Lyle Closs grew up in Hobart, Tasmania and started climbing when he was 15. The Tasmanian climbing world was very small in the late 60s, with vast areas of cliff still untouched. Laid nylons ropes were the norm and Lyle’s first climbs were with people who still carried drilled-out steel nuts threaded with nylon rope for protection.
Lyle climbed for a while with local legend Reg Williams, and in the space of a few months in early 1971 the pair did the first ascents of the Candlestick sea stack from sea level, the Hazards Sea Level traverse at Coles Bay and the double traverse of the Geryon peaks as well as the first recorded climb on the Ben Lomond massif.
In the early 70s Lyle met Ian Lewis at school and over the next few years they acquired a reputation for hard climbing and hard living that reached beyond the shores of Tasmania. Between them they put up more than 100 new routes, many of which pushed the boundaries of local grades and climbing adventure, with classic routes including Third Bird and Chancellor Direct on the Organ Pipes above Hobart. Ian went on to do the second ascent (aided) of the Totem Pole with Kim Carrigan, Australia’s first multi-pitch grade 21 climb, Aqualung at Stacks Bluff, and what was the hardest climb in Australia at the time, Albatross (23) at Lowdina.
Lyle married and moved to Sydney and in 1988, with leading Australian mountaineer Greg Mortimer, organised the Australian Bicentennial Antarctica Expedition and made the first ascent of Mt Minto, 4163m, one of the highest mountains in Antarctica. He was a support climber on the 1990 US/Australian expedition which made the second ascent of K2’s North Ridge in 1990, and after moving to London with his family in 1991 Lyle made many first ascents of peaks and walls in Greenland.
A book of Lyle’s climbing writing, Climbing Glass, is available on Amazon as well as his book of the 1990 K2 expedition, K2 North Ridge 1990, and other non-climbing titles The cannibal trail about Tasmanian convict cannibals and a Western, A man named Revenge.
COMMON CLIMBER STORIES
CONTACT & BOOKS BY LYLE CLOSS
www.lylecloss.com
Lyle climbed for a while with local legend Reg Williams, and in the space of a few months in early 1971 the pair did the first ascents of the Candlestick sea stack from sea level, the Hazards Sea Level traverse at Coles Bay and the double traverse of the Geryon peaks as well as the first recorded climb on the Ben Lomond massif.
In the early 70s Lyle met Ian Lewis at school and over the next few years they acquired a reputation for hard climbing and hard living that reached beyond the shores of Tasmania. Between them they put up more than 100 new routes, many of which pushed the boundaries of local grades and climbing adventure, with classic routes including Third Bird and Chancellor Direct on the Organ Pipes above Hobart. Ian went on to do the second ascent (aided) of the Totem Pole with Kim Carrigan, Australia’s first multi-pitch grade 21 climb, Aqualung at Stacks Bluff, and what was the hardest climb in Australia at the time, Albatross (23) at Lowdina.
Lyle married and moved to Sydney and in 1988, with leading Australian mountaineer Greg Mortimer, organised the Australian Bicentennial Antarctica Expedition and made the first ascent of Mt Minto, 4163m, one of the highest mountains in Antarctica. He was a support climber on the 1990 US/Australian expedition which made the second ascent of K2’s North Ridge in 1990, and after moving to London with his family in 1991 Lyle made many first ascents of peaks and walls in Greenland.
A book of Lyle’s climbing writing, Climbing Glass, is available on Amazon as well as his book of the 1990 K2 expedition, K2 North Ridge 1990, and other non-climbing titles The cannibal trail about Tasmanian convict cannibals and a Western, A man named Revenge.
COMMON CLIMBER STORIES
- We Were Just Boys - Back in 1971, a young Lyle Closs and friend Ian are dropped off by Lyle's mom to attempt a first ascent of a sea cliff -- with minimal gear and know-how.
CONTACT & BOOKS BY LYLE CLOSS
www.lylecloss.com