Craig Luebben

Craig Luebben was an American rock climber and author, born on 20 May 1960 in Iowa and raised from the age of seven in Colorado, where he developed his love of the outdoors. A climber since the early 1980s, he made many first ascents in the United States and abroad, including in China, Madagascar, Puerto Rico and France, worked as a mountain guide and instructor with the American Mountain Guides Association, and was a senior contributing editor for Climbing Magazine. While earning a mechanical engineering degree at Colorado State University he designed the Big Bro wide-crack climbing protection device, later made by Trango. He wrote a series of instructional books including Knots for Climbers, Advanced Rock Climbing with John Long and Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills, which won the 2004 National Outdoor Book Award for instruction. He died on 9 August 2009 when ice fell on Mount Torment in the Cascade Range, and the guides association created an education fund in his name.