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Climbing & Gymnastics . . . A Historical Association  

Page 5  

Former Gymnastic Climbing Events - the 20 & 25 Foot Rope Climbs                  


I did the 20' rope climb from 1954 to 1967. Competitive rope climbing was once an Olympic event but was discontinued there many years ago due to its inappropriate nature among an artistic gymnastic venue.  At the college level, it persisted until the early 1960s, until it was phased out there, too.
Garvi Smith in full stride

The Initial Pull

The climber ascended a 20' length of 1.5 " diameter natural fiber rope, starting in a seated position on the floor with legs outstretched - the rope lying on the floor between them. You leaned back and executed an explosive pull and surge upward, kicking the legs as you strode up the rope. You only kicked your legs - an energetic "stride" - you didn't use legs or feet on the rope. The first move gave the momentum for the rest of the climb.




Garvin Smith, on left, showing a better start than Elmer Huckins - 1950s 

               Garvin Smith, on right, in full stride  

Notice how Smith leans back with an open body as he starts the climb. The strength necessary to do this effectively is the same strength required to do a  front lever on the still rings.

I got started climbing rope after I had finished the gymnastics course at Georgia Tech, and began occasional practices with several members of the Tech Gym Squad. I didn't join the team, even though Lyle Welser, the coach, wanted me to, for I was carrying 21 quarter hours and doing some rock climbing (and midnight buildering), as well as pledging and getting involved in fraternity affairs.

At practice, rope climbers would cultivate that beginning surge of power by doing consecutive muscle-ups on the high bar. I think I got up to about 10 of those in a row (roughly the number of regular pull-ups I do now!). Coach Welser used to say that rope climbers should climb a mile of rope a week. I can't recall anyone coming close to that requirement! He also had the climbers run up and down the stadium steps to build endurance.  There was a flat pan coated with lamp-black at the top of the rope that you were required to reach up and touch. You were timed by stopwatch. This was a major problem, for it took several timers to time the event - and their times were averaged in some fashion. Lots of opportunity here for human error. Ironically, an automated electronic timing system had been developed in the mid 1950s by a graduate engineering student at Georgia Tech, but not adopted.

I remember two of the rope climbers at Tech when I was there:  The late "Bo" Stokes and Jack Keen.  Jack, one year my senior, was a pole vaulter as well as a gymnast. When he wasn't pole vaulting or throwing the javelin, he would wander into the gym, pull a perfect front lever on the horizontal bar, and fly up the rope several times. Although I don't recall him being faster than Bo, his style was extremely impressive due to his incredible strength. Back outside, he would frequently walk a barrel upon which he was doing a handstand down the length of the field. I heard that Jack took the Army Fitness Test and set a new record. On campus, his name inspired a certain awe, if not outright hero-worship! He got a degree in Industrial Management, then became a high school coach, founded the Atlanta Track & Field Association, and upon retirement in 2003 was named to the Coaches Hall of Fame in Georgia.


A little history . . . 

Legs held horizontally Competitive rope climbing in one form or another has existed since before the rise of the Roman Empire. There is evidence Greeks did rope climbing and tumbling in gymnastic tournaments as far back as 776 bc. The Hellenic Games of 1859 included the event in some form and the 1896 Olympics included the event in its gymnastics category, and, indeed, it remained in the Olympics through the 1932 Games.

In the 1896 Games, the rope was 15 m high and the gymnasts had to climb it from a seated position on the ground, with their legs held out, straight and horizontal, the whole way. (The event was held outdoors, in a large stadium).

Some reports state that only two climbers could reach the top, while other reports state that only one climber completed the ascent. In any event, the winner was the Greek,  Nikos Andriakopoulos, and from the nature of the points awarded, competition must have been judged on  a combination of actual speed and climbing form. The winning time was 23.4 seconds.

Above: A Navy gymnast from the 1940s doing the L-position climb, as in the 1896 Olympics    

1906 Competition In the 1904 Games, it would appear that the height of the rope had been reduced to 8 m, and speed may have been the sole grading criterion, for the event was won by an American, George Eyser, in a time of 7.0 seconds. Eyser had a wooden leg!  An interim Games was held in 1906, with G. Alimbrantis winning gold in rope climbing. The tiny photo on the right shows the 1906 (outdoor) rope climbing event in the background, near the stadium entrance. In the 1924 Olympics, B. Supcik won with a time of 7.2 seconds, and in the 1932 Games, another American, Raymond (Ben) Bass, won with a time of 6.7 seconds.

After rope climbing was discontinued in the Olympics (post 1932), it remained a viable sport in America, sanctioned by the AAU and NCAA, for another thirty years. But, at some point, climbing a slightly shorter rope became a separate event.

In 1947 Garvin Smith set a world record for the American equivalent of the previous Olympic sport :  4.7 seconds on the 25' rope. But, prior to that, in 1936, Thomas Gucker III of Princeton had established a world record of 3.8 seconds for the 20' climb. Even twenty years later, the best times in, for instance, the Southern Intercollegiate Gymnastic League - where the 20' rope was used - were slightly above this. The sport - for both lengths - reached its zenith in the 1950s in the AAU and NCAA gymnastic competitions.
                                                                                                                                                                                              Smith's Powerful Arms
Three top competitors of that period were Garvin Smith (Cal State at LA), Robert Manning (West Point), and Donald Perry (UCLA). Smith won a title in 1947, while Perry won a series of titles during 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, and 1954. Perry won the 1954 NCAA title for the 20' climb with an astounding time of 2.8 seconds. In addition, he won the 1955 Pan-American Games with a time of 2.9 seconds, showing his record the previous year was no fluke. At some later time, it is said that Paul Davis, a Berkeley gymnast, equaled Perry's record.

                                                                                        Garvin Smith's powerful arms 

Manning won the 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958 AAU titles with unrecorded times, but certainly greater than 2.8 seconds. Garvin Smith won the Pan-American Games title in 1959 at Navy Pier in Chicago with a time of 3.0 seconds for the 20' climb. And, at some point during the 1950s, Smith set the existing world record for the 25' climb, at 4.2 seconds.  By 1963 both events had been discontinued in the AAU, and probably in the NCAA as well.                                                   
                                                                                  
The world record of   2.8 seconds  held by Don Perry of UCLA is faster than most people can pull a loose 20' rope on the floor between their legs!

Additional Personal Observations . . .  

Virtually all my climbing was done outside of formal competitions. My fastest recorded time on the 20' rope, 3.4 seconds, was in an informal gymnastics group setting at the University of Georgia (which had no gym team) in 1958. My father - a professor at the University - held one of the stopwatches. The next year I climbed rope, worked out on the still rings, and helped out a little with Coach Bob Kreidler's University of Chicago team as I studied meteorology for the USAF. 

Competitive-style rope climbing was terrific preparation for dynamic climbing, and was a major influence on my perspective of rock climbing. It would be a wonderful divertissement, an activity for modern rock climbers to resurrect, although pressures within the climbing community make that possibility unlikely. It now takes most if not all of top rock climbers' athletic time to remain competitive in their sport. Rope climbing would not be a profitable use of their time. However, for others, it would provide an interesting challenge.

Don Perry was a very normal looking person as I recall, without Smith's powerful muscles. This infers that perhaps women could excel in this forgotten sport . . . To the best of my knowledge there has never been a competitive-style female rope climber, although female circus performers regularly climb ropes or poles.  Furthermore, I believe the world record - established in the 1950s - for consecutive one-arm pull-ups (about 24) is still held by a Canadian female circus performer from that era. There is, however, a distinct possibility that she didn't perform them from full extension. Beyond that, there is substantial uncertainty about any sort of world record in this strength category. Claims abound on internet forums. And, good luck trying to get an answer from Guinness Book of World Records!