Sibylle Hechtel

Born in Germany to a world-renowned climber, Sibylle started scrambling on rocks in early childhood. As a teen, she climbed in Yosemite with her father, where he introduced her to Galen Rowell, Yvon Chouinard, Steve Roper and others. She did first ascents in Yosemite Valley with Rowell, and went on to do first ascents in the Wind Rivers, Bugaboos, and Columbia Icefields. She followed this by the first all-female ascent of El Capitan (Triple Direct, with Beverly Johnson), and ascents of the Salathe (1975) and Nose (1977, clean on nuts and stoppers). She completed her Ph.D. in biology, and worked in academics until she discovered that working 7 days weekly was incompatible with climbing, and switched to working as a freelance writer. She then joined expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, Everest, and Shishapangma, where she found that carrying loads is a lot easier when using trekking poles. She's written for Alpinist, Climbing, Rock and Ice, and others.