Pat Ament

Climber-Turned-Singer-Songwriter

Pat Ament (born September 3, 1946) is an American rock climber, filmmaker, musician, and artist who lives in Fruita, Colorado. Noted for first ascents in the 1960s and 1970s, he is the author of many articles and books. Ament began climbing in 1958, and by the mid 1960s had established the first 5.11 climbs in Colorado (Supremacy Crack) and Yosemite (Center Route on the Slack). A college gymnast, he was a dedicated boulderer and put up many challenging problems on Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, Colorado, elsewhere in Colorado and in Yosemite Valley. His climbing and bouldering companions over the years have included Royal Robbins, Bob Kamps, Don Whillans, Tom Higgins, John Gill, and Layton Kor. Ament's best known written works are his biographies of Royal Robbins and John Gill. He wrote a compendium of ascents and climbers in his 2002 work, "Wizards of Rock: A History of Free Climbing in America," and his "Climbing Everest" is a philosophical essay, adorned with cartoons by the author. Ament is a poet and artist. He won the "Artist Award" from the Art Department of the University of Colorado in 1967. He is a photographer and has given talks around the country, illustrated with his photos. He was twice guest speaker for the British National Mountaineering Festival and has won several awards for films he has made, including from Austria and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In September, 2013, Ament was inducted into the Boulder Sports Hall of Fame. In 1971, at the age of 25, Pat Ament self-released his debut album, Songs By Pat Ament, in a very limited run for friends and local shops. The album is sparse and moody, conjuring a space not unlike the one that Songs Of Leonard Cohen occupies, featuring Ament on Wurlitzer with a jazz drummer and a guitarist alternating between acoustic and electric. It's dark and at times forlorn, with meditations on yearning and loss and love. It's ideal long-night-of-the-soul music. The lyricism evokes Dylan, Cohen, Tim Hardin and Bill Fay. When he released Songs, Ament was already a world renowned mountain climber, and he became famous for pioneering '60s and '70s ascents in Colorado and Yosemite. He wrote poetic books and essays on climbing, including biographies of legendary climbers Royal Robbins and John Gill. Through the years he's balanced multiple simultaneous careers as artist, photographer, filmmaker, chess master, karate black belt, lecturer, teacher, and, yes, singer-songwriter. Pat Ament's musical mastery was clear right out of the gate but it was only one of his many interests. Perhaps if he hadn't been moved to pursue life's other tempting summits and focused solely on music, he'd be as well known for his songs as for his climbing.