- Wolfgang Güllich
Wolfgang Güllich (
24 October 1960 -31 August 1992 ), was born inLudwigshafen ,Germany .He first started climbing on the
Sandstone -rocks of the 'Südpfalz'. Soon he became one of the best climbers in this region and made the first free ascent of 'Jubiläumsriss VII-' at the age of 16.He travelled to theElbsandsteingebirge , and to theShawangunks andYosemite Valley , US, where he could climb most of the top routes of each area, including a 2nd ascend of "Grand Illusion", 5.13b/c (FA by Toni Yaniro).Later he moved to theFrankenjura and created a great number of hard climbing routes such as:*"Kanal im Rücken X-" (1984)
*"Punks in the Gym X / 8b+ / 32 (1985)(Mt Arapiles, Australia)
*"Amadeus Schwarzenegger X-" (1986)
*"Wallstreet XI-" (1987)
*"Action Directe XI" (1991) (still considered one of the hardest routes worldwide)Thus Güllich added several grades to the grading system. In fact, with the exception of
Ben Moon 's "Hubble " (the world's first 8c+), Wolfgang was responsible for 4 consecutive step-ups with the world's first 8b ("Kanal Im Rücken" , 1984), 8b+ ("Punks In The Gym", Apr 1985), 8c ("Wall street", 1987), and 9a ("Action Directe", Aug 1991). Güllich also invented the modern training technique ofcampus board ing in order to climb "Action Directe". He was also responsible for first ascents of routes like 'Eternal Flame (IX- A2)' in the Karakoram and 'Riders on the Storm (IX A3)' in Patagonia. The boldness of these routes showed that he excelled at difficult mountain routes as well as one-pitch sports climbs.He broke his back falling off the
Master's Edge at Millstone Quarry in Derbyshire, England but when he recovered climbedSeparate reality inYosemite National Park , USA (1986). Climbing without a rope, he negotiated a twenty foot horizontal crack in an overhanging roof.He was also a climbing double for
Sylvester Stallone in the movie "Cliffhanger".In 1990 he became acquainted with Anette, whom he married one year later.On
August 29 1992 Wolfgang's car veered off theAutobahn betweenMunich andNuremberg . Two days later he died in a hospital in Ingolstadt, never having regained consciousness.References
* (Biography)
* (Artbook)External links
* [http://www.wolfgangguellich.com Official homepage (German)]
* [http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,471,0,1,climbers.html Wolfgang Güllich climbing profile]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
