Ray Jardine

Ray Jardine ( born 1944 ) is an American rock climber and mountain guide. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern big wall and free climbing in Yosemite National Park.

Ray Jardine studied until 1967 at the Northrop University in Inglewood, California Aerospace. He then worked as a systems analyst for the space program in Denver.

He began at age 19 with the climbing. In 1969 he reached the summit of Huascaran in Peru. Since the early 1970s, he climbed amplified in the Yosemite Valley in California. In May 1970, he climbed the South Face of Washington Column a first big wall (difficulty V, 5.8, A3). In October of the same year was followed by a tour of the Nose ( VI 5.8 A3) on El Capitan. A year later, the Western Wall (VI, 5.9, A4) succeeded him on the same mountain. Since the mid- 1970s he turned increasingly to free climbing. So he reached in 1976 with Crimson Cinge and Hangdog flyers twice the level 5:12. Both routes were among the heaviest in the world. 1977 was followed by a repetition of the route Separate Reality ( 5.11c ). On May 20 1977 he succeeded in the first ascent of Phoenix ( 5.13b ) in Yosemite. This route was one of the worst in the world at that time.

During this time he began to Friend a mobile terminal device from the einsegmentigen to develop " Abalakov - wedge " and marketable. This securing means is primarily used to hedge quite frequently present in the Yosemite Valley parallel cracks without using pitons.

Since the early 1980s, he began to turn away from extreme sport climbing. He went sailing, went kayaking and traveling the world. So he sailed the mid-1980s in three years around the world.

Since then, he became an advocate of ultralight backpacking, a form of trekking, the zero-compromise for maximum weight reduction. Jardine wrote the book Beyond Backpacking and The Ray Way, in which he gives practical tips and instructions for building ultra- lightweight hiking gear and presenting his justification for this style of hiking. He published many of the practical instructions on its website.

This was followed by books with personal experience reports on known long-distance hiking trails and other outdoor destinations that are each enriched with a variety of practical tips and recommendations.

Works (selection)

• The PCT Hiker 's Handbook: Innovative techniques and trail tested instruction for the long distance backpacker, Adventure Lore Press, 1992 ( Second edition under the title: The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker 's Handbook: Innovative techniques and trail tested instruction for the long distance hiker, 1996)
• Beyond Backpacking, Adventure Lore Press, 2000
• The ray -way tarp: how to make a tarp and net tent, and use them in the wilds, Adventure Lore Press, 2003
• Together with Jenny Jardine: Siku kayak: paddling the Coast of Arctic Alaska, Adventure Lore Press, 2005
• Trail Life: Ray Jardine's lightweight backpacking: 25,000 miles of trail -tested know- how, Adventure Lore Press, 2009