2023 Banff Mountain Book Competition Climbing Literature Winner

"Royal Robbins had an outsized impact on climbing history. This great new biography by David Smart brings the man behind the famous climbs to life in a way that’s both relatable and inspiring."--Alex Honnold

• Robbins’s passing in 2017 was covered from the BBC News to NPR to the New York Times, which deemed him the "conscience of rock climbers"
• Includes never-before-published information drawn from Robbins’s family archives and personal papers
• International interest in the Golden Age of Yosemite only continues to grow

Acclaimed writer David Smart illuminates the fascinating life of Royal Robbins---in all its soulful ambition, rivalry, and romance. Royal Robbins chronicles his early years growing up as a latchkey kid in Southern California, the push and pull between being an aspiring banker or one of the original Camp 4 dirtbags, and his later decades as a father, husband, kayaker, and the trailblazing founder of the outdoor apparel company that bears his name. This intimate, colorful tour of climbing history covering Yosemite, the Tetons, the Gunks, the Alps, the United Kingdom, and more from the 1960s onward features star characters such as Liz Robbins-- Robbins’s wife and a pioneering adventurer in her own right-- Yvon Chouinard, John Harlin, Steve Roper, Warren Harding, Tom Frost, and Doug Tompkins.

An important addition to our knowledge of the Golden Age of rock climbing in Yosemite and the development of the clean climbing ethos, Royal Robbins sheds new light on an elemental figure of outdoor culture.

David Smart has been climbing since 1975 throughout North America and Europe. He has completed hundreds of new routes in eastern Canada and is the founder of Gripped, Canada’s Climbing Magazine, Canadian Running magazine, Canadian Cycling Magazine and Triathlon Magazine Canada. He is also the author of five climbing guidebooks; a memoir entitled A Youth Wasted Climbing, short-listed by the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival in 2015; Paul Preuss: Life and Death at the Birth of Free-Climbing, short-listed for awards by both the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature (UK); Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites; and he is the co-author with Brandon Pullan of Northern Stone: Canada’s Best Rock Climbs. He is the editorial director of Gripped Publishing and is still an active new-router in northern Ontario. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

David Smart's profile page

Royal Robbins was a leading climber and legend during the golden age of big wall climbing. This is an important story of him and that age.

Yvon Chouinard

A central figure in the history of climbing in Yosemite, Royal Robbins taught us how to allow the vertical world to change us--an antidote to conquering a mountain. David Smart takes us on Robbins’s amazing transformation of this sport.

Conrad Anker

I predict that Royal Robbins: The American Climber will become a timeless classic in the world of climbing literature; I found it incredibly moving.

Gripped

It is rare to read an account of a legend that measures up to the individual, capturing visionary character in human and place with clear insight to an era. David Smart gives us an evocative, intimate view of Royal Robbins, the man, his exceptional position in the history of American climbing and his vast resume of classic and timeless ascents.

Jennifer Lowe-Anker, 2023 Banff Mountain Book Competition Jury

Royal Robbins had an outsized impact on climbing history. This great new biography by David Smart brings the man behind the famous climbs to life in a way that’s both relatable and inspiring.

Alex Honnold

Once again, David Smart brings his impressive abilities for in-depth research, nuanced historical interpretation, and immersive prose to a biography of a complex and enigmatic climber--demonstrating how fortunate we all are, as readers of mountain literature, that Smart has chosen this genre.

Katie Ives

Royal Robbins set the cultural and ethical standards for the golden age of American rock climbing. Readers everywhere will surely be moved by his inspiring story.

Tommy Caldwell