New Website to Help Iconic American Climber Layton Kor
Layton Kor is simply one of the great American climbing icons. Layton, now 70 years old, went on an unrivaled climbing binge for 10 years from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. He traveled around the United States, putting up new and extreme routes wherever he went.
Layton’s marks are everywhere—the second ascent of The Salathe Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite; the second ascent of The Diamond in Rocky Mountain National Park; a new route on The Eiger North Face in winter; first ascent of Castleton Tower and The Titan near Moab, Utah; countless first ascents on his home cliffs around Boulder, Colorado; and even new routes at The Gunks in upstate New York and Ragged Mountain in Connecticut. Everyone who has been a serious rock climber for the past 40 years has been following in Layton Kor’s giant footsteps.
Now, however, Kor suffers from kidney disease and is having difficulty meeting all his copays and deductibles for dialysis treatments, drugs, and a future kidney transplant. Back in the spring I began selling signed photographs of Layton Kor from his 1963 first ascent of Monster Tower in Canyonlands National Park and donating the funds to him to help out.
To further advance the fundraising effort, I joined with Steph Davis, one of the best women climbers in the United States today, and set up the website laytonkorclimbing.com to raise more funds for Layton’s medical expenses. Alison Osius with Rock and Ice Magazine wrote a wonderful article “Thanks for the Dreams” in the new issue (#181) about Layton Kor and our efforts.
We’re offering lots of pretty cool prizes for donations to the Layton Kor Fund, including great gear packages from Marmot, Five Ten, PrAna, Mammut, MSR/Thermarest, Clif Bar, The North Face, and Backcountry.com. We also have some fabulous opportunities to climb classic Layton Kor routes with some other pretty darn famous American climbers like Tommy Caldwell, Conrad Anker, Steph Davis, Jimmie Dunn, and Eric Hörst.
If you’re interested in helping out, visit laytonkorclimbing.com and read the Rock and Ice article. Just in the short time that the website has been live, we’ve had a gratifying response from climbers around the world who want to help Layton. Our climbing fraternity is generous, respectful, and always willing to lend a belay to a fellow climber in need. Thanks!
Photograph above: Signed print of Layton Kor atop Monster Tower after the first ascent in 1963, Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Photograph © Layton Kor Collection
Comments
I have read about the climbs Layton had done else where on the internet. A remarkable man with great climbing talent. A shame to hear that he is not very well these days.
Mount Everest The British Story
It is not Castleton Tower, it is Castle Rock. My family have been in Moab, UT for over 100 years. The rock is called Castle Rock, don’t feel bad even National Geographic got it wrong.
Thanks Colleen. I know the name on the USGS map is Castle Rock, however, climbers have called it Castleton Tower ever since Layton Kor and Huntley Ingalls climbed it in 1961…somehow that name was given to it along the way and climbers have always called it that, so if I referred to Castle Rock they wouldn’t know what I was talking about! Sort of a double bind situation…
Kraig at ‘The Adventure Blog’ has stepped up also with a post.
DSD
Hey all, I added Layton to Givv.org – you can easily support the cause and stay anonymous, give to other important causes (like the Access Fund!) at the same time, and give in small amounts. Check it out: http://givv.org/recipients/layton-kor-climbing
Jake at The Mountainworld has posted too,
D
Tom at AllClimbing and Wade at the OutPost Outdoorzy blogs have also raised their voices.
D