Rock Climbing Legend Layton Kor Died in 2013

Layton Kor, born in Canby, Minnesota in 1938, was one of the best and most famous American rock climbers of the 20th century. Layton passed away on Sunday, April 21, 2013 at age 74 after a long illness in Kingman, Arizona.

Layton Kor Loved Rock Climbing

Layton Kor was simply a man who loved climbing and during his prime years in the 1960s there was no one else in the United States who could match his list of both new routes and repeats except perhaps Royal Robbins.

Layton, at six-foot five-inches tall, was more than a physical giant among climbers. His reputation for fast climbing, fast driving, and a gung-ho, go-for-it attitude gave him an amazing energy and appetite for new unclimbed routes, making Layton Kor a rock climbing legend even while he was still maturing as a climber.

Kor Opened Routes at Eldorado Canyon and The Diamond

Layton was a whirlwind who climbed everywhere. He established classic routes at Eldorado Canyon near his Boulder, Colorado home, including The Yellow Spur, T2, and The Naked Edge. On the East Face of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Kor made the second ascent of The Diamond via The Yellow Wall, a new route. He also climbed extensively on other peaks and cliffs in Rocky Mountain National Park, including Kor’s Flake and Crack of Fear at Lumpy Ridge and routes on the East Face of Hallett Peak. Layton Kor made many of the first wall routes at the intimidating Black Canyon of the Gunnison in western Colorado, including The Diagonal and The Kor-Dalke which later became The Cruise after Jimmie Dunn and Earl Wiggins free-climbed it.

Kor Made Many First Ascents Near Moab

Layton Kor also made a serious mark in the red rock country around Moab, Utah and northern Arizona. Layton did the first ascent of The Titan in 1962, an ascent documented in an article in National Geographic Magazine, as well as did the first ascent of Castleton Tower and many other towers near Moab, including Standing Rock, Monster Tower, and Argon Tower, and in Monument Valley on the Navajo Reservation.

Kor Established New Route on El Capitan

In Yosemite Valley, the heart of Yosemite National Park, Layton Kor made early ascents of TheNose and Salathe Wall on El Capitan and then put up his own route, the West Buttress, with Steve Roper in 1963. In 1964 he did the first ascent of the South Face of Washington Column, now a trade route for aspiring big wall climbers and the Gold Wall near Ribbon Falls in 1965.

Layton Kor on Tragic Winter Ascent of Eiger North Face

Kor was also on the tragic first winter ascent of The Eiger North Face in Switzerland in 1966. Kor teamed up with elite climbers Dougal Haston, John Harlin, and Chris Bonington to climb a direct line up the Eiger. Kor led many aid pitches up vertical rock in severe weather conditions including one hard A4 pitch that Bonnington told me was “one of the finest aid pitches” he had ever witnessed. Harlin died in a fall from the face after an abraded fixed rope broke while he ascended it. Layton found Harlin’s body at the base of the wall in the snow and collapsed sobbing. After the accident, Haston teamed up with a team of German climbers, who cut loose the fixed ropes, and finished the route to the summit.

Kor Loved Fishing and Diving

After years of furious climbing adventures, Layton Kor broadened his adventure horizons which included his love for fishing as well scuba diving. Layton lived in a variety of places from Colorado to the Phillipines and Guam to Crescent City in northern California before settling into retirement at Kingman, a dry Route 66 city in western Arizona.

Visiting Mr. Kor at Kingman

I was fortunate to spend a lot of time during the last few years of Mr. Kor’s life with him. I often visited with Layton at his home in Arizona and talked and reminisced about climbs we had done together, our various climbing partners, climbing areas we loved, and wild places that we still wanted to visit, as well as getting out and climbing on the volcanic cliffs and towers around Kingman.

First Ascent of Tower of Kor

The last big adventure Layton Kor went on with me was an attempt in 2011 with Englishman Dennis Jump to do the first ascent of an unclimbed 350-foot-high tower that Layton called The Coke Bottle. We did three pitches up a big chimney system in 90-degree temperatures before bailing off when our water and supply of bolts ran short. I returned the following year in February 2012 with Dennis Jump and Brian Shelton to complete the five-pitch route up the 350-foot-high tower which we officially named the Tower of Kor to honor a great climber and a great friend. We named our route Hard Kor (III 5.10- or 5.8 C1). At that time Layton was too ill to climb the tower with us.

Rest in Peace Big Daddy

Rest in peace Layton. Find some big walls and pick out some new routes. Wait for us on the other side of the mountain and we’ll go climbing over there…