Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, philanthropist, and outdoor industry businessman.

His company, Patagonia, is known for its commitment to protecting the environment.

He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.

Chouinard is also a surfer, kayaker, and falconer and is particularly fond of tenkara fly-fishing.

He has written about climbing issues and ethics and on mixing environmentalism and business.

Chouinard's father was a French-Canadian handyman, mechanic, and plumber.

In 1947, Yvon and his family moved from Lewiston, Maine to Southern California.

They were Catholic.

His early climbing partners included Royal Robbins and Tom Frost.

A Sierra Club member, in his youth he founded the Southern California Falconry Club, and it was his investigations of falcon aeries that led him to rock climbing.

To save money and to make adaptations for the way he was climbing, he decided to make his own climbing tools by teaching himself blacksmithing, and eventually started a business.

Chouinard was one of the leading climbers of the "Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing."

In 1957, he bought a second-hand coal-fired forge, and started making hardened steel pitons for use in Yosemite Valley.

Between time spent surfing and climbing, he sold pitons out of the back of his car to support himself.

The improved pitons were a big factor in the birth of big-wall climbing from 1957 to 1960 in Yosemite.

The success of his pitons caused him to found Chouinard Equipment, Ltd.

In the late 1960s, Chouinard and business partner Tom Frost began studying ice climbing equipment, and re-invented the basic tools (crampons and ice axes) to perform on steeper ice.

In the latter 1960s, Chouinard attempted a number of significant technological and technique changes to ice climbing after trips to the Alps in Europe and Sierra Nevada ice gullies in autumn.

He removed the flex from crampons, making them more rigid for front-pointing.

He drew the taper of a rock hammer into a point for better ice purchase.

He increased the cross section of ice screws while also using lighter materials.

He experimented with pick and blade issues with ice axes.

Prior to this, much of ice climbing was seen as mere step cutting.

He attempted to replace hand ice picks (climbing type) with a small ice axe head called a Climaxe.

In 1961, he visited Western Canada with Fred Beckey, and made several important first ascents, including the North Face of Mount Edith Cavell (Rockies), the Beckey-Chouinard Route on South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos (Purcell Mountains), and the North Face of Mount Sir Donald (Selkirk Mountains).

These climbs opened his eyes to the idea of applying Yosemite big-wall climbing techniques to mountain climbing, and his advocacy was important to modern, high-grade alpinism.

Also in 1961, he visited Shawangunk Ridge for the first time, freeclimbing the first pitch of Matinee (the hardest free climb done at Shawangunk Ridge at the time); and introducing chrome-molybdenum steel pitons to the area, which revolutionized climbing protection.

He participated in the first ascent of the North America Wall in 1964 (with Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, and Chuck Pratt), using no fixed ropes.

The next year, his and TM Herbert's ascent of the Muir Wall on El Capitan improved the style of previous first ascents.

Chouinard became the most articulate advocate of the importance of style, the basis of modern rock climbing.

In 1968, he climbed Cerro Fitzroy in Patagonia by a new route (The Californian Route, 3rd overall ascent of the mountain) with Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores, and Douglas Tompkins.

Chouinard has also traveled and climbed in the European Alps and in Pakistan.

Around 1970, he became aware that the use of steel pitons made by his company was causing significant damage to the cracks of Yosemite.

These pitons composed 70 percent of his income.

In 1971 and 1972, Chouinard and Frost introduced new aluminum chockstones, called Hexentrics and Stoppers, along with the less successful steel Crack-n-Ups, and committed the company to the advocacy of the new tools and a new style of climbing called "clean climbing."

This concept revolutionized rock climbing and led to further success of the company, despite cannibalizing the sales of pitons, formerly his most important product.

They applied for a U.S. patent on Hexentrics in 1974, and it was granted on April 6, 1976.

These are still manufactured by Black Diamond Equipment.

These new tools and his book Climbing Ice (1978) started the modern sport of ice climbing.

He was one of the protagonists of the film made about this era: Valley Uprising (2014).