Jesse Guthrie

Jesse Guthrie, Verdon South France, 1985

Jesse Guthrie (October 23, 1958) is an American rock climber and author. He is one of the pioneers of sport climbing in the USA. In 1986 he climbed the first 5.13 routes in Alabama and one of the first 5.14a routes in the USA. He also wrote 4 novels and an autobiography. He is currently living with his wife Anicka ^[1] and daughter (Emily) in Prague, Czech Republic.

Biography

In 1958 he was born in Huntsville, Alabama and moved to West Springfield, Virginia. At the age of 13 he started rock climbing in Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. In the Spring of 1975 Jesse Guthrie placed the first bolt in Seneca Rocks since the US Army in the 40s, causing controversy and critic of future climbing techniques to come.http://rockandice.com/component/zine/article/357?start=2 After graduating high school in 1975 he climbed in places like Boulder Colorado, Yosemite California and the Gunks New York, before becoming a professional bareback rodeo rider in 1978. In 1979 he won the Virginia state champion bareback riding belt buckle and award. In the following years he became one of the number 1 ranked riders of the American Rodeo Association.

In 1984 he went to Germany where he met Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert and Jerry Moffatt (“This was the beginning of my true climbing career.”)^[2] to climb in the Frankenjura and in the Verdon Canyon in the South of France. The redpoint climbing philosophy of Kurt Albert and the extremely tough training methods of Wolfgang Güllich had a strong influence on Jesse.

For the next two years he lived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (where he met his first wife) and in Nuremberg, before moving to Huntsville Alabama, USA in 1986. In the area of Yellow Bluff he climbed the first ascent of the route “Rainbow Warrior” and “Flashback”. This was the first route as hard as 5.13b in Alabama. Then he did the route “Tour de jour”, which was the second 5.14a climb in the USA at that time.

In 1992 he moved to Boulder, Colorado where he put up many new hard routes like Reeperbahn 5.13b, Twist and Shout 5.13c and the Gagger 5.14a In 1993 he was invited by Jeff Lowe to take part in an expedition with Catherine Destivelle to climb the Makalu in the Himalayas.

In 1998 he moved back to Germany where he was seriously injured by a large falling rock while sitting on a ledge 30 feet high in a climbing garden writing his second book The Rains of India. After a long recovery period he successfully started climbing again.

In 2003 he moved to Prag, Czech Republic and started working in the Outdoor Industry again. Interview in Svet Outdooru and Poprad Film Festival http://www.mfhf.sk/jesse.php in 2007 he meet and married Anicka Gabrikova and in Jan. 2009 Emily Anne was born. they all still live in the Czech Republic and climb.

2010 he published his autobiography “Life of a Nomad Climber”.

Bibliography

• Rene’s Garden
• The rains of India
• Catherine’s addiction
• The great leap forward
• Life of a nomad climber

Sources

• http://www.seclimbers.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=323
• http://www.rockclimbing.com/Articles/General/The_SCC_Yellow_Bluff_940.html
• climbing magazine
• http://www.svetoutdooru.cz/clanek/?107820-zkusenosti-zkusenych-jesse-guthrie-

http://www.mfhf.sk/jesse.php

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-24/sports/sp-696_1_mountaineering-man-made-wall-rock-climbers/2

http://www.rozhlas.sk/radio-international-en/personalities/Get-sucked-into-the-journey?l=2&i=7945&p=1

References

1. ^ "The Online Sports Gear and Buyer's Guide Magazine". SportsGearGuide.com. http://www.sportsgearguide.com/magazine-article.asp?number=479&Page=8&TotalPages=15&Type=Standard. Retrieved May 29, 2011. 
2. ^ Jesse Guthrie: Life of a Nomad Climber; Published by lulu

Persondata
Name	Guthrie, Jesse
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 23, 1958
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death