Oliver Perry-Smith

Oliver Perry-Smith was an American rock climber, mountaineer and skier who moved to Dresden in 1902 and lived in the area until he returned to the USA in 1914.

Early life and family connections

Perry-Smith was "of distinguished ancestry". His father, also called Oliver Perry-Smith, served in the Spanish-American War and died in Havana from complications of typhoid fever. His mother was Katherine Crosby Beale, the daughter of Truxtun Dixon Beale, whose grandfather was Thomas Truxtun, one of the first six commanders that President George Washington appointed to the new United States Navy. His relatives also included the newspaper magnate Edward “Ned” Beale McLean who married Evalyn Walsh McLean, the owner of the Hope diamond.
After his father's death his mother remarried and went to live in Dresden whilst Perry-Smith attended St. Paul's School. In 1902 he also moved to Dresden where he studied at Dresden's Technische Hochschule which later became Dresden University of Technology.

Climbs in Saxon Switzerland

He became well known in the Sächsische Schweiz for the first ascents of major sandstone rock towers such as:

Schrammtorwächter in 1905
Kanzelturm in 1905
Teufelsturm in 1906

and first ascents of several climbing routes that are still very popular today, e. g.:

Spannagelturm Perrykante VIIb in 1906
Falkenstein Südriss in 1913
Daxenstein Klavier in 1913
Daxenstein Perryriss in 1913

Details of his early first ascents on the sandstone spires are included in the climbing guide published by his friend and regular climbing partner Rudolf Fehrmann in 1908, entitled "Der Bergsteiger in der Sächsischen Schweiz".
In total "he made more than 90 ascents in Saxon Switzerland, 33 of which are rated VI or above; there were 32 first ascents, 13 solo climbs and 36 additional ones on which he led".

Alps

On a trip to the Dolomite Alps in 1908 he and Rudolf Fehrmann made a number of first ascents.

The most famous is the "Fehrmann Corner", V−, on Campanile Basso, SW face . Despite its name, this long route was led by Perry-Smith.
A few weeks earlier they had made the first ascent of the north face of Cima Piccola di Lavaredo, V,, 15 August 1908.

He was also active in the Western Alps, his first visit there was in 1903 when he climbed with Josef Knubel of St Niklaus. In 1909 he joined forces with Geoffrey Winthrop Young, who described him as "one of the finest of transatlantic climbers”, together with Knubel they made the first ascent of the north-east buttress of the Weisshorn on 31 August, that route is still graded as TD.
His "repeated ascents include also Weisshorn, Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Zinalrothorn, Wellenkuppe, Obergabelhorn, Kleine Zinne".

Skiing

Beside his achievements in climbing, he was an accomplished skier who competed in both cross-country-skiing and ski-jumping and won the 8th Austrian ski championship held in 1914.

Personal life

In October 1911 he married his wife Agnes at Schreiberhau, where their first son was born, also named Oliver Perry-Smith. Perry-Smith returned to USA with his family in September 1914 and they had 3 more sons. All of the four boys were skiing and ski jumping from an early age and the youngest, Crosby, was part of the 1952 US Olympic Ski Jumping Team in Oslo, Norway, 1952. Another son, Dixon, married the world figure skating champion Hedy Stenuf.
Oliver Perry-Smith was elected an Honorary Member of the American Alpine Club.
There are a number of anecdotes depicting Perry-Smith as a rather unusual character:

When people doubted his ascent of 'Perryriss', he climbed that route again and wrote in big letters 'Perry' on the rock..
He owned a Bugatti race car and got in trouble with the police several times for driving fast and hazardously.
He was once arrested and then committed for disturbing the peace by threatening people with a pistol in Bad Schandau.