Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou

Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1963-05-08) May 8, 1963 (age 61)
Atlanta, Georgia
OccupationRock climbing coach
Height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight43 kg (95 lb)
Websiteraboutoufamily.blogspot.com
Climbing career
Type of climber
Highest grade
Known forWinning 4 World Cups and 1 World Championship
Medal record
Women's Lead climbing
Representing  United States
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Geneva Lead
Silver medal – second place 1993 Innsbruck Lead
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Frankfurt Lead
World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1989 Lead
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Lead
Winner 1992 Lead
Winner 1993 Lead
Winner 1994 Lead
Winner 1995 Lead
Rock Master
Winner 1994 Lead

Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou (born 8 August 1963), is an American rock climber and rock climbing coach. In competition lead climbing, she is a 4-time World Cup champion (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995), and won the biennial World Championships in 1995. She is the third-ever woman in history to redpoint a 5.14a (8b+) graded sport climbing route. She has coached several competition climbers, including Megan Mascarenas, Margo Hayes and her daughter, Brooke Raboutou.[1][2]

Climbing career

Competition climbing

Erbesfield won the world's first Climbing World Cup (Leeds in 1989) as a relative unknown. She quickly gained sponsorship and traveled around the world to compete on the new World Cup circuit. She went on to win the overall title for four consecutive World Cups from 1992 to 1995.[1][3]

Rock climbing

Coaching

She founded the climbing gym ABC Kids Climbing in Boulder, Colorado which focuses on developing agility, balance, and coordination in young climbers. Many of its graduates are climbing 5.14, and performing well in national and international climbing competitions.[4] Two of the four American athletes who qualified for the 2020 Olympics in sport climbing, Brooke Raboutou and Colin Duffy, were both members of Team ABC, which also produced Margo Hayes, the first woman to climb a 5.15a (9a+) route, and Natalia Grossman, the 2021 bouldering world champion.[5]

In 2018 she was inducted into the Boulder Sports Hall of fame.[6]

Personal life

Erbesfield married French rock climber Didier Raboutou [fr] in 1993, and their two children, Brooke Raboutou and Shawn Raboutou, are themselves accomplished rock climbers.[3]

Rankings

See also: Best IFSC results

Climbing World Championships[7]

Discipline 1991 1993 1995
Lead 3 2 1

Climbing World Cup[8]

Discipline 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Lead 3 4 3 1 1 1 1

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup

Lead[7]

Season Gold Silver Bronze Total
1989 2 1 3
1990 1 1 2
1991 1 2 1 4
1992 2 3 5
1993 3 3 6
1994 4 4
1995 2 1 1 4
Total 14 10 4 28

Notable Climbs

Redpointed

8c (5.14b):

  • Welcome to Tijuana - Rodellar (ESP) - July 2012 - Her first 8c, at age 49 becoming the oldest American to climb the grade[9]

8b+ (5.14a):

On-sighted

8a+ (5.13c):

8a (5.13b):

Bibliography

  • Noble, Chris (November 2013). Women Who Dare: North America's Most Inspiring Women Climbers. Falcon Guides. ISBN 978-0762783717.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou – pioneer and coach". The Circuit.
  2. ^ Emma Murray (August 5, 2016). "Record-setting Raboutous". Boulder Weekly. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Johanna Flashman (January 20, 2018). "Robyn Esbesfield-Raboutou is coaching the next generation of crushers". Climbing. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  4. ^ Abbey Smith. "Our Members: How Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou Makes Kids into Elite Climbers". American Alpine Club.
  5. ^ Osius, Alison (July 29, 2021). "How Team ABC Built Two Olympic Climbers Brooke Raboutou and Colin Duffy". GymClimber. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  6. ^ "Chris Weidner: Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and the ABCs of strength, commitment". Daily Camera. May 2018.
  7. ^ a b IFSC, ed. (July 20, 2017). "Erbesfield's profile and rankings". Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  8. ^ IFSC, ed. (July 20, 2017). "World Cup Rankings". Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  9. ^ "Robyn Erbesfield sends her first 8c". UK climbing. July 20, 2012.
  10. ^ "Erbesfield-Raboutou: 5.14a at Age 45". Climbing.com. June 15, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2018.