Derek Hersey
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock climber
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
and for many years an icon of the Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
climbing scene. Hersey was a master of unroped "free solo" climbing, often in the 5.10–5.11 range. Few climbers have tried to repeat his achievements, which include many of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
's hardest traditional routes.
Originally from Stretford
Stretford
Stretford is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is to the southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Salford and northeast of Altrincham...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Hersey was also known for his beatnik lifestyle and easygoing personality. Hersey was universally regarded as a kindly, modest man with a weakness for Toothsheaf Stout, his favourite beer. He referred to Eldorado Canyon
Eldorado Canyon State Park
Eldorado Canyon State Park is part of the Colorado State Park system. It is located in Boulder County near the city of Boulder. The park consists of two areas, the Inner Canyon and Crescent Meadows . The park encompasses with a variety of recreation opportunities available...
as his 'office', where he could be seen on any day of the week, if not on a road trip to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
or elsewhere. He also referred to Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
's Liquor Mart as 'The Shrine', and described his climbing-chalk bag as 'my bag of courage'. Hersey was featured in Climbing Magazine and posthumously in the film Front Range Freaks. He was five feet, eleven inches tall and weighed 138 pounds. He spoke with a strong Manchester accent.
Hersey was introduced to climbing by his father, who went hiking near Manchester every week. Hersey learned to climb on the gritstone
Gritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
. In 1983, after being unemployed for five years in England, Hersey decided to travel to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Hersey's efforts to push the limits of his sport earned him the nickname "Dr. Death". Hersey was perhaps most famous for his exploits in Eldorado Canyon, but his resume includes many other remarkable ascents (and descents). Among them was his free-solo ascent of Crack of Fear, a sustained 5.10+ off-width route at Lumpy Ridge
Lumpy Ridge
Lumpy Ridge is a prominent series of rocky cliffs, slabs, and buttresses adjacent to and north of the town of Estes Park, Colorado. Lumpy Ridge lies inside of Rocky Mountain National Park. Lumpy Ridge is well known for rock climbing.-External links:*...
, Colorado; and an amazing effort on the Diamond (a 275-m wall on Longs Peak
Longs Peak
Longs Peak is one of the 53 mountains with summits over 14,000 feet in Colorado. It can be prominently seen from Longmont, Colorado, as well as from the rest of the Colorado Front Range. It is named after Major Stephen Long, who explored the area in the 1820s...
), when he free-soloed ascents of two routes and downclimbed another in a single day.
Derek Hersey died on May 28, 1993, in an accident while soloing the Steck-Salathé Route
Steck-Salathé Route (Sentinel Rock)
The Steck-Salathé Route is a technical climbing route up Sentinel Rock. The route was first climbed June 30 - July 4, 1950, by Allen Steck and John Salathé, up the north face of Sentinel Rock in Yosemite Valley....
without protective gear, on Sentinel Rock
Sentinel Rock
For the granite dome near Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, see Sentinel Dome.Sentinel Rock is a granitic peak in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. It towers over Yosemite Valley, opposite from Yosemite Falls....
in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
. He fell several hundred feet to his death. Craig Luebben, a friend of Hersey, speculated that he encountered slippery rock. A spokesman for the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
notes there was no rainfall in the area that day. The search for Hersey's body was featured in a report on the CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
program 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
.