PROFILEBeth started climbing in 1994 after her dad took her to the local
climbing gym in Davis, CA. From the first day, she knew that she would be a climber for life. Over the next few years she traveled to competitions throughout the country and Europe and earned many National Championships. She then fell in love with the mountains and began to pursue rock climbing. After redpointing To Bolt or Not to Be (5.14a in Smith Rock State Park, OR), she traveled with Lynn Hill to Madagascar to put up a first ascent and decided to try her hand at climbing full time. Over the next eight years, she free climbed 3 routes on El Capitan (Lurking Fear is still unrepeated) and established some of the hardest routes ever put up by a woman; The Optimist 5.14b and Meltdown 5.14c.
Happily married for 3 and a half years, Only American to climb 5.14b (The Optimist—First Ascent), First woman to free climb 2 routes on El Capitan, Yosemite (Lurking Fear FFA, The Nose), Second Ascent of Country Boy 5.13d (trad climb), Climbed 4 5.14’s, almost built a house with Tommy—hopefully finished soon:)
She’s scared of spiders and falling. She loves television, especially HGTV. She likes to bake, when she has time, and feels that the use of margarine is a crime in baked goods. Always orders desert.
Read Name Droppings by Chris Kalous from the June 2008 Mountain Gazette.