Connor Herson

Connor Herson (born 8 July 2003) is an American rock climber known for his achievements in traditional climbing and big wall climbing.

He has redpointed some of the hardest traditional routes in the world, including Cobra Crack (5.14b), Meltdown, Magic Line, Blackbeard's Tears, Crown Royale and Recovery Drink (all at 5.14c), and Bon Voyage (5.14d). He has also greenpointed notable hard sport climbing routes such as Empath at .

On 14 July 2025, Herson completed the first free ascent of Drifter's Escape, an established aid climbing route on the Stawamus Chief in Squamish, using traditional climbing protection. After completing the route, he proposed a difficulty grade of 5.15a, making it the first-ever traditional rock climb in history to carry that grade.

In Yosemite, he is one of only a few climbers to have free climbed The Nose , which he did in 2018 when he was aged 15. In 2025, he repeated a second free-climb of the The Nose and became only the third person after Lynn Hill and Tommy Caldwell to free-climb The Nose in a day (the NIAD), setting a new speed record at 9.5 hours. Herson has free climbed several other major big wall routes on El Capitan including making the first free ascent of Triple Direct , and repeating major routes such as Pre-Muir Wall , The Heart Route , The Salathe Wall , El Corazon and Golden Gate . His sister Kara is also a competition and big wall climber.

In 2026, Climbing magazine gave him their for his traditional climbing. In 2023, The American Alpine Club gave him their Robert Hicks Bates award for outstanding accomplishment and promise by a young climber. During this time he was studying for a degree in Electronic Engineering at Stanford University. As a senior, he received the Terman Award for outstanding academic achievement.

Filmography Born from the Climbing Life series: Episode 1, Crown Royale Episode 2, The Recovery Drink Episode 3, Bon Voyage Episode 4, Drifter's Escape Featured in the inaugural Mellow Film Tour; also a 5 Point Film Festival 2026 selection. Pirate's Code Traditional at Heart