Henry Barber

Henry Barber, born in 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American rock climber and ice climber who rose to prominence in the 1970s and was nicknamed Hot Henry. He was an advocate of clean climbing, a prolific first ascensionist and an on-sight free soloist, and one of the first professional American rock climbers, supporting himself through equipment company sales work and lecture tours. His 1973 on-sight solo of the Steck-Salathe Route on Sentinel Rock in Yosemite, done in two and a half hours, first brought him wide attention. He travelled far more than most climbers of his era, visiting Dresden, Britain, Scotland, Australia, Russia and Mexico and raising local standards wherever he went, and in 1977 he travelled to Scotland and Norway to climb frozen waterfalls. He was part of the Front Four group of climbers of the 1970s.