{{Short description|American mountain climber and inventor (1959–2024)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Use American English|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = John Middendorf | image = johnMidd.jpg | alt = | caption = Middendorf, 2006 | birth_name = John William Middendorf IV | birth_date = {{birth date|1959|11|18}} | birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|06|21|1959|11|18}} | death_place = Little Compton, Rhode Island, U.S. | other_names = Deucey | known_for = Big wall climbing and founding A5 Adventures, a big-wall-equipment manufacturing company. | notable_works = Grand Voyage, Trango Towers 1992 | spouse = Jeni Middendorf | children = 2 | mother = Isabelle Paine Middendorf | father = J. William Middendorf | education = Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Stanford (1983) MA, Architectural Design Harvard MA, Teaching University of Tasmania | alma_mater = Stanford | occupation = Climbing | nationality = }}
'''John William Middendorf IV''' (November 18, 1959 – June 21, 2024) was an American big wall climber, mountaineering writer and designer of climbing equipment.
In the 1980s, he climbed the hardest walls of Yosemite, including El Capitan and Half Dome, and in 1992 he climbed the largest rock wall in the world, Great Trango Tower. Also in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he pioneered numerous difficult big wall routes in Zion National Park. He was also a renowned portaledge designer and writer.
== Biography == Middendorf began climbing after discovering the sport at summer camp when he was 14 years old. After finishing high school he travelled across the United States, before heading to Dartmouth College. After a year, he transferred to Stanford University, where in 1983 he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lucas |first=James |date=July 12, 2024 |title=Remembering John Middendorf, Influential Climber, Inventor, and Activist |url=https://www.climbing.com/people/remembering-john-middendorf/ |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=Climbing |language=en-US}}</ref> After graduation, he headed to Yosemite where he worked as a member of the search and rescue team, and pioneered many new routes.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Half Dome : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost |url=https://www.summitpost.org/half-dome/150378 |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=www.summitpost.org}}</ref>
=== Equipment maker === While climbing on Half Dome, a failure of a portaledge nearly led to the death of Middendorf and his companions Steve Bosque and Mike Corbett, and Middendorf became interested in better designs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Middendorf |first=John |title=Rescue on Half Dome |url=https://www.bigwalls.net/climb/rescue.html |access-date=September 10, 2019 |website=www.bigwalls.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lucky Rescue in the Sierra (see bottom of page) |url=https://www.bigwalls.net/climb/rescue.html |access-date=September 10, 2019 |website=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Middendorf decided to leave Yosemite in 1986 and founded A5 Adventures Inc., to design and manufacture portaledges in Flagstaff, Arizona.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="commonclimber.com">{{Cite web |title=John Middendorf : A Big Man for a Big Stone |url=https://www.commonclimber.com/john-middendorf.html |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=COMMON CLIMBER |language=en}}</ref>
Based on his near-death experience, Middendorf's portaledge designs were among the first that could withstand the severe weather of high alpine destinations including the Himalayas and Karakoram. A5 went on to design and manufacture a variety of big-wall climbing gear, including aiders, slings, haul bags and packs, climbing protection hardware, and other items.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.bigwalls.net/new2016/1996Catalog.pdf |title=A5 Catalog 10 |publisher=A5 Adventures, Inc. |year=1996}}</ref>
=== Great Trango new route === In 1992, Middendorf achieved recognition for the first ascent of the East Face of Great Trango Tower (6,286 m) in Pakistan's Karakoram range with Xaver Bongard. As a two-man team climbing in lightweight alpine-style, they were the first to successfully summit and descend the largest rock face involving big wall climbing of Great Trango Tower.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://classic.mountainzone.com/climbing/trango/ |title=On the Big Stones |work=Mountain Zone |access-date=April 14, 2010}}</ref> All attempts of this wall previously had ended in tragedy<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/norwegians_repeat_historic_trango_route/ |title=Norwegians Repeat Historic Trango Route |work=Climbing Magazine |publisher=Skram Media |access-date=April 14, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828033115/http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/norwegians_repeat_historic_trango_route/ |archive-date=August 28, 2008 }}</ref> or were unsuccessful at reaching the summit.<ref name="TrangoAAJ">John Middendorf, ''Great Trango Tower, East Face, ...'', ''American Alpine Journal'' (''AAJ''), 1993, pp. 263, lines 7-11 (available as a pdf file, see External links)</ref>
''The Grand Voyage'' ascends the 1,350 metre vertical and overhanging rock wall of Great Trango to the East Summit of Great Trango Tower at 6,231 metres.<ref>[https://www.bigwalls.net/climb/Grand.html bigwalls.net, Grand Voyage], with topo (Retrieved April 14, 2010)</ref> Over 2,000 metres of climbing is involved from the Dungee Glacier. The 1992 new route required 15 days and nights to climb and three days to descend, using portaledges specifically designed and constructed by Middendorf's A5 Adventures, Inc.<ref name="commonclimber.com"/>
thumb|John Middendorf in the Wind River Range, 1991.
=== Move to Australia and environmental activism === In 1997, A5 Adventures Inc. was acquired by The North Face. Middendorf remained at the company as a Senior Product Manager for several years, but then stepped away from creating climbing equipment. He then sought new adventures as a writer, journalist and tour guide in the Grand Canyon. It was during his time as a tour guide where he met his wife, Jeni.<ref name=":0" />
In 2003, Middendorf began studies in fabric materials engineering in Sydney, Australia. While in Australia, he visited climber, Paul Pritchard in Tasmania and fell in love with the region.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=February 27, 2017 |title=Big wall climbing being reinvented in Tassie shed |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-28/john-middendorf-reinvents-portaledge-for-extreme-climbers/8306108 |access-date=August 14, 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> Middendorf and his family moved to Tasmania, Australia in 2006. There, he continued to climb, and got involved in environmental activism, contributing portaledges to activists working to save old growth forests.<ref name=":0" /> Middendorf also became an educator in the Tasmanian school system.<ref name=":1" />
In 2016, he began building climbing equipment once more, under a new brand name, D4. The next year, while employed as a high school mathematics, science, and robotics teacher in the Tasmanian school system, he began a three-year redesign of portaledges, cumulating in the two-person D4 Delta2p design and the three-person D4 Delta3p design, the first “foot-out” portaledge designs. He also built a number of other designs, including the D4 Trapezium, a small compact shelter that he personally tested in high winds and extreme weather in the forests of Tasmania as part of protests against the denuding of Tasmanian temperate rainforests.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2018 |title=Portaledge Protesting In Tasmania by Joy Martin |url=https://climbingzine.com/portaledge-protesting-in-tasmania-by-joy-martin/ |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=The Climbing Zine |language=en-US}}</ref> After building over a hundred portaledges and networking with the world’s best bigwall climbers, he considered the design “mature” — meaning completely patterned and tested in the field with successive prototype batches — and made all his design work open-source, with all construction and engineering details available on his Web site, Bigwalls.net. One design, the "DIY Activist Ledge" was created specifically for non-violent protests, allowing activists to occupy giant trees safely and for low material costs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smart |first=Dave |date=December 7, 2023 |title=Yosemite Climber Turns to Saving Old Trees |url=https://gripped.com/profiles/yosemite-climber-turns-to-saving-old-trees/ |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=Gripped Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Death === John Middendorf died in his sleep on June 21, 2024, from a suspected stroke on a family visit. He was 64.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 23, 2024 |title=Big Wall Climber John Middendorf has Died |url=https://gripped.com/profiles/big-wall-climber-john-middendorf-has-died/ |access-date=June 24, 2024 |website=Gripped}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C8ibh6YOkkN/?igsh=MWoxb3BhOGd6OXowYQ== |access-date=June 24, 2024 |website=www.instagram.com}}</ref>
== Researcher and writer == Middendorf wrote extensively on climbing and activism topics, with many published articles and books dating to 1987, notably for the American Alpine Club.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 25, 2024 |title=Remembering John Middendorf |url=https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2024/6/25/remembering-john-middendorf |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=American Alpine Club |language=en-US}}</ref> Between 2021 and 2023, he completed a two-volume history of climbing tools and techniques dating back several centuries titled ''Mechanical Advantage: Tools for the Wild Vertical''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 29, 2023 |title=The Line — November 2023 |url=https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2023/11/27/the-line-november-2023 |access-date=August 14, 2024 |website=American Alpine Club |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv253296 John Middendorf papers, 1931–2002]. Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division. Logan, Utah.
== External links == * [http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1995/98_bongar_trango_aaj1995.pdf" John Middendorf, ''Great Trango Tower, East Face, Swiss-American Expedition''] ''American Alpine Journal'' (''AAJ''), 1993, pp. 260–263, with further photographs on pp. 257, 264 (Retrieved April 14, 2010) * [https://www.bigwalls.net/ www.bigwalls.net, John Middendorf's Big Walls Website] with many [https://www.bigwalls.net/climb/index.html articles] by him (Retrieved April 14, 2010) * [http://bigwallgear.com bigwallgear.com, John Middendorf’s historical climbing tools and technique articles] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Middendorf, John}} Category:1959 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American inventors Category:21st-century American inventors Category:American mountain climbers Category:American rock climbers Category:Sportspeople from New York City Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Category:University of Tasmania alumni