Henry Barber (rock Climber) - International Travel

International Travel

In 1976 Henry (with Steve Wunsch and Fritz Wiessner) traveled to Dresden, East Germany as the first American climbing visitors. Wiessner had learned rock climbing around Dresden early in the century. Tradition (and soft, fragile sandstone) demanded that rock climbers use no metal for protection, relying instead only on knotted nylon slings jammed into cracks to hold a leader's fall. Climbers were expected to climb barefoot, and to abstain from the use of gymnasts' chalk. Barber was impressed with the rigours and difficulty of climbing around Dresden; the Dresden climbers were impressed with Henry's ability, although they also thought him too reckless, especially in the area of free soloing.

Barber was well-traveled at a time when rock climbers generally did not stray far from their home crags. His style was to show up at an area and greatly exceed local standards. In one trip he single-handedly jumped technical standards in Australia by more than a number grade. Other accomplishments include first ascent of the often-tried Butterballs in Yosemite; blazing a trail of desperate first ascents in the Gunks; and on-sight free-soloing dozens of routes on many different rock types in many different countries, up to hard 5.10, at a time when the 5.11 grade was only starting to solidify. Barber climbed at Mount Arapiles in Australia; Dresden; Great Britain; Scotland; Russia; Mexico; as well as climbing all over the United States, from the crags of New England to Yosemite in California, and (seemingly) most crags in between.