North America, United States, Arizona, Oak Creek Canyon, Pic de Coubertin

Publication Year: 1997.

Oak Creek Canyon, Pic de Coubertin. In celebration of the Olympic Centennial, the UIAA (which was in the area for a committee meeting) hired two local guides, Cameron Kern and Richard Elmquist, to climb an unclimbed formation, fix both pitches, and allow the UIAA delegates present to jumar to the top. The climb took two days; the delegates named the formation Pic de Coubertin. By all accounts, the quality of the rock ranged from horrid to wretched, and the formation may never see a second ascent.