Chuck Kroger and his bride Kathy Green, pulled into Telluride in 1979 and attended their first Mountainfilm, never missing a show for the next 29 years. A legend in California’s late-1960s climbing crowd, Chuck pioneered the sport of “buildering” at Stanford University. By his early thirties, he climbed his way into the record books, with first ascents in Yosemite and the Sierras and ratcheting four big-wall routes on El Capitan in one season (1968 to 1969). Climbing took him to Alaska, the Alps, the Soviet Union, South America, and eventually Colorado.

A self-taught welder, Chuck crafted rail bikes, snow riding “butt boards” and ice bicycles for cruising frozen rivers. A philanthropist at heart, he volunteered for organizations to build homes for the less fortunate.

The spartan Kroger conquered the Hardrock 100, Get High Race and Imogene Pass Run. In the mountains he loved, he built new trails—many unsanctioned. One of his final feats was a series of secretly placed steel steps and handholds, modeled after the via ferrata of Italy’s Dolomites.

Telluride lost a part of its mystique—an inventor, artist, philanthropist, adventurer, rebel and indomitable spirit—when Chuck died on Christmas Day, 2007.

Beth Wald and Rick Ridgeway will join Timmy O’Neill and others to pay tribute to Chuck with a mix of films, photos and testimonials. Lito Tejada-Flores will be part of this program and also play his classic climbing film, Fitzroy.
- Mary Duffy