HARVEY T. CARTER

Just days after Kor, Ingalls, and Hurley climbed the Titan, Harvey T. Carter, accompanied by his wife, Annie, and Cleve McCarty, arrived—hoping for a first ascent of the same tower.

Carter and McCarty instead climbed the next tallest formation, naming it Kingfisher. Kor never returned to the Fisher Towers, but Carter kept returning, climbing the first ascents of all the other worthy towers in the area. He even put up two new routes on the Titan. He also returned over and over to Castle Valley, ascending the second ascent (all free!) of Castleton Tower. He has a reputation for strength, boldness, and tenacity, coupled with a masterfully gentle touch with loose and soft rock. He developed the idea of the drilled piton (placing an army angle into a deep 3/8-inch hole). These secure, soft-rock anchors opened up more possibilities for safely climbing on the desert sandstone. Carter cared deeply about preserving and maintaining his climbs for future ascensionists, an attitude ahead of his time. He has left a formidable record of first ascents all over the U.S.—five thousand by his own reckoning. His greatest contribution to U.S. climbing is perhaps the legacy of hard, serious desert climbs. His 1971 route, Sundevil Chimney, on the Titan, is a world-class masterpiece.