For more than six decades, Pete Cleveland was a climbing fixture in the Midwest.
He was best known for his solo ascent of a dangerous 6,270-foot peak in South Dakota called Superpin nearly 60 years ago, according to the South Dakota Public Broadcasting Network.
Even at age 80, Mr. Cleveland remained an avid rock climber. Weather permitting, he would go climbing every week at Devil’s Lake State Park near his home in Wisconsin and walk at least a mile every day, his son, Daniel Cleveland, said in an interview Wednesday.
On Sunday morning, Mr. Cleveland, a retired doctor, was with a group of climbers in the national park and rappelling down a cliff when he fell about 25 feet, his son said.
Mr. Cleveland was still alive when help arrived, but he died from his injuries before he could be treated, authorities said.
“It was an accident and we’re shocked,” said Daniel Cleveland, an Atlanta resident who owns an escape room business.
“He loved climbing. That’s an understatement,” he said.
Young Mr. Cleveland often climbed with his father when he visited. Climbing groups would stop in their tracks and exclaim, “Wait, it’s Pete Cleveland!” » he said, adding that the excursions he took with his father and son are among his fondest memories.
Pete Cleveland was born in Boston on August 3, 1941 and began climbing in local clubs as a teenager. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an undergraduate and then moved to Chicago to study medicine. He eventually started his own practice in Baraboo, Wisconsin, according to his son.
Mr. Cleveland met his future wife, Rosanne, at the Chicago Mountaineering Club, a climbing community founded in 1940. The couple separated when Daniel was a young child. In addition to Daniel, Mr. Cleveland is survived by his daughter, Amy, and three grandchildren.
On Wednesday, the club shared details on social media of a celebration of life to be held in Mr Cleveland’s honour, calling him a “dear friend”.
As a doctor, Mr. Cleveland never hesitated to give health advice, according to his son. One of his mantras was to keep moving forward, Daniel Cleveland said. He said his father’s active lifestyle may have been the secret to his ability to stay agile in his later years.
As news of Mr. Cleveland’s death spread, dozens of people posted tributes on social media and online climbing forums, calling him an unsung hero among climbers and a supportive mentor to newcomers to the sport.
Mr. Cleveland began climbing the slopes of Devil’s Lake State Park in the mid-1960s and visited regularly, according to his family. The park is approximately 37 miles northwest of Madison, Wisconsin, and is the most popular park in the state. It attracts more than 2.5 million people each year and has more than 1,000 climbing routes across 10,000 acres.
The slope from which Mr. Cleveland fell on Sunday is on a trail called West Bluff and has an elevation of 400 feet. It is considered a moderate to difficult route, according to the park’s website.
In a tribute on social media, Daniel Cleveland said his father could be “mercurial” at times.
“He could talk at length about climbing or science or current events, but was not the quickest to tell me he loved me or was proud of me,” his son said in the interview.
“You want your parents to be proud of you. For him, it was hard-won,” he said. That tough love motivated the young Mr. Cleveland to earn his father’s respect by raising a happy family, being a successful entrepreneur and staying physically fit, he said.
Mr. Cleveland became gentler and “mellowed” as he grew older, his son said. The last time they saw each other was in September, when Daniel Cleveland visited. When he returned home to Atlanta, he received an email from his father. “He said he really enjoyed our time together,” Daniel Cleveland said.
His father was resilient, he said, and didn’t believe in dwelling on the past. “He reminded me that we need to move on and that life goes on,” he said.
