Layton Kor (June 11, 1938 – April 21, 2013) was an American

rock climber Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

active in the 1960s, whose first ascents and drive for climbing are well known in the climbing world. His routes included many climbs in Eldorado Canyon, near

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, The Diamond on

Longs Peak Longs Peak is a mountain in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, southwest by south ( bearing 209°) of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, ...

, towers in the desert southwest, and

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

, among other locations. Notable among his first ascents is the Kor-Ingalls Route on

Castleton Tower Castleton Tower (officially, Castle Rock) is a summit on the northeastern border of Castle Valley, Utah. The Wingate Sandstone tower itself is high and stands on a Moenkopi-Chinle cone. Castleton Tower is a popular subject for photography a ...

and The Finger of Fate Route up the Fisher Towers'

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

; both routes are recognized in the historic climbing text ''

Fifty Classic Climbs of North America ''Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'' is a 1979 climbing guidebook Climbing guidebooks are used by mountaineers, alpinists, ice climbers, and rock climbers to locate, grade, and navigate climbing routes on mountains, climbing crags, or ...

''. Kor also authored the book ''Beyond the Vertical''. Kor received the 2009

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 26,000 members. The club is housed in the American Mountaineering Center (AMC) in Golden, Colorado. Through its members, the AAC advocates for American climbers d ...

's ''Robert & Miriam Underhill Award'' for outstanding climbing achievement. Kor lived in

Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in and the county seat of Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The population was 32,693 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hi ...

and continued climbing until his early 70s. He had kidney failure and prostate cancer at the time of his death.

Notable first ascents

Colorado

* 1959 ''Diagonal'', Lower East Face,

, CO. (V 5.9 A3) with Ray Northcutt. * 1959 ''T2'', Redgarden Wall, Eldorado Canyon, CO. (current rating 5.11a) 1st ascent with Gerry Roach * 1960 ''Yellow Spur'', Redgarden Wall, Eldorado Canyon, CO. (5.9 (A1)) FA with David Dornan, Feb 21, 1960 * 1960 ''Long Dong Wall'', Kissing Couple. FA with Harvey Carter and John Auld, May 4, 1960. (5.11a) * 1962 ''Psycho'', Redgarden Wall, Eldorado Canyon, CO. (III 5.9 A4) 1st ascent with Huntley Ingalls * 1962 ''The Naked Edge'', Redgarden Wall, Eldorado Canyon, CO. (III 5.9 A3) with Bob Culp. Entire route with Rick Horn, 1964 (5.9 A4). * 1962 ''Yellow Wall'', The Diamond,

, CO. (V 5.8 A4) 2nd route on the wall, with Charles Roskosz. * 1963 ''Canary Pass'', Redgarden Wall, Eldorado Canyon, CO. (III 5.7 A4-) 1st ascent with

Pat Ament Pat Ament (born September 3, 1946) is an American rock climber, filmmaker, musician, and artist who lives in Elko, Nevada. Noted for first ascents in the 1960s and 1970s, he is the author of many articles and books. Climbing career Ament began ...

* 1965 ''Green Slab'', Black Canyon of the Gunnison, CO. (VI 5.8 A4) with Brian Martz.

Southwest deserts

* 1961 '' Kor-Ingalls Route'',

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

; FA of tower with Huntley Ingalls * 1962 '' Finger of Fate'', The Titan, Fisher Towers,

. FA of formation (V 5.8 A3) with Huntley Ingalls and George Hurley. * 1962 Standing Rock (Monument Basin), near Moab, UT. FA of formation with Huntley Ingalls and Steve Komito. * 1963 ''Kor-Dalke-Schafer'' IV 5.10 A1, Monster Tower,

Canyonlands National Park Canyonlands National Park is a national park of the United States located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green Rive ...

, Utah; FA of Monster tower with Larry Dalke and Cub Schafer, 26 December 1963 * 1964 ''North Face'' III 5.9 A3(?), Argon Tower,

Arches National Park Arches National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. The park contains more than 2,000 natural arch, natural ...

, Utah; FA with Bob Bradley and Charlie Kemp, 17 January 1964

California

* 1963 ''West Buttress'',

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California, United States. The valley is about long a ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. (VI 5.10 A3+) FA with

Steve Roper Steve Roper is a noted climber and historian of the Sierra Nevada in the United States. He along with Allen Steck are the founding editors of the Sierra Club journal ''Ascent''. Roper is the winner of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar M ...

. * 1964 ''South Face'', Washington Column, Yosemite Valley, CA. (V 5.10a A2) FA with Chris Fredericks, June 1964 . * 1965 ''Gold Wall'', Ribbon Falls Area, Yosemite Valley, CA. (V 5.10 A3) FA with Tom Fender, May 1965.

Outlying areas

* 1963 ''Robbins Route'', Mount Proboscis, Logan Mountains,

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. FA with Dick McCracken, Jim McCarthy and

Royal Robbins Royal Robbins (February 3, 1935 – March 14, 2017) was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. After learning to climb at Tahquitz Rock, Robbins went on to make first ascents of many big wall routes in Yosemite. As an early proponent o ...

, Aug 4-7, 1963. * 1964 '' Burkett Needle'', Coast Mountains, Alaska. FA with Dan Davis.Colby Coombs, ''Alaska: A Climbing Guide'', 2002, The Mountaineers Books, , p. 189.

Publications

* *

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kor, Layton American rock climbers 2013 deaths 1938 births