royal robbins was an all—american rock—climbing hero. new techniques. royal died last month at the age of 82, so we asked three great us climbers to tell us why he is still such an inspirational figure. iam the i am the founder of patagonia. i met royal at stony point in the san fernando valley, where we kind of all learned to climb. we were lucky to be part of the golden age of yosemite climbing. in to be part of the golden age of yosemite climbing. “119611, to be part of the golden age of yosemite climbing. “11964, royal yosemite climbing. in 1964, royal asked me to come along on the first ascent of the north american wall. i had always told my parents that i was a climber, but didn't know what that meant. then one day they are looking at the television, and on the nightly news, there was a helicopter going by the north american wall at help cap, and they zoomed in on these crazy guys hanging from hammocks. my parents just about fell off their sofa. the first time in their lives they realised what climbing really meant. when they did it