Lake Tahoe bouldering guidebook author Dave Hatchett
Dave Hatchett moved from San Diego to Lake Tahoe in high school and has lived there ever since. He started climbing in 1984 and spent several seasons in Joshua Tree and Yosemite mainly focusing on traditional routes. While still in his teenage years he completed his first El Cap route and in the years to follow he climbed several more big walls and long free climbs in Yosemite. His close friend Kurt Smith showed him the value of doing first ascents early on and Dave quickly got the bug. After putting up hundreds of ground up trad routes and equipping hundreds more sport routes all around the west coast, all attention moved to bouldering. Dave has been a solid force in establishing new boulders all around Tahoe and is credited with being the main founder of the modern Sugar Pine boulders.
Dave also spent 10 years in the early 90’s as a pro snow boarder and was one of the early pioneers of big mountain riding in Alaska and Lake Tahoe. He spends his free time climbing, surfing, snowboarding and jamming with his heavy metal band “Fortress.” He currently lives in Lake Tahoe with his wife Melinda and daughters Mary Jane and Rowan.
