Bob Swift

Born in Tsingtao, China in 1930. By school age his family had moved to the Bay area. After high school he attended University of California, Berkeley where he rowed on the crew team. At Berkeley he became an avid mountaineer and joined the Sierra Club rock climbing section. In 1952 Swift and Allen Steck made the first ascent of Yosemite Point Buttress. In 1954 Swift, Warren Harding and Frank Tarver made the second ascent of the Lost Arrow Chimney, then one of the most challenging routes in Yosemite.