Doug Robinson

News

  • Sept 12, 2020: Rock & Ice is providing FREE access to Ascent 2020, and Doug has a terrific piece in it: “Guidebooks Are Still a Problem.”
    David Clifford shot the lovely lede photo, below. Enjoy!

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  • May 12, 2020: Listen to tell Doug tell some stories on the Outdoor Biz Podcast episode, “Life in the Backcountry with Doug Robinson.”
    Interviewed by his old friend, Rick Saez, Doug talks about a few of his many backcountry adventures, as well as product design and the outdoor industry.
  • Oct. 21, 2019: Doug was very honored to receive an award in the 2019 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. Out of a field of 1,335 entries, his piece, Snowbound, which was a Special Presentation for Outside, won the Bronze prize in the Adventure Travel category. The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation, which oversees the annual contest, posted the following in the Judges’ Comments section:
  • Bronze: Doug Robinson, “Snowbound,” Outside
    The writer provides a gripping narrative with elegant prose and incisive reportage. Set against the epic backdrop of the Continental Divide Trail, Doug Robinson unfolds a heartbreaking story of Stephen “Otter” Olshansky’s hike gone bad. Readers witness his losing battle against nature, read wrenching journal accounts of Otter’s slow death and join a suspenseful, and ultimately failed, search mission. “My intention is to bring the stove inside later and asphyxiate myself,” Otter wrote matter of factly in his journal. “Prolly won’t work. Nothing else I’ve tried has.” But Robinson’s capturing of Otter’s last days certainly does work — often in surprising ways.

  • Jan. 25, 2019: The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival has invited Doug to do a presentation about The Alchemy of Action. He’ll be at the Frederic Wood Theatre on Friday evening, March 1. Tickets and additional details are available on the VIMFF site.

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  • Jan. 17, 2019: Doug will be featured in the Mammoth Mountain Culture Month series. He’ll be doing a presentation about The Alchemy of Action on Sat., March 16 @ 7 pm. Check out the DATES page for details!
  • Aug. 28, 2018: “In November 2015, veteran thru-hiker Stephen “Otter” Olshansky was on the Continental Divide Trail in northern New Mexico when winter storms blanketed the area with several feet of snow. Pinned down and running out of food, he scraped his way to a campground latrine, holed up inside, and prayed for help to arrive.” That is the lead of SNOWBOUND, Doug’s beautiful piece about his friend, Stephen, which Outside magazine just published online as a Special Presentation.

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  • June 19, 2018: Keep an eye out for (or better yet subscribe to) Journal of Alta California. Doug has a feature story, Legends on Stone, in the summer issue of this new quarterly published by William R. Hearst III. And on July 18 Alta and Patagonia are presenting a conversation with Doug and Will about the piece in San Francisco.
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  • Feb. 28, 2018: Tony Mayse’s gorgeous new guidebook Oklahoma Rock: A Climber’s Guide is out. Doug wrote the foreword, “The Other Granite State.” And there’s a limited edition “Doug Robinson cover” version. Only 500 were printed, so get yours now!
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  • Jan. 4, 2018: Backcountry Magazine 120 – The Deep Winter Issue includes Doug’s essay, “Luminous Wilderness” in a collection of pieces about backcountry skiing in the High Sierra.
  • Nov. 22, 2017: What does Doug have in common with Keith Richards and Dolly Parton? Well, they all rock, of course—and their portraits have been captured brilliantly by Jim Herrington. Today the BBC World News interviewed Jim about his new award-winning book, THE CLIMBERS.
  • Reportedly, there were 250 million viewers. Wow.

  • May 23, 2017: Doug penned a lovely remembrance of Royal Robbins, which kicks off a collection of great pieces about this recently deceased climbing legend in Alpinist 58.
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  • May 9, 2017: Doug has a piece in the AMGA’s Winter GUIDE Bulletin, “The Day Nothing Happened.”
  • May 9, 2017: Doug wrote a short article for Black Diamond’s Anniversary Workbook.
  • May 9, 2017: Doug’s seminal 1969 essay, “The Climber as Visionary” has been reprinted in ASCENT for their 50-Year Edition (ROCK AND ICE/ASCENT, Issue No. 242, p. 58). It appears along with other classic climbing pieces.
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  • Jan. 8, 2017: Chris Noble’s amazing new book, Why We Climb, is out—and Doug is one of the small group of legends Chris photographed and interviewed for this exploration of “The World’s Most Inspiring Climbers.”
  • Why We Climb - book cover

     

     

     

     

  • Aug 30, 2016: Because Alpinist, Issue 48, which featured Doug’s cover story Wringing Light out of Stone—a mountain profile about his home range, The Palisades—sold out, the magazine has kindly granted permission to post a link to a PDF here.

    Alpinist 48 - Cover

     

     

     

     

     

  • Aug 6, 2016: Doug’s Buttermilk, Sweet and Sour: How did we get here? Where are we going? is the cover story of Adventure Sports Journal, Aug/Sept 2016, Issue #92.
  • ASJ Bouldering Cover Story

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Aug 6, 2016: In his beautiful essay Between the Earth and the Sky (Alpinist 55, Autumn 2016, p. 30,) brilliant, young, world-champion climber Kai Lightner describes his first multipitch trad climb on Stone Mountain, with Doug as his mentor.
  • Alpinist 55 - Kai Lightner

     

     

     

     

     

  • Aug 6, 2016: Flatlander Films, who are making a documentary about Tom Frost, are responsible for bringing Kai and Doug together at Stone Mountain. And they made a sweet minute-long video about the climb. Check it out–and take a look at their other wonderful clips, too!
  • Aug 6, 2016: Alpinist 55 features a mountain profile about the Wind River Range. Along with legends Royal Robbins, Jeff Lowe, Sibylle Hechtel, Joe Kelsey and Dick Dorworth, Doug contributed a sidebar “Extra Left Klettershoe,” which is about his first-ever first ascent.
  • June 8, 2016: Doug’s review of Brave New Wild, Oakley Anderson Moore wonderful new feature-length documentary, which offers an offbeat chronicle of America’s Golden Age of rock climbing, is hot off the presses.
  • June 3, 2016: Doug wrote three of the pieces in Outside’s newly published collection, “The 25 Greatest Moments in Yosemite Climbing History.” Doug is also featured in one of the other pieces: Brad Rassler’s “1973: First Hammerless Ascent of Half Dome.”
  • April 18, 2016: Doug has a new piece in Adventure Sports JournalRoyal Robbins: The Man Behind the Legend.
  • March 25, 2016: Doug wrote a beautiful obituary for pioneering High Sierra mountaineer Glen Dawson for Outside.
  • Nov. 4, 2015: Stephen Goodwin, editor extraordinaire of The Alpine Journal from 2004-2013, penned a wonderful review of The Alchemy of Action in the 2015 edition of this UK journal. You can read the full piece here or check out a short blurb on the BOOKS page.
  • Jan. 15, 2015: Crazy night here last night. Doug was interviewed FOUR times about Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s amazing achievement on the Dawn Wall route of El Capitan. There were even two live TV interviews via Skype. Gotta love technology! Here’s the BBC World News TV interview with Alastair Leithead. (Thank you, Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides, for posting this.) And here’s a link to the BBC World Service Radio story: “The High Water Mark of Rock Climbing.”
  • Doug’s mountain profile about the Palisades is the cover story of issue 48 of Alpinist magazine.
  • You can purchase Doug’s books and DVDs online at Doug Robinson’s Store. Tell your friends!
  • Doug’s book, The Alchemy of Action, is also available as an e-book. In addition to being able to buy the book for your Kindle, iPad or other electronic device, you can peruse the Foreword, Introduction, Table of Contents and first few chapters online.
  • Doug’s tour has generated some terrific interviews and write ups. Read more on the REVIEWS page.

Bio

Photo collage

 

Doug Robinson is a professional mountaineer known internationally for his climbing, guiding and backcountry skiing, as well as his poetic writings about the mountains and why we climb them. Closely identified with California’s High Sierra, Doug has been called “the modern John Muir.”

WRITING

The Alchemy of Action
Why do people climb mountains? Because it gets us high! Doug’s long-awaited new book, The Alchemy of Action, offers a fresh—even shocking—explanation of why people climb mountains, by delving into the brain chemistry behind climber’s euphoria. The intriguing story behind why we are so much more than “adrenaline junkies” leads deep into the psyches of all adventure athletes as they push toward the ragged edge of human potential and return with shimmering new awareness from a heady brew of hormonal cocktail that includes the surprising ingredients of home-made organic psychedelic compounds.

A Night on the Ground, A Day in the Open
“John Muir meets Jack Kerouac” is how William Broyles, Jr., (who wrote the screenplays for Apollo 13, Cast Away and Planet of the Apes), summed up Doug’s 1996 book, A Night on the Ground, A Day in the Open. A collection of Doug’s earlier writings about climbing, backcountry skiing and the spirit of wilderness, it sold out of its first edition and received much critical acclaim. In 2015 Dougald MacDonald, the Executive Editor of the American Alpine Journal, included Doug’s first book in his list “Doctor of Climbology: 33 Must-Read Climbing Books” in Climbing magazine.

Other
Doug’s writing and photography credits include National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Outside, Men’s Journal, California, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Alpinist, Ascent, Climbing, Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Mountain Gazette, Powder, Rock & Ice, with translations in several foreign languages. Co-wrote Climbing Ice with Yvon Chouinard. Co-wrote screenplay “Hard Rock” with William Broyles, Jr.

Recipient of the American Alpine Club’s Literary Award, 2010.

CLIMBING

“The father of clean climbing.”Climbing magazine

Doug helped lead the “Clean Climbing” revolution in the early 1970s, an environmental movement that changed forever the way climbers anchor themselves to steep rock. Clean climbing eliminated the traditional hammer-driven pitons that were increasingly damaging even hard granite. It substituted aluminum wedges slotted by hand into cracks in the rock. The result has lightened the impact of climbers on mountain environments around the world. Doug’s essay, “The Whole Natural Art of Protection,” sparked the movement. And then his first clean ascent of the face of Half Dome, made in 1973 with Galen Rowell and Dennis Hennek, slam-dunked the revolution when it was featured as the cover story of National Geographic magazine.

Fifty-five years including dozens of first ascents on ice, rock, and alpine terrain. Doug cut his teeth on Yosemite granite during the Valley’s Golden Age in the sixties, a time when all the climbers in Yosemite could fit around one campfire at Camp 4. First Ascent Dark Star on Temple Crag, the longest alpine rock climb in the Sierra. Developed Buttermilk bouldering. First ice ascents V-Notch and Lee Vining Icefall with Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. First ascent Ice Nine, the hardest alpine climb in California. Second ascent of Ama Dablam (22,495′) in Nepal, 1979, filmed for ABC Sports.

VIDEO

“Best-selling rock video of the early Stone age”

Produced, wrote and hosted Moving Over Stone (1988), which was ground-breaking in its fusion of instruction and entertainment, basics to cutting-edge.

GUIDING

“California’s premiere mountain guide”San Francisco Examiner

First President, American Mountain Guides Association. AMGA Certified Rock and Alpine guide. 55 years experience, US and foreign countries. Guide to Fortune 500 leaders (e.g. William Randolph Hearst III) and corporate training (Apple, Sun Microsystems, Levi’s). Catalyst Consulting Team, corporate climbing programs, 12 years. Palisade School of Mountaineering, 12 years. Royal Robbins Rockcraft, 2 years in southern Yosemite “hinterlands.” Founded Foothill College climbing program. Shaped the adaptation of Nordic ski mountaineering techniques into California backcountry skiing, beginning 1970s, by teaching seminars and leading committed ski treks out of Rock Creek Winter Lodge. Teacher and mentor to apprentice guides. Chief Guide and long-time Board of Directors Member, Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides (SYMG).

SKI MOUNTAINEERING

Led first continuous ski traverse John Muir Trail, 250 miles, 1970. Many first telemark ski descents, including Mt. Rainier, 1980. Current speed record Sierra High Route: 50 miles and over 11,000′ gain/loss in 22 hours. Guides backcountry expeditions.

EQUIPMENT DESIGN

Developed climbing Stoppers and Tube Chocks for Chouinard Equipment, also packs and boots, several patented.

PRESENTATIONS

“You made 400 climbers sit still for what was essentially a poetry reading!”—Jim McCarthy, former president, American Alpine Club.

Inspiring slide shows, lectures, and reading that have headlined at the International Festival of Mountain Literature and the Int’l Climbers Festival.

EDUCATION

BA in English, San Francisco State University, 1969.

FAMILY

Doug loves to hike and backpack, climb and ski with his kids Toryn and Kyra.

HOME

Doug lives in Kirkwood, CA, with his partner Eva Eilenberg.

Books

The Alchemy of Action

By Doug Robinson
With a foreword by Dick Dorworth

View/buy the e-book        The Alchemy of Action - Front Cover

Buy the E-BOOK               Buy the PRINT book    

Why do people climb mountains?
Because it gets us high.
But adrenaline junkies we are not,
and beta-endorphin isn’t behind runner’s high either.
The surprising answer reveals natural psychedelic transformations
at work
deep in the brains of adventure athletes.

Reviews

Alchemy is a joyous trip, guided by a knowing roshi who blends the insight of Aldous Huxley (much referenced) and the romance of John Muir with the vernacular of The Dude in The Big Lebowski… With this stimulating and original book it is now Doug Robinson who is the alchemist, turning wit, words and dedicated personal research to wisdom. And as he says of the hormonal cocktail served up on the edge: How could you resist?”
~ Alpine Journal 2015 (UK)

“This is a beautifully written, deeply researched, insightful, and groundbreaking contribution to human understanding (and consciousness). It is a great read about climbing, among many other human activities, but it is bigger than that in the same way contemplation from the summit encompasses more than summit-inspired chest thumping…”
~ American Alpine Journal 2014

“In 1969, Doug Robinson published “The Climber as Visionary.” The article raised the question of whether a climber’s brain, in times of stress or elation, could produce natural drugs that mimicked the effects of recreational chemicals including LSD and marijuana. Forty-four years later, Robinson thinks he has found the answer… The natural high Robinson describes is more one of enhanced visual acuity, a slight sensation of floatiness, an alert mind, a forestalling of time, an amplification of self-efficacy, and a sense of the profound, which is so evident in mountaineering literature.”
~ Ascent magazine 2014

“What [Doug Robinson] is doing is similar to Michael Pollan’s conceit in The Botany of Desire, but he takes it a step further… Doug is urging you to get high on your own brain by simply getting off the couch, putting down the iPhone, and getting outdoors to experience your brain when it’s turned on fully.”
~ Explore Big Sky

Need more of a preview?

Read the first few chapters of the E-BOOK in your browser. You don’t need a Kindle to read a full Kindle book that you purchase: you can download free Kindle apps to read Kindle books on any device.

Read a PDF of the Introduction to The Alchemy of Action.

Read a PDF of the Foreword by Dick Dorworth.

 


A Night on the Ground, A Day in the Open

By Doug Robinson

“John Muir meets Jack Kerouac” is how William Broyles, Jr., (who wrote the screenplays for Apollo 13, Cast Away and Planet of the Apes), summed up Doug’s first book, which came out in 1996. A collection of Doug’s earlier writings about climbing, backcountry skiing and the spirit of wilderness, it sold out of its first edition and received much critical acclaim. In 2015 Dougald MacDonald, the Executive Editor of the American Alpine Journal, included Doug’s first book in his list “Doctor of Climbology: 33 Must-Read Climbing Books” in Climbing magazine.

Video

The 25th Anniversary Edition – on DVD!

Moving Over Stone, Doug’s instructional-inspirational video about climbing—featuring Lynn Hill, Peter Croft, John Bachar, Todd Skinner, Dale Bard, Bobbi Bensman, Jerry Moffatt and Stephen Glowacz—is the best-selling “rock video” of the early Stone age. The original VHS tape (what’s that, Dad?) came out in 1988, and we released the 25th Anniversary Edition on DVD in 2013. It’s a classic, and it’s still really current. For gym climbers who are interested in transitioning to real rock, it is invaluable.

“Moving Over Stone was a breakthrough video for climbers 25 years ago, but the lessons it taught remain relevant. 
…Every climber should watch it.

~ Duane Raleigh, President of Big Stone Publishing (Rock and Ice , Ascent, and Gym Climber magazines)

Moving Over Stone opening

Reviews

Recent Press About Doug and His Work

The Climbing Zine – Review of The Alchemy of Action, by co-founder Al Smith III, Feb. 16, 2016

The Climbing Zine book review “Doug’s book speaks to me because he gets at that natural high in life that we, the ‘conquistadors of the useless,‘ get to experience. I applaud Doug for this book and I hope it inspires the already inspired in the journeys and adventures of our lives.”


Alpine Journal 2015, Volume 119 – Review of The Alchemy of Action, by former editor Stephen Goodwin

The_Alpine_Journal_UK_2015Alchemy is a joyous trip, guided by a knowing roshi who blends the insight of Aldous Huxley (much referenced) and the romance of John Muir with the vernacular of The Dude in The Big Lebowski… With this stimulating and original book it is now Doug Robinson who is the alchemist, turning wit, words and dedicated personal research to wisdom. And as he says of the hormonal cocktail served up on the edge: How could you resist?…”


American Alpine Journal 2014 – Review of The Alchemy of Action, by Dick Dorworth

AAJ 2014 cover thumbnail“This is a beautifully written, deeply researched, insightful, and groundbreaking contribution to human understanding (and consciousness). It is a great read about climbing, among many other human activities, but it is bigger than that in the same way contemplation from the summit encompasses more than summit-inspired chest thumping…”


The Alchemist, by Brad Rassler, Ascent magazine – May 2014 issue, republished on Sustainable Play

The-Alchemist-lead-photo-th“In 1969, Doug Robinson published ‘The Climber as Visionary.’ The article raised the question of whether a climber’s brain, in times of stress or elation, could produce natural drugs that mimicked the effects of recreational chemicals including LSD and marijuana. Forty-four years later, Robinson thinks he has found the answer… The natural high Robinson describes is more one of enhanced visual acuity, a slight sensation of floatiness, an alert mind, a forestalling of time, an amplification of self-efficacy, and a sense of the profound, which is so evident in mountaineering literature.”


TNB: Moving Over Stone With Doug Robinson, by Duane Raleigh, publisher and editor-in-chief,
Rock and Ice magazine – September 16, 2014

TNB-email-cropped“Doug was of the generation that bridged the old school of Royal Robbins and Yvon Chouinard, and the newcomers Jim Bridwell and the Stonemasters. He’s a hippie (he might prefer ‘bohemian’) molded by the Bay Area scene of the 1960s when you could freely enjoy certain now nearly forgotten liberties that I suspect provided the germ for his alchemy concept.”


Speaker Series: Doug Robinson – Rock and Snow article and interview by climber-writer Whitney Boland, – October 2014


Doug Robinson is Coming to BKB! – Brooklyn Boulders blog post written by Cyrena Lee – October 6, 2014


Get High, by Kelsie Bowman, Get Out Chattanooga – October 2014


Getting High in the Mountains, by Emily Wolfe, managing editor, Explore Big Sky – March 21-April 3, 2014

Explore Big Sky
“What [Doug Robinson] is doing is similar to Michael Pollan’s conceit in The Botany of Desire, but he takes it a step further… Doug is urging you to get high on your own brain by simply getting off the couch, putting down the iPhone, and getting outdoors to experience your brain when it’s turned on fully.”


Articles

A Selection of Recent Articles and Other Writings by Doug

2020

Doug wrote a feature piece, “Guidebooks Are Still a Problem” for Ascent 2020 (Issue #263, p. 106), which is published by Rock & Ice.

Photo by David Clifford

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2019

Doug was very honored to receive an award in the 2019 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. Out of a field of 1,335 entries, his piece, Snowbound, which was a Special Presentation for Outside, won the Bronze prize in the Adventure Travel category. The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation, which oversees the annual contest, posted the following in the Judges’ Comments section:

Bronze: Doug Robinson, “Snowbound,” Outside
The writer provides a gripping narrative with elegant prose and incisive reportage. Set against the epic backdrop of the Continental Divide Trail, Doug Robinson unfolds a heartbreaking story of Stephen “Otter” Olshansky’s hike gone bad. Readers witness his losing battle against nature, read wrenching journal accounts of Otter’s slow death and join a suspenseful, and ultimately failed, search mission. “My intention is to bring the stove inside later and asphyxiate myself,” Otter wrote matter of factly in his journal. “Prolly won’t work. Nothing else I’ve tried has.” But Robinson’s capturing of Otter’s last days certainly does work — often in surprising ways.

2018

“In November 2015, veteran thru-hiker Stephen “Otter” Olshansky was on the Continental Divide Trail in northern New Mexico when winter storms blanketed the area with several feet of snow. Pinned down and running out of food, he scraped his way to a campground latrine, holed up inside, and prayed for help to arrive.” That is the lead of SNOWBOUND, Doug’s beautiful piece about his friend, Stephen, which Outside magazine just published online as a Special Presentation.


 
 
 
 
 
 

Icebreaker’s Southern Chronicles posted Doug’s piece “Discovering the Buttermilk Rocks.” Everyone knows how popular the Buttermilk area is nowadays. But did you know that “…this began 76 years ago, when an unassuming Buddhist truck driver wandered into a now nearly-forgotten part of the Buttermilk”? Read on! Climb on! Pebble-wrestle on!
 
The long-awaited and first definitive book about a popular Bishop-area crag, the Pine Creek Climbing Guide, by Tai DeVore, features an introduction by Doug. (Toiler Press, 2018)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Doug penned a feature story, “Legends on Stone,” for the fourth issue of a new quarterly published by William R. Hearst III. The deck: “A half-century apart, pioneering climbers Royal Robbins and Alex Honnold redefined the best way to go up the 2,900-foot face of Yosemite’s El Capitan.” (Journal of Alta California, Issue #4, Fall 2018, p. 18.)

Photo by Chris Noble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug contributed a foreword, “The Other Granite State,” to Tony Mayse’s guidebook Oklahoma Rock: A Climber’s Guide. 500 copies of a limited edition “Doug Robinson cover” were printed. (Sharp End Publishing, 2018)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug’s essay, “Luminous Wilderness” appeared in a collection of pieces about skiing in the High Sierra in Backcountry magazine. (Deep Winter Issue #120, February, 2018, Volume 23, p. 66.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017

Doug penned a lovely remembrance of Royal Robbins, which kicks off a collection of great pieces about this climbing legend for Alpinist magazine. (“There Are Left the Mountains,” Alpinist, Issue 58, Summer 2017, p. 52.)

 

 

 

 

 

Doug wrote “The Day Nothing Happened” for the American Mountain Guide’s 2017 Winter GUIDE Bulletin.

Doug wrote a short article for Black Diamond’s Anniversary Workbook.

Doug’s seminal 1969 essay, “The Climber as Visionary” was reprinted, along with other classic climbing pieces, in ASCENT for their 50-Year Edition (ROCK AND ICE/ASCENT, Issue No. 242, p. 58).

 

 

 

 

2016

Doug’s Buttermilk, Sweet and Sour: How did we get here? Where are we going? is the cover story of the print issue of Adventure Sports Journal, Aug/Sept 2016, Issue #92.

ASJ Bouldering Cover Story

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug’s essay “How Bouldering Came to Bishop” appears in the guidebook Bishop Bouldering Select, 2016, Wolverine Press, p. 61.

Bishop Bouldering Select - Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alpinist 55 features a mountain profile about the Wind River Range. Along with legends Royal Robbins, Jeff Lowe, Raymond G. Jacquot, Sibylle Hechtel, Joe Kelsey and Dick Dorworth, Doug contributed a sidebar “Extra Left Klettershoe,” (Alpinist, Issue 55, Autumn-Winter 2016, p. 59), which is about his first-ever first ascent.

The 25 Greatest Moments in Yosemite Climbing History, Outside, June 1, 2016, online. Doug wrote three pieces for this collection: “1869: John Muir Makes First Ascent of Cathedral Peak,” “1875: First Ascent of Half Dome,” and “1933: Climbers Adopt Camp 4.” He’s also featured in this one by Brad Rassler, “1973: First Hammerless Ascent of Half Dome.”

Brave New Wild, Adventure Sports Journal, June/July 2016, Issue #61: Doug’s review of Oakley Anderson Moore wonderful new feature-length documentary, which offers an offbeat chronicle of America’s Golden Age of rock climbing.

Royal Robbins: The Man Behind the Legend, Adventure Sports Journal, April/May 2016, Issue #60, p. 22.

Obituary: Rock Climber Glen Dawson (1912-2016) “In the 1920s, long before the days of soloists like Alex Honnold, pioneering climbers like Dawson put up daring ropeless ascents across the West…” Outside, March 25, 2016.

2015

Like Surfers Gone Alpine, on Sustainable Play, Dec. 2015. Loosely structured around a first ascent on Birch Mountain, this essay ranges widely into the meaning of climbing. The post also includes a sidebar, “The Atomic Broom,” in which Doug proposes a radical and controversial theory about rockfall in the High Sierra.

Photo by Shawn Reeder

 

 

 

 

 

Foreword to Dick Dorworth’s most recent book, Climbing to Freedom: Climbs, Climbers & the Climbing Life, 2015, Western Eye Press.
Climbing to Freedom - Cover

 

 

 

 

 

2014

Wringing Light out of Stone, Mountain Profile | The Palisades, Alpinist, Issue 48, Autumn-Winter 2014, p. 44.
Alpinist 48 - CoverNOTE: because this issue sold out and copies are no longer available via the Alpinist back-issues page, the magazine has kindly granted permission to post a link to a PDF of Doug’s cover story here.

 

 

 

 

The Whitney Massif: Classic Routes, Hot New Lines, and a Blank Canvas for the Future, feature article co-authored with Amy Ness and Myles Moser, The American Alpine Journal 2014
American Alpine Journal 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011

The Curious Tale of Smoke Blanchard and His Buttermilk Rock Course, Ascent magazine, 2011, p. 56. Smoke’s Rock Course in the Buttermilk (Bishop, CA) represents a unique form of climbing that Doug’s mentor, Smoke Blanchard, called “mild mountaineering.”
Smoke Chimneys

 

 

 

 

 

2008

Growing Up, On the South Face of Half Dome, Yosemite, feature article in The American Alpine Journal 2008, p. 104.
Photo by Shawn Reeder. From http://aac-publications.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/aaj/2008/PDF/AAJ_2008_50_82_104.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Better Half, cover story about about Sean Jones’ route up the South face of Half Dome, Growing Up, in Rock and Ice magazine, Issue 165, January 2008, p. 60.
Photo by Shawn Reeder


A Couple of Classics…

1970’s

The Whole Natural Art of Protection, 1972 Chouinard Equipment Catalog.
Chouinard Catalog cover 1972

 

 

 

 

 

Running Talus, 1975 Chouinard Equipment Catalog, revised by the author.
Photo by Bruce Robinson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dates

If you’re interested in hearing Doug speak about The Alchemy of Action, climbing, guiding, mountaineering or writing, please go to the CONTACT page and send us a note.

Confirmed Dates, as of Dec. 16, 2019

2020

  • TBD

Past Appearances—A Selection of Recent Presentations

2019

  • Dec. 5, 2019: Chattanooga, TN. Doug did a slideshow for a group of climbers at the Crash Pad.
  • Nov. 2-3, 2019: Bishop, CA. Doug led two tours of Smoke’s Rock Course for the AAC’s Fall Highball Craggin’ Classic. As usual, both clinics sold out within the first hour. Read Doug’s The Curious Tale of Smoke Blanchard and His Buttermilk Rock Course for more info.
  • March 16, 2019: Mammoth Lakes, CA. Doug was featured in the Mammoth Mountain Culture Month series.
  • March 1, 2019: Vancouver, BC. The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival invited Doug to do a presentation about The Alchemy of Action.
  • 2018

  • Nov. 12, 2018: San Diego, CA. Vertical Hold climbing gym hosted an Alchemy of Action presentation.
  • Nov. 8, 2018: Los Angeles, CA. The Stronghold Climbing Gym hosted an Alchemy of Action presentation.
  • Nov. 2-4, 2018: Bishop, CA. For the first time ever, Doug led TWO tours of Smoke’s Rock Course for the AAC’s Fall Highball Craggin’ Classic. Saturday covered the first half of the course, as in previous years, and new for this year, Sunday covered the second half. Both clinics sold out on the first day of registration.
  • Oct. 12-14, 2018: Oakdale, CA. Doug spoke at the Oakdale Climbers Festival. The theme for 2018 was “Reflections on the Golden Age of Big Wall Climbing in Yosemite.” Doug appeared alongside a list of luminaries, including, Yvon Chouinard, Tommy Caldwell, Jim McCarthy, Glen Denny, Joe Fitschen, Chris Jones, Ron Kauk, Corey Rich, Ken Yager, Dick Duane, George Whitmore, Bob Swift (and others).
  • Oct. 11, 2018: Palo Alto, CA. The Stanford Alpine Club hosted an Alchemy of Action presentation.
  • July 19, 2018: Planet Granite, San Francisco gym, CA. Planet Granite hosted a fundraiser for the terrific Yosemite Climber Stewards program. Doug and Yosemite Climbing Ranger Eric Bissell did slideshows and a QA about the program and gym-to-crag considerations.
  • July 18, 2018: San Francisco Patagonia store, CA. Patagonia and Journal of Alta California presented “Conquerors of El Capitan.” Alta publisher Will Hearst interviewed Doug about Yosemite climbing pioneers and Doug’s own extraordinary career for this standing-room only audience of 75.
  • July 6, 2018: Yosemite National Park, CA. Doug presented “149 Years of Yosemite Climbing” at the Sierra Club’s Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center (formerly LeConte Memorial Lodge).
  • March 10, 2018: Mammoth Lakes, CA. For the grand finale of the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association’s Winter Adventure Series at the Mammoth Lakes Visitor Center, Doug, along with record-setting ol’ school ski cohorts Marty Hornick and Dick Dorworth, presented “Across the Great Divide,” about skiing in the Sierra Nevada range.

2017

2016

  • Nov. 5, 2016: Bishop, CA. Doug led a tour of Smoke’s Rock Course for the AAC’s Fall Highball Craggin’ Classic. SOLD OUT, AGAIN!
  • Oct. 25, 2016: Portland, OR. “An Evening with Doug Robinson”—a fundraiser to support the Mazama Library & Historical Collections. The presentation will include stories of learning to climb in the Pacific Northwest, a teenager making an epic winter ascent of Shasta, dual soloing Mt. Rainier’s Liberty Ridge with Chris Landry—who then made its first ski descent—and then making the first pin-binding ski descent of Mt. Rainier via the Emmons Glacier. Doug’s photos of that trip landed in Sports Illustrated. Doug will bring bring a few historic “artifacts” to share with the crowd during his presentation. Perhaps you’ll get to see Doug’s classic bamboo-handled Chouinard Piolet, which he used on Liberty Ridge and the second ascent of Ama Dablam.
  • Sept. 27, 2016: Yosemite National Park, CA. Slideshow about the history of climbing in Yosemite Valley for the American Alpine Association’s 2016 International Climbers’ Meet.
  • Sept. 21, 2016: South Lake Tahoe, CA. Tahoe Wellness Cooperative Community Center. Presentation and QA about The Alchemy of Action.
  • July 29, 2016: Yosemite National Park, CA. “147 Years of Yosemite Climbing” at the Sierra Club’s Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center (formerly LeConte Memorial Lodge).
  • Jan. 31, 2016: Alhambra, CA, (LA area). As keynote speaker for the Sierra Club’s Sierra Peaks Section (SPS) 2016 banquet, Doug presented “Mountaineering in the Palisades and the Whitney Massif.”
  • Jan. 30, 2016: La Jolla, CA. D.G. Wills Books. Reading, presentation and QA discussion about The Alchemy of Action.

2015

2014 – THE ALCHEMY OF ACTION BOOK TOUR

2013

About

About Doug, a selection

ARTICLES

Climbing Half Dome the Hard Way, National Geographic magazine cover story, Vol. 145, No. 6, pp. 782-791, June 1974. This article, which was Galen Rowell’s first of many for National Geographic, documents the climb that he, Doug and Dennis Hennek did up the Northwest face of Half Dome in 1973. It was the first “clean climb” of a big wall and it helped publicize the revolution that Doug helped spark with an essay he wrote for the 1972 Chouinard Equipment Catalog.
National Geographic-cover, June 1974

King of the Sierra: Doug Robinson, California’s premier mountain guide, by John Flinn, San Francisco Examiner Image magazine cover story.
SF-Examiner-cover-thumbnail

 

 

 

 

Running Talus: Profile of Doug Robinson, by Brad Rassler, Climbing magazine cover story.
Climbing-cover-thumbnail

 

 

 

 

Doug Robinson and the Extreme Bohemians, in California’s Adventure Sports Journal, Issue #24, January/February 2005, Matt Niswonger explores how the “extreme bohemians” of the Sierra, including Doug Robinson, Yvon Chouinard, and Royal Robbins, sparked an outdoor movement in the early ‘70s that continues to this day.
Photo by Mike Farrell

 

 

 

 

A Tour of Magic and Mystery, by Duane Raleigh, Editor-in-Chief, Rock and Ice magazine.

Rock Legends, by Greg Child, Outside magazine.

The 25 Greatest Moments in Yosemite Climbing History, Outside, June 1, 2016, online. In this collection of “The most pivotal climbing moments in Yosemite’s storied history, from some of climbing’s most celebrated athletes and voices,” Doug’s contribution to the clean-climbing movement is featured in Brad Rassler’s piece, “1973: First Hammerless Ascent of Half Dome.” Doug also wrote three of the other pieces: “1869: John Muir Makes First Ascent of Cathedral Peak,” “1875: First Ascent of Half Dome,” and “1933: Climbers Adopt Camp 4.”

In his beautiful essay Between the Earth and the Sky (Alpinist 55, Autumn 2016, p. 30,) brilliant, young, world-champion climber Kai Lightner describes his first multipitch trad climb on Stone Mountain, with Doug as his mentor.

Alpinist 55 - Kai Lightner

 

 

 

 

 

Doug is one of the small group of legends Chris Noble photographed and interviewed for his book Why We Climb. This exploration of “the world’s most inspiring climbers” also includes Conrad Anker, Peter Croft, Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, Adam Ondra, Chris Sharma, Mayan Smith-Gobart and others. Foreword by Conrad Anker. (Falcon Guides, 2017, p. 221.)

Why We Climb - book cover

 

 

 

 

Jim Herrington’s award-winning book, THE CLIMBERS is a collection of sixty black-and-white photographs that document some of the rugged individualists of the Golden Age of 20th century climbing (1920s-1970s), including the likes of Royal Robbins, Chris Bonington, Reinhold Messner, and Riccardo Cassin—and Doug. Foreward by Alex Honnold, essay by Greg Child, and preface by Jim Herrington. (Mountaineers Books, 2017, p. 81.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Images

Flatlander Films, who brought Kai Lightner and Doug together for a climb at Stone Mountain, made a sweet minute-long video about the climb.

Flatlander Films put together this beautiful introduction to Doug’s keynote address about clean climbing for the Access Fund’s 2015 Solid Protection event. It features interviews with legendary climbers/entrepreneurs Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost, Access Fund Executive Director Brady Robinson, rock stars Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold and others–including Doug.
Flatlander Films Access Fund video

 

 

 

 

Lovely 2.5 minute interview with brilliant photographer Jim Herrington about his travelling photo exhibit about climbers, featuring Doug.
Jim-Herrington-Film

 

 

 

 

The Art of Clean Climbing, short film by Cyrus Sutton, sponsored by Patagonia.
Film-still

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