13 Facts About Tom Frost

Thomas "Tom" M Frost was an American rock climber known for big wall climbing first ascents in Yosemite Valley.

Tom Frost grew up in Newport, California and was a sailing champion as a teenager, winning the Snipe National Championship in 1953 and 1954.

Tom Frost climbed with Royal Robbins, Chuck Pratt and Joe Fitschen.

In 1968, Tom Frost visited the Cirque of the Unclimbables in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The impressive thing about Tom Frost is that his classic images were seen, and photographed, during major first ascents.

Several of Tom Frost's photos were published in Royal Robbins' book, Advanced Rockcraft, in 1973.

Tom Frost was an ice climber, and contributed dozens of photographs to Yvon Chouinard's book Climbing Ice.

Tom Frost was a longtime advocate of environmental ethics in climbing, using natural protection whenever possible, guided by respect for tradition and a desire to "leave no trace".

Tom Frost articulated his climbing philosophy in an address to an international congress called "The Future of Mountain Sports", held in Innsbruck, Austria in September, 2002.

Tom Frost opposed what he believed to be excessive use of bolts by sport climbers, especially the altering of traditional climbing routes previously completed without such aids.

Tom Frost criticized such practices as the result of a desire by some climbers for "instant gratification with little or no accountability".

Tom Frost is a man of courage and leadership, as witness his recent vanguard role in the effort to save Camp 4 in Yosemite.

That year, Chouinard and Tom Frost began marketing adjustable rigid crampons made of chrome-molybdenum steel.