Peter Croft
Peter Croft is a rock climber and mountaineer who was born in Canada on May 18, 1958 and now lives in Bishop, California. He has concentrated much of his rock climbing career on big routes in Yosemite National Park, Squamish, British Columbia as well as the High Sierra. He received The American Alpine Club’s Robert & Miriam Underhill Award in 1991.Croft listed The Evolution Traverse (YDS class 5.9 grade VI) which links Mount Mendel, Mount Darwin, Mount Haeckel, Mount Fiske, Mount Warlow and Mount Huxley as one of his favorite climbs in Fifty Favorite Climbs: The Ultimate North American Tick ListRoyal Robbins, a leading climber of the previous generation, wrote about Croft and his climbing achievements in 2000: "Peter has been my hero for many years, ever since he came blazing out of nowhere with his stunning free solo ascent of Astroman on Washington Column in Yosemite. Tom Frost and I had made the second ascent of this route, mostly with direct aid in the early sixties. That one could climb this route without resorting to direct aid was impressive. To do it without a rope was astonishing. But such was Peter's level of mastery. That it was mastery, and not mere daring was proven by a string of free solos of similar stature, executed to perfection."