Jim Bridwell

Birth : 1944-07-29, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Death : 2018-02-16

History

Jim Bridwell (born 1944) is an American rock climber and mountaineer, active since 1965 especially in Yosemite Valley, but also in Patagonia and Alaska. He is noted for pushing the standards of both free climbing and big-wall climbing, and later alpine climbing. He has written numerous articles on climbing for leading sport publications. Bridwell is credited with over 100 First Ascents in Yosemite Valley, in addition to conducting the first one-day ascent of The Nose of El Capitan on May 26, 1975 with John Long and Billy Westbay.[1] He founded Yosemite National Park's Search and Rescue Team (YOSAR), and spearheaded many rescues that became textbook for Search and Rescue operations. He was a leading force in the changing techniques of climbing and an innovator/inventor of widely used and copied climbing gear, including copperheads and bird beaks.

Profile

Movies

Valley Uprising

Himself

In the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley, climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service. And up on the walls, generation after generation has pushed the limits of climbing, vying amongst each other for supremacy on Yosemite's cliffs. "Valley Uprising" is the riveting, unforgettable tale of this bold rock climbing tradition in Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.

Cerro Torre: A Snowball's Chance in Hell

Self

Movie about David Lama climbing the Patagonian mountain Cerro Torre for the first time free, a mountain that has been dubbed the most difficult to climb in the world.

Jim Bridwell, The Yosemite Living Legend

Jim Bridwell was one of the best climbers in the world in the 70s, 80s. The documentary chronicles Bridwell's career from those early days to his final ascents in 2001. The film traces Jim Bridwell's journey through numerous interviews with other legendary free climbing personalities such as Leo Houlding and Ron Kauk. See him climb some of Yosemite's historic routes with today's young climbers paying homage to this true legend of free climbing. In an unpublished document from 1981, he is seen in one of his famous Zodiac ascents in El Capitan with and Fred East.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Stunt Coordinator

The crew of the Federation starship Enterprise is called to Nimbus III, the Planet of Intergalactic Peace. They are to negotiate in a case of kidnapping only to find out that the kidnapper is a relative of Spock. This man is possessed by his life long search for the planet Sha Ka Ree which is supposed to be the source of all life. Together they begin to search for this mysterious planet.