Wolfgang Güllich (24 October 1960 – 31 August 1992) was a German rock climber, who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. Güllich dominated sport climbing after his 1984 ascent of Kanal im Rücken, the world's first-ever redpoint of an route. He continued to set more "new hardest grade" breakthroughs than any other climber in sport climbing history, with Punks in the Gym in 1985, the world's first-ever , Wallstreet in 1987, the world's first-ever , and with Action Directe in 1991, the world's first-ever .
Güllich was the first-ever person to free solo at grade with his 1986 ascent of Weed Killer, and in that same year did his iconic free solo of Separate Reality. He made first ascents of important new big wall climbing routes on the Trango Towers and the Paine Towers. With long-time climbing partner Kurt Albert, he revolutionized the training techniques for sport climbers, and the introduction of the campus board in particular. Güllich carried the mantle of "world's strongest sport climber" until his death in a car accident at age 31, after which it would be later taken up by Chris Sharma.
Early life
Wolfgang Güllich, was born in 1960 in Ludwigshafen, West Germany; the first son of Ursula and Fritz (Snr) Güllich. His father introduced him to aid climbing at the age of 13, and by age 15, he was climbing almost every weekend in the Südpfalz region with his younger brother Fritz (who in 1978 would die in a climbing accident). After an encounter with Reinhard Karl, a leading figure in German mountaineering at that time, Güllich decided to apply himself intensively to climbing, and to free climbing in particular – which at that time was traditional climbing as sport climbing was still not widely practiced.
Climbing career
Güllich quickly became one of the best climbers in his region, making the first free ascent of the aid route, Jubiläumsriss (VII-), at the age of 16. In 1981, he left the sandstone Südpfalz region to live in the limestone Frankenjura region, where a group of leading German and British climbers were starting to raise standards, including German climber Kurt Albert and British climber Jerry Moffatt, who both become life-long friends and training partners of Güllich. In 1983, Güllich freed the first German grade IX+ route, Mister Magnesia, weeks before Moffatt freed Eckel (XI+), also in the Frankenjura.
Güllich made several notable trips to the US, coming to international attention in 1982 with the first repeat of 's historic 1979 route, Grand Illusion in Lake Tahoe. He also completed most of the other hardest routes in the US at the time including Equinox in Joshua Tree, and Cosmic Debris in Yosemite. On a 1984, visit to the Shawangunks he repeated Intruders and Project X. On a 1986 trip, Güllich made his iconic free solo of Separate Reality, , in Yosemite, photographed by . Güllich travelled extensively including to China, the USSR and to the Sinai Desert. On a 1986 trip to Britain, he did the world's first-ever free solo at on Weed Killer at Reven Tor, but later broke his back falling from Master's Edge at Millstone Quarry.
In 1984, Güllich would begin an extraordinary series of years where he would create several hardest new grade sport climbs in the world – the most of any climber in history. He started by redpointing the first-ever X, in history with Kanal im Rücken. The next year, on a trip to Australia, he redpointed the first-ever X+ in history with Punks in the Gym. In 1987, Güllich redpointed the first-ever XI- in history with . In 1991, he made the first-ever redpoint of a XI, in history with Action Directe, which was described as "Güllich's Masterpiece". In 2019, Francis Sanzaro, the editor of Rock & Ice, called the 1991 photograph Güllich, mid-flight on the crux dyno of Action Directe, as "the most iconic photo of hard climbing ever taken".
In addition to driving new grades of sport climbing routes, in 1989, Güllich, Kurt Albert, Christof Stiegler, and Milan Sykora, added what was called a "milestone" in big wall climbing with the first ascent of Eternal Flame (IX- A2) on the Nameless Tower in the Karakoram. In 1991, with Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Norbert Bätz and Peter Dittrich, they made another breakthrough in big wall climbing with Riders on the Storm (IX A3) on the Paine Towers in Patagonia. Güllich believed high altitude big wall climbing was in its early stages, and the expeditions allowed him to recharge from sport climbing.