Climb	Type	Suggested Grade	Date of Ascent	Notes
University Wall	Free Climb	5.12	1982	First free ascent
The Rostrum	Free Solo	5.11	1985	First free solo
Traverse of the Waddington Range	Traverse		1985	First traverse
Nose of El Capitan and Half Dome	Free Solo	5.13, 5.12	1986	First one-day link-up
The Nose (NIAD)	Speed Climbing	5.9	1986	First unintended speed record for Peter Croft alongside John Bachar
The Monument	Free Climb	5.12d	1987	First free ascent (onsight)
Astroman	Free Solo	5.11	1987	First free solo
Astroman and the Rostrum	Free Solo	5.11 x2	1987	First free solo link-up
The Shadow	Free Climb	5.13	1988	First free ascent (onsight of crux pitch)
The Nose (NIAD)	Speed Climbing	5.9	1990	Croft teamed up with Dave Schultz and broke the record at 6:40
The Nose (NIAD)	Speed Climbing	5.9	1991	Broke another record with Schultz at 4:48
Moonlight Buttress	Free Climb	5.12d/13a	1991	First free ascent
The Nose (NIAD)	Speed Climbing	5.9	1992	Croft teamed up with Hans Florine and set a new record of 4:22
Nose and Salathé Wall on El Capitan	Free Climb	5.13 ,5.13b	1992	First one-day link-up
Minaret Traverse	Free Solo		1992	First solo and one-day
Sponsar Brakk	Free Climb	5.11	1998	First ascent via rock route
Evolution Traverse	Free Climb		2000	First ascent
Airstream	Free Climb	5.13	2004	First ascent
Venturi Effect	Free Climb	5.12+	2004	First ascent
Blowhard	Free Climb	5.12+	2005	First ascent
Samurai Warrior	Free Climb	5.12a	2005	First ascent

Learning the Ropes

Born in Nanaimo, B.C., Peter grew up on the east coast of Vancouver Island. As a kid, he spent his days hiking and fishing, not knowing one day he was to become a living legend in the world of climbing. In an interview for Metolius, Peter mentioned that climbing seemed alien and out of his league, even though he’d seen stuff in movies and magazines.

His world was shaken after reading Chris Boninton’s book, “I Chose to Climb”. That was the moment he decided he wanted to be a rock climber.

Peter’s first contact with actual rock climbing was when his dad took him on a few pitches in the Sierras, but his love of climbing began when he set foot into the local climbing gym.

As time passed, Peter found himself spending his life in the Grand Wall boulder area, taking refuge from the wet B.C. weather under cars, in caves, and climbing every single day. With no mentors and only a handful of friends to climb with, Peter learned to climb through experience and a couple of close calls. 

His biggest breakthrough, as he recalls, was sending his first 5.10 after a year of climbing, White Lightning on the Apron, which blew his mind.

Free solo came almost naturally for Peter. Since he’d already mastered climbing 5.11 grade pitches, he and his friends began solo climbing easy 5.7 lines, unlocking a whole new universe, one where you don’t need much gear, you save tons of time and you don’t need a partner.

Not long after his first major breakthroughs, Croft made his first trip to Yosemite Valley, and history began with him soloing Evolution and Minaret Traverses and linking the Nose of El Cap and Half Dome in a single day with John Bachar.

Regarding his general attitude towards solo climbing, Peter describes it as a dream—the kind of experience that sends you back to a primal state where you are following your instinct and being in the flow—which just gives you a high like no other.

When it comes to new-age climbers who choose to put their solo experiences on film, he declares himself somehow worried, as the fact of having another person above you brings you a whole new lot of variables that can induce stress and might blow away your concentration, making you prone to mistakes or even accidents.

Notable Ascents

Peter Croft is part of the Rock Climbing Hall of Fame not only for his accomplishments and contributions he brought to the climbing community, but his ascents that inspired future generations.

University Wall

In his essay about climbing the University Wall in Squamish, Peter Croft wrote: “I craved an odyssey that required my all–and quite possibly more…. I wanted to dive in and draw blood, and it was OK if that blood was my own.”

In 1982, Peter managed to send the first free ascent of the University Wall, a 5.12 route in Squamish.

Teaming up with Foweraker and Hamish Fraser, he managed to climb it first, thinking it wasn’t a bigger deal than Astroman, which was huge at the time. The ascent, in fact, turned out to be “horrendous” but after sending it, it opened an appetite for harder lines.

Nose of El Capitan & Half Dome

In 1986, Peter Croft teamed up with John Bachar and set out to climb The Nose of El Cap in one day, as he declared, without the purpose of establishing a record but rather out of laziness, not having to haul all the gear up the wall.

It took them 10 hours to reach the top, during which time they passed seven parties of climbers through the rain. They proceeded afterward to climb the Half Dome following the Reg Route, setting a record that would last for ten years.

Astroman & The Rostrum

After soloing the Rostrum in 1985 and Astroman in 1987, Peter was looking for his next memorable climb. As an already-established Yosemite climber, he decided to do the link-up of Astroman and the Rostrum in search of that beautiful feeling of getting into the flow. In 1987, Peter managed to link both lines in one free solo mega-climb, cementing his name as one of the best free solo climbers of his time.

This ascent has only been repeated by two other climbers, Stone Monkey Dean Potter in April 2000 and Alex Honnold in September 2007.

The Nose Speed Record

In 1975, the original Stone Masters, John Long, Jim Bridwell, and Billy Westbay, achieved the unachievable by climbing the Nose of El Cap in one single day. Their monumental ascend in the age of the pitons was absolutely unbelievable, considering they did the face in a little under 18 hours.

Eleven years later, Yosemite dirtbags Peter Croft and John Bachar set out to climb the Nose in one day, mostly because they were once again too lazy to haul up gear bags for multiple days. Little did they know that their ten-hour ascent would start a whole Nose Speed Record known as the Nose In a Day, aka NIAD.

Croft and Bachar’s record stood for four years until Hans Florine and Steve Schneider managed to beat it, slashing almost two hours from the climb. This was a turning point for Peter as he got ready to show them who’s boss, haha, and teamed with Dave Schultz, sending the NIAD in just 6:40 hours—what a record! 

The battle between Croft and Florine went on for a couple of years, with records being smashed with every climb, managing to reduce the time to 4:22 hours, when the two of them ultimately teamed up in 1992.

Legacy

When talking about life, career, and achievements, Croft will always be synonymous with the free solo of two of Yoesmite’s test pieces, Astroman and Rostrum, and the first one-day link-up of the Nose of El Capitan and Half Dome. 

This is only part of his long line of accomplishments. Apart from his ascensionist career, Peter is also known as an accomplished writer, having written several essays, articles, and climbing guidebooks such as “The Good, the Great, and the Awesome” – a guidebook to the top High Sierra Rock Climbs, and, of course, an American all-time favorite with almost a bible-like feel, “Fifty Favorite Climbs: The Ultimate North American Tick List”.