William Pendleton House (1913–1997) was an American climber.[1] [2] [3] [4] Bill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1913, and died on December 18, 1997, in Peterborough, New Hampshire.[5] In 1936, along with Fritz Wiessner, he and Wiessner became the first people to climb Mount Waddington (Mystery Mountain) in Canada, a mountain on which there had previously been sixteen unsuccessful attempts.[1] On the 1938 American K2 expedition, he was the first to climb House's Chimney when he free-climbed it in 1938. It was subsequently named after him.[1] [2] [3]
-Graduate of Yale Forestry School,Leader of Yale Mountaineering Club.
-Avid at "buildering", nighttime climbing on sides of buildings
-First Ascent "House" route, South Colony Lake Cirque, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado
-1934 second ascent of New Hampshire's Pinnacle Gully
-1934 new route on Jagged Mountain, San Juan Mountains, Colorado
-1937 First "regular "Ascent of Devil's Tower, Wyoming, without relying on hammered in wooden pegs.
-Developed own pitons for alpine climbing
-Key role with Quartermaster General in production, design, and testing gear for 10th Mountain Division. Namely aluminum pitons and instrumental in the first nylon climbing rope.