Okay, we’re only days away now from naming the five greatest climbers of all time. For the last time, I revised the list of climbers up for consideration. I won’t post another group of revisions.
(As a total aside, this process has started to remind me of my day job when I am seeking stakeholder input and collecting public comments. Not that this is a bad thing in any way, because it isn’t. Actually, it has actually been a real pleasure.)
First, this final list of nominees removed the pure rock climbers from the list, like Tommy Caldwell and sport climber Chris Sharma. They simply don’t meet the mountaineering rubric, especially as we established that mountaineering is a higher standard of climbing.
Second, I’ve added on several climbers that you felt were left off. I have considered each one to the best of my knowledge and ability.
Third, I need you to correct me if the list is missing anyone that could be in the top five. If so, do so quickly. However, I believe that the five or so greatest climbers of all time are somewhere on this list below. I say “five or so” because while I will name five, I think that we could have one come in as atie or be given a single ranked spot as a dynamic duo, Batman.
- Amedeo, Luigi
- Anker, Conrad
- Beckey, Fred
- Bielecki, Adam
- Bonatti, Walter
- Bonington, Chris
- Boardman, Peter
- Boukreev, Anatoli
- Brown, Joe
- Buhl, Hermann
- Cassin, Riccardo
- Child, Greg
- Desio, Ardito
- Diemberger, Kurt
- Gervasutti, Giusto
- Hargreaves, Alison
- Haston, Dougal
- House, Steve
- Humar, Tomaz
- Kaltenbrunner, Gerlinde
- Katsutaka Yokoyama
- Kukuczka, Jerzy
- Kurtyka, Voytek
- Loretan, Erhard
- Lowe, Alex
- Messner, Reinhold
- Mummery, Alfred
- Munday, Phyllis
- Paradis, Marie
- Park Young-Seok
- Pasaban, Edurne
- Peck, Annie Smith
- Prezelj, Marko
- Rabuffat, Gaston
- Rutkiewicz, Wanda
- Naoe Sakashita
- Sabir, Nazir
- Scott, Doug
- Shipton, Eric
- Steck, Ueli
- Tasker, Joe
- Terray, Lionel
- Tilman, Bill
- Twight, Mark
- Urubko, Denis
- Vidal, Silvia
- Viesturs, Ed
- Whillans, Don
- Whymper, Edward
- Wielicki, Krystof
- Wiessner, Fritz
- Workman, Fanny Bullock
- Yan Dongdong
I’m posting the five greatest of all time on Monday. I have my picks, but please tell me, who would you pick?
1. _____________________
2. _____________________
3. _____________________
4. _____________________
5. _____________________
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The Suburban Mountaineer 
Very hard, but:
Walter Bonatti
Herman Buhl
Reinhold Messner
Ricardo Cassin
Jerzy Kukuczka
But,
Denis Urubko
Ueli Steck
make the ‘modern’ day list. But perhaps their achievements even more important, even with the historical context?
RDM
It is hard. Handicapping them across time is the toughest thing. I’m working on scoring everyone on the list now based on a rubric I posted earlier. It’s interesting how the contemporary climbers are scoring slightly higher, probably because of increased difficulty and those that lead the way. I might have to reassess a bit.
I like your list, Robert, and we’re very much in synch over these names. One major change would be that Buhl doesn’t make the cut on mine; I’ve got Kurtyka there and some other order in the 1 to 5.
It’s a bit late to answer, but I would say:
5 – Alfred Mummery, for the deep impact he left on mountaineering; or Denis Urubko, in my opinion the best modern climber
4 – Walter Bonatti
3 – Herman Buhl
2 – Reinhold Messner
1- Jerzy Kukuczka
Also, even if I am an italian and I consider greatly Luigi Amedeo Duca degli Abruzzi and Ardito Desio, I don’t think they can match the list you made above: they were more great organizers and explorers than great alpinists.
Also I think you forgot one of the best modern climbers, the russian Valery Babanov.
Not to late; it’s the process of the exercise that matters. And I agree with you assessment of the Duke.