Todd Skinner

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Todd Skinner (October 28, 1958 – October 23, 2006) was an American free climber who died in a fall at Yosemite National Park on October 23, 2006. His climbing achievements included the first free ascents of many routes and the world's first free ascent of a grade 7 climb.

Todd Skinner had completed a new route up the face of Leaning Tower in Yosemite National Park on October 23rd, 2006. While rappelling down, he fell 500 feet and died.

It was harness failure that caused Todd Skinner's death whilst abseiling from the Leaning Tower in Yosemite. The part that broke, called the belay loop, is designed to be the strongest part of the climbing harness, but Hewett, 34, said Skinner's harness was old. "It was actually very worn," Hewett said. "I'd noted it a few days before, and he was aware it was something to be concerned about." Friends of Skinner said he had ordered several new harnesses but they hadn't yet arrived in the mail. On Monday's climb, Hewitt said the belay loop snapped while Skinner was hanging in midair underneath an overhanging ledge. "I knew exactly what had happened right when it happened," he said. "It was just disbelief. It was too surreal." Stunned and in shock after watching his friend fall, he checked his equipment. "I wanted to make sure that what had caused the accident wasn't going to happen to me," he said. "I then went down as quick as I could." Hewett said he knew there was no hope. A search-and-rescue team found Skinner's body, wearing the harness with the broken belay loop, about 4 p.m. Monday on the rocks near Bridalveil Falls. He was pronounced dead at the scene. (San Francisco Chronicle.)

[edit] First free ascents

The Salathe Wall, El Capitan, Yosemite National Park
North face of Mt. Hooker, Wind River Range
The Great Canadian Knife, Cirque of the Unclimbables, Yukon Territories
Northwest Direct Route on Half Dome, Yosemite National Park
East Face of Trango Tower, Pakistan's Karakoram Himalayas (the first grade 6 free climb in the world).
War and Poetry, Ulamertorsuaq, Cape Farewell, of Greenland
East Face of Poi, Ndoto Mountains, Northern Kenya.[1]