Wolfgang Güllich

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Wolfgang Güllich (24 October 1960 - 31 August 1992), was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

He first started climbing on the Sandstone-rocks of the 'Südpfalz'. Soon he became one of the best climbers in this region and made the first free ascent of 'Jubiläumsriss VII-' at the age of 16. He travelled to the Elbsandsteingebirge, and to the Shawangunks and Yosemite Valley, US, where he could climb most of the top routes of each area, including a 2nd ascend of Grand Illusion, 5.13b/c (FA by Toni Yaniro). Later he moved to the Frankenjura and created a great number of hard climbing routes such as:

Kanal im Rücken X- (1984)
Punks in the Gym X / 8b+ / 32 (1985)(Mt Arapiles, Australia)
Amadeus Schwarzenegger X- (1986)
Wallstreet XI- (1987)
Action Directe XI (1991) (still considered one of the hardest routes worldwide)

Thus Güllich added several grades to the grading system. In fact, with the exception of Ben Moon's Hubble (the world's first 8c+), Wolfgang was responsible for 4 consecutive step-ups with the world's first 8b (Kanal Im Rücken , 1984), 8b+ (Punks In The Gym, Apr 1985), 8c (Wall street, 1987), and 9a (Action Directe, Aug 1991). Güllich also invented the modern training technique of campus boarding in order to climb Action Directe.

He was also responsible for first ascents of routes like 'Eternal Flame (IX- A2)' in the Karakoram and 'Riders on the Storm (IX A3)' in Patagonia. The boldness of these routes showed that he excelled at difficult mountain routes as well as one-pitch sports climbs.

He broke his back falling off the Master's Edge at Millstone Quarry in Derbyshire, England but when he recovered climbed Separate reality in Yosemite National Park, USA (1986). Climbing without a rope, he negotiated a twenty foot horizontal crack in an overhanging roof.

He was also a climbing double for Sylvester Stallone in the movie Cliffhanger.

In 1990 he became acquainted with Anette, whom he married one year later. On August 29, 1992 Wolfgang's car veered off the Autobahn between Munich and Nuremberg after he fell asleep while driving. Two days later he died in a hospital in Ingolstadt, never having regained consciousness. His media commitments due to his burgeoning popularity following his work on Cliffhanger have been cited as reasons for his extreme fatigue at the time.

[edit] References

Hepp, Tilmann (1993). Wolfgang Güllich. Leben in der Senkrechten (in German). Rosenheim: Rosenheimer. ISBN 3-475-52747-2. (Biography)
Hepp, Tilmann; Thomas "Balli" Ballenberger (2006). Wolfgang Güllich - Klettern heißt frei sein (in German). Stuttgart/Nürnberg: Boulder Verlag. ISBN 978-3-9811231-0-4. (Artbook)