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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1964 (age 61–62) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupations | Rock climber and climbing coach |
| Climbing career | |
| Highest grade | |
Geoff Weigand (born 1964 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian rock climber and road cyclist.
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1964 (age 61–62) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupations | Rock climber and climbing coach |
| Climbing career | |
| Highest grade | |
Geoff Weigand (born 1964 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian rock climber and road cyclist.
In 1981, at the age of 16, he came to prominence as one of the leading rock climbers in Australia with the onsight ascent of Toyland, 25, considered by most to be the hardest climb in New South Wales (NSW) at the time. Weigand added numerous first free ascents in Australia. Some are at Bombo Quarry, NSW, he redpointed Hangman (27)., Krondorf Theft (25), and Abstractions (25). At Cosmic County, with Aesthetic Images (25), Crosswords (24), Highlights (24), Fading Light (24), Blackboard (24) and Letters to the Editor (25) - all developed in December 1981. He also repeated the best and hardest of his contemporaries' routes (at the time) including ascent of Hollow Men (26). While at Mt. Piddington, he established the first of its difficulty, Social Climbing (26) He also free solo climbed The Janicepts (22) at Mt. Victoria, and Exhibition Wall (21) at Mt. York. He was the subject of a "60 Minutes" (Australia) climbing story on free soloing filmed at Cosmic County and Blue Mountains. In this story the anchorman posits "Is this Sport or Madness?" Weigand is quoted as saying "It's both and neither. It's madness to the everyday person. I'm not the everyday person." At Mt. Arapiles in Australia he redpointed No Exit (26) while still in high school. In February 1986 he made the first free ascent of Shimmering, the first route at the grade 28 in New South Wales.
In Joshua Tree, he free soloed, and onsight, each of the Ski Tracks (5.10/5.11) then the crack climbing route, Acid Crack 5.13a (7c+). In Yosemite Valley, with fellow Aussie Kim Carrigan, they did the first continuous—no falls—free ascent of Rostrum 5.12 (7b/+). At the Cookie Cliffs, they climbed Americas Cup 5.12c (7b+), so named to commemorate the winning of the yacht race series by Australia over the U.S.A. for the first time.
At Smith Rock, in Oregon, he arrived in early summer '85 with Johnny Woodward and Kim Carrigan with the local core of Alan Watts, Chris Grover, and Brooke Sandhal. He made the first 1-day ascent of Chain Reaction 5.12c (7b+), and Latest Rage 5.12 (7b/+). He and Woodward also teamed up for the 2nd ascent of the classic Heinous Cling 5.12c (7b+), and a no falls ascent of Split images 5.12d (7c). Weigand did the 1st repeat of Darkness at Noon 5.13a (7c+)—all were routes developed by Alan Watts and it supported his development of Smith Rocks as the leading American sport climbing area.
Weigand was profiled in Rock magazine's Jan-Jun 1989 issue noted as "currently at the top of the Australian rockclimbing hit parade" (Chris Baxter, Managing Editor)
He participated in the 1992 Masters competition in Chambery, France as an early competition climbing event held one-week prior to the Olympic games in France's bid to get rock climbing entered as an Olympic sport for the 1998 Seoul, Korean summer games. He placed 19th in the lead climbing event and 5th in the speed climbing event.
In 1992, at the China Wall in Logan Canyon, UT he made the first free ascnet of the sport-climbing route, Blackout 8b+ (5.14a), an ascent that Boone Speed called: "The grade of the route is irrelevant, insignificant compared to the pure intensity of the performance. What matters is that Geoff punched it past his personal limits, and, in the process, inspired us to do the same. I wish everyone luck in the search for their own 'Black Out'."