THE CLIMBERS

For nearly 2 decades, professional photographer Jim Herrington has been
working on a portrait series of influential rock and mountain climbers. The
Climbers documents these rugged individualists who, from roughly the 1930s to
1970s, used primitive gear along with their considerable wits, talent, and
fortitude to tackle unscaled peaks around the world. Today, these men and
women are renowned for their past accomplishments and, in many cases, are the
last of the remaining practitioners from the so-called Golden Age of 20th
century climbing.

The Climbers is a twenty year photography project that celebrates personages
from the Golden Age of climbing. The portraits document in searing detail many
of the preeminent founders of the sport. These innovators, some of the most
adventurous of all time, were active in a unique period of unbridled
exploration.

Now aged beyond their most active years, the visible mortality and frailty of
the subjects alerts us to a reality often glossed over by the dominant cult of
youth in adventure sports. As survivors of intense experiences, the effects of
lives spent in pursuit of extremes is made obvious. Jim Herrington renders in
images captured on black and white film a simulacrum of the subjects›
groundbreaking spirit.