High Drama: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of American Competition Climbing - Paperback

by John Burgman (Author), Kynan Waggoner (Foreword by)

One afternoon in 1987, two renegade climbers in Berkeley, California, hatched an ambitious plan: under the cover of darkness, they would rappel down from a carefully scouted highway on-ramp, gluing artificial handholds onto the load-bearing concrete pillars underneath. Equipped with ingenuity, strong adhesive, and an urban guerilla attitude, Jim Thornburg and Scott Frye created a serviceable climbing wall. But what they were part of was a greater development: the expansion and reimagining of a sport now slated for a highly anticipated Olympic debut in 2020.

High Drama explores rock climbing's transformation from a pursuit of select anti-establishment vagabonds to a sport embraced by competitors of all ages, social classes, and backgrounds. Climbing magazine's John Burgman weaves a multi-layered story of traditionalists and opportunists, grassroots organizers and business-minded developers, free-spirited rebels and rigorously coached athletes.

Author Biography

John Burgman has been reporting on competition climbing for the better part of a decade. He writes regularly for Climbing and Climbing Business Journal. He is a Fulbright grant recipient and the author of two previous books, Why We Climb: A Dirtbag's Quest for Vertical Reason and Island Solitaire.
Kynan Waggoner is the former CEO of USA Climbing, the national governing body of the sport of competition climbing in the United States.