Tobin Sorenson (June 15, 1955 – October 5, 1980) 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 ...
and
alpinist
Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes (e.g. multi-pitch or big wall) in an alpi ...
famed for establishing bold
first ascents
In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused ...
on
Yosemite
Yosemite National Park ( ) is a 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 park is managed by the National Park Service ...
big walls, in the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
,
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...
, and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
.
Early life and education
A California native, Sorenson was the son of a minister, Lee Sorenson, and was raised in
Covina, California
Covina ( /koviːnə/) is a city in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles
The population was 51,268 according to the 2020 census, up from 47,796 at the 2010 census. ...
.
As a teenager he played the guitar at church and sang in the choir, and continued to emphasize faith and spirituality throughout his life.
Sorenson graduated from
Biola University
Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor' ...
in 1980.
Career
Sorenson honed his climbing skills at
Tahquitz Rock
Tahquitz Peak (pronounced , sometimes ) is a granite, rock formation located on the high western slope of the San Jacinto mountain range in Riverside County, Southern California, United States, above the mountain town of Idyllwild. Tahquitz ha ...
,
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...
,
Suicide Rock, and
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 ...
.
Later he turned his attention to the European Alps, and conquered several dangerous
ice climbs in the
Mont Blanc massif, the north face of the
Grandes Jorasses
The Grandes Jorasses (; 4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy.
The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (''Pointe Walker'') was by H ...
,
and the
Eiger
The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends ...
north face.
Sorenson is considered by some to be the best all-around climber of his time.
A contemporary of
John Long and
John Bachar
John Bachar (March 23, 1957 – July 5, 2009) was an American rock climber. Noted for his skill at free soloing, he ultimately died during a free solo climb. A fitness fanatic, he was the creator of the climbing training device known as the Bac ...
in a group they called the
Stonemasters putting up daring new routes in the
Idyllwild, California area, Sorenson pushed risk standards in the realm of rock climbing and alpine mountaineering.
Death
Sorenson died from a fall during a
solo attempt of the
Mount Alberta
Mount Alberta is a mountain located in the upper Athabasca River Valley of Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. J. Norman Collie named the mountain in 1898 after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. It is the most difficult of the 11,000ers fro ...
's North Face on October 5, 1980.
Further reading
* Long, John and Fidelman, Dean. ''The Stonemasters: California rock climbers in the seventies.'' Santa Barbara, California: Stonemaster Press/T. Adler Books, 2009.
* Accomazzo, Rick. ''Tobin, the Stonemasters, and Me, 1970-1980.'' Stonemaster Books, 2024.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorenson, Tobin
American mountain climbers
American rock climbers
Biola University alumni
Mountaineering deaths
Free soloists
1955 births
1980 deaths
Sport deaths in Canada