Jim Bridwell

Jim Bridwell was an American rock climber and mountaineer, born in 1944 and active from 1965 in Yosemite Valley, and later in Patagonia and Alaska. He pushed the standards of aid climbing, big wall climbing and later alpine climbing, and is credited with more than 100 first ascents in Yosemite Valley. In 1975 he made the first one day ascent of The Nose on El Capitan with John Long and Billy Westbay. He founded the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue Team, invented widely copied aid climbing equipment such as copperheads and bird-beaks, and became the unofficial leader of the Stonemasters, having been an apprentice to Royal Robbins and Warren Harding. He died on 16 February 2018 from complications of hepatitis C.