Francis Farquhar Named to Outdoors Hall of Fame
January 2008Pioneering climber and conservationist Francis Farquhar has been named to the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. Farquhar, a two-time AAC vice president and an editor of the American Alpine Journal, was twice president of the Sierra Club and served on its board for 27 years. He made the first ascent of Middle Palisade, the last fourteener in California to be climbed, and was instrumental in the introduction of modern belaying techniques to America. As editor of the Sierra Club Bulletin, he published a seminal article by Robert Underhill called “On the Use and Management of the Rope in Rock Work,” and then invited Underhill to California in 1931 to teach Californians the ropes.
The California Outdoors Hall of Fame cited his long and influential work for the Sierra Club, including the successful effort to incorporate the Kern River country into Sequoia National Park. Farquhar died in 1974.