in 1964. Photo by
Tom Frost. Chuck Pratt's first experiences were on the scrappy cliffs of
Bellingham, Washington's
Sehome Hill when he was in high school. In August, 1958, Pratt completed the first ascent of the
north face of Fairview Dome in
Tuolumne Meadows in
Yosemite National Park with Wally Reed, This climb, completed when Pratt was 19, is described as "marvelously direct" and a "memorable climb" in
Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. In 1959, he completed the first ascent of the East Face of
Washington Column (later called 'Astroman') in Yosemite Valley with
Warren Harding and Glen Denny. In 1960, he made the second ascent of
The Nose on
El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, a route pioneered by Warren Harding in 1958. He climbed with
Royal Robbins,
Tom Frost and Joe Fitschen, and they made the climb in one continuous push lasting seven days. Robbins said it was "the most magnificent and complete adventure of our lives." The first ascent had taken Harding's team 45 days of climbing spread over an 18-month period. On September 12, 1961, Tom Frost and Royal Robbins began the first ascent of the
Salathé Wall on El Capitan, named for pioneer Yosemite climber
John Salathé. Pratt was purchasing additional climbing equipment for the ascent during those first few days. Frost and Robbins spent two days establishing the first of the route, and then retreated to the valley floor, where they met up with Pratt, with whom they spent several more days pushing the route to above the valley floor. Once again, the climbers descended and resupplied. On September 19, they resumed the climb, and after days of intense vertical aid climbing they reached and surpassed "The Roof", a overhang. On September 24, the trio reached the summit. It had taken them a total of 11 days and 36 pitches of vertical climbing to finish the route, which is rated YDS VI, 5.10, A3. In October, 1963, he made the first free ascent of the
Kor-Ingalls Route on
Castleton Tower near
Moab, Utah, with
Steve Roper. In the summer of 1964, Pratt, Harding and
Yvon Chouinard spent five days in an alpine-style ascent of the South Face of Mount Watkins, located up
Tenaya Canyon, a side canyon of Yosemite Valley. The climb was completed in extreme heat with limited water supplies, leading to
dehydration of the three climbers. Pratt wrote in the 1965
American Alpine Journal: "By the fourth day, Yvon had lost so much weight from dehydration that he could lower his climbing knickers without undoing a single button. For the first time in seven years, I was able to remove a ring from my finger, and Harding, whose resemblance to the classical conception of Satan is legendary, took on an even more gaunt and sinister appearance." From October 22–31, 1964, with Robbins, Frost and Chouinard, Pratt made the first ascent of the North America Wall on El Capitan, YDS VI, 5.8, A5. Robbins described this climb in the 1965
American Alpine Journal: "The nine-day first ascent of the North America Wall in 1964 not only was the first one-push first ascent of an El Capitan climb, but a major breakthrough in other ways. We learned that our minds and bodies never stopped adjusting to the situation. We were able to live and work and sleep in comparative comfort in a vertical environment." Of this climb, Chris Jones wrote, "For the first time in the history of the sport, Americans lead the world." In 1965 he made the first ascent of
Entrance Exam (II 5.9) on Arch Rock in Yosemite Valley with
Jim Bridwell, Chris Fredericks and Larry Marshik. That same year, along with Fredericks, he made the first ascent of
Twilight Zone (5.10d), in the Cookie Cliff area, still regarded nearly half a century later as a difficult classic Yosemite Valley route. ==Legacy==