of the Nose	Gripped
19 September 1994	Lynn Hill frees the Nose in a day	Gripped
1995	Devils Tower climbing management plan and voluntary June closure	National Park Service
30 June 1995	End of the transition period under the PPE Directive, as amended by Directive 93/95/EEC, during which PPE meeting older national rules could still be placed on the EU market; SATRA ties CE marking of PPE to this date	Directive 93/95/EEC; SATRA
1997	The International Council for Competition Climbing (ICC) formed within the UIAA	BMC; World Climbing
1998	Speed joins the World Cup (per Wikipedia); US Forest Service fixed-anchor ban and reversal; Hueco Tanks restrictions	Wikipedia; American Alpine Journal (1999)
1999	Bouldering joins the World Cup	Wikipedia; World Climbing
15 May 2000	BS EN 12492:2000 (helmets) published by BSI	BSI
2000	The Countryside and Rights of Way Act passed	Kinder 80 programme (BMC)
2002	Josune Bereziartu's Bain de Sang, the first 9a by a woman	LaCrux
21 February 2003	Camp 4 listed on the US National Register of Historic Places	Wikipedia
27 January 2007	The IFSC founded in Frankfurt	World Climbing
14 January 2015	Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson complete the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall	Guinness World Records
2016	Burden of Dreams, listed as the first 9A boulder	LaCrux
3 August 2016	The IOC adds sport climbing to the Tokyo 2020 programme	Canadian Olympic Committee
2017	Margo Hayes (9a+) and Angela Eiter (9b) set women's firsts	LaCrux
21 April 2018	Regulation (EU) 2016/425 repeals the PPE Directive 89/686/EEC and applies from this date	legislation.gov.uk, Regulation (EU) 2016/425 as adopted
2021	Sport climbing's Olympic debut at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games	World Climbing
2024	Paris 2024: speed on its own and boulder and lead combined (LaCrux says bouldering stood alone)	ESPN; BMC; LaCrux
9 April 2025	Separate boulder, lead and speed medals approved for LA 2028	World Climbing
April 2025	Brooke Raboutou's Excalibur, reported as the first 9b+ by a woman (March or April by different LaCrux articles)	LaCrux
10 December 2025	The IFSC renames itself World Climbing	World Climbing; Gripped
6 June 2026	Janja Garnbret climbs Bibliographie (9b+), called the second 9b+ by a woman	LaCrux
15 June 2026	US federal agencies release draft guidance allowing fixed anchors (still a draft on 21 October 2026)	KUNC / Mountain West News Bureau

Where the stories are told

Mont Blanc, the Alpine Club and the Matterhorn are on early mountaineering. Napes Needle, Saxon Switzerland and Paul Preuss are on the birth of rock climbing, and Fontainebleau, John Gill and the crash pad on Fontainebleau and bouldering. Half Dome, the Nose, the Salathe Wall and Camp 4 are on Yosemite and the big walls.

Nuts, the 1972 catalogue and the Friend are on clean climbing and cams; the redpoint, Buoux, Gullich and Smith Rock on sport climbing and bolts; and the first walls and gyms on the first climbing walls. Competitions from Sportroccia to the Olympics are on competition climbing, and the clubs, big walls and grade firsts of women climbers on women in climbing. Kinder Scout, the Access Fund and Devils Tower are on access history, and ropes, harnesses, helmets and the CE mark on equipment history.

Sources

A timeline of climbing history.

Where the stories are told

Keep reading

Early mountaineering

Competition climbing

Equipment history