人类最早的攀登记录，是公元1492年在法国的国王King Charles VIII命令Dompjulian de Beaupre, Captain of Montelimar去攀登一座名为Inaccessible的石灰岩塔，高度为1000英呎，当时带着简单的钩子和梯子，凭着经验和技巧而登顶成功，而那座山后来被命名为Mt. Aiguille，成为历史上第一个有记录并使用装备来攀岩的事件，比起后来的登山活动还要早好几百年。 http://www.bigwalls.net/climb/mechadv/index.html
Paul Preuss对于攀岩而言是一个具有相当影响力的人，当年他是首位提出"artificial aid." (人工辅助)这个名词的人，他主张：人们不应该爬他不能徒手下攀的路线，岩钉只能用在紧急情况下。Paul Preuss攀登过许多的路线，1913年他尝试独攀Manndlkogen北面时坠落身亡，享年27岁。他所提出的六条规则对于后来的自由攀登有深远的影响。
The six rules of Preuss:
One should not only be equal to any climb that one undertakes, but be more than equal to it.
The standard of difficulty which a climber can conquer with safety when descending, and for which he can consider himself competent, with an easy conscience, should represent the limit of what he should attempt on his ascent.
Hence the use of artificial aids only becomes justifiable in case of sudden threatening danger.
The piton is an emergency aid and not the basis of a system of mountaineering.
The rope may be used to facilitate matters, but never as a sole means to make a climb possible. (meaning tension traverses were OK, but not pendulums).
The principle of safety is one of the highest principles. Not the spasmodic correction of ones own want of safety, obtained by the use of artificial aids, but that true primary safety which should result, with every climber, from a just estimate of what he is able, and what he desires, to do.
1931年Sierra Club的实际精神领袖Francis P. Farquhar，他邀请了当时世界知名的英国登山家Robert L. M Underhill来传授基本的登山技术，他是第一个将欧洲攀岩技术传入美国的人，彻底的改变了美国的攀登形态，也奠定了Yosemite攀登的基础。他将肩式确保(belay)、下降(Rappel)、人工攀登(Aid)这些绳索的技术传授给当时Sierra俱乐部其它的成员，包括Dick Leonard, Bestor Robinson, Jules Eichorn等人。在此之前人们攀登约瑟米提峡谷(Yosemite)大多是属于角度不太大只需要徒手就可以完成的路线。
而Sierra俱乐部很快地将他们的登山记录出版，并将从Tahquitz山所发展出来的难度系统( Sierra Club Decimal Rating System)附在每一条路线上，使得( Sierra Club Decimal Rating System)很快就成为美国攀岩路线难度的标准，后来这种难度系统又称为( Yosemite Decimal Rating System)，也就是我们现在所熟知的Y.D.S难度系统。
1973
首次全部由女子组成的攀登队伍完成了 El Cap -- Sibylle Hechtel and Bev Johnson climb Triple Direct (a combination of three routes: the Salathe, the Muir, and the Nose)。
1975
John Long、Jim Bridwell、Billy Westbay三人首次在一天之内完成Nose。
1979
Ray Jardine、 Bill Price首次以自由攀登方式完成El Capitan的西面。
1989
Parapalegic climber Mark Wellman and Mike Corbett ascend the Nose Route of El Capitan
1991
Peter Croft、Dave Schultz创下以两小时20分完成 El Cap西面West Face of El Cap in 2:20.
1992
Hans Florine and Andreas Puhvel speed climb Salathe Wall of El Cap in 8:56. Steve Schneider solos a one-day ascent of Salathes in June/92 in 21:44. Hans Florine and Peter Croft speed climb the Nose in 4:22 in June/92. The first female one day ascent of the Nose occurs in June/92 as well--17:40, by Nancy Feagin, and Sue Mcdevitt.
1993
Lynn Hill, America's premier rock climber, makes first free ascent of The Nose. In August Hans Florine solos the nose in 14:10.
1994
In June/94, Hans Florine and Steve Schneider speed climb The Nose (6:29) and the Steck-Salathe route on Sentinel (3:50) with a total time of 14:00. In October/94 Hans Florine executes a trifecta of El Capitan's The Nose (5:42), Lurking Fear (8:52) and West Face (4:31) for a total time of 23:01.
1947年，世界上第一次有组织、有规则，事先声明有奖品的攀登比赛，是在1947年夏天在俄罗斯Russian 的Dombai (West Caucasus)的岩壁举行，由Ivan Antonovich这个组织指对登山向导所办的比赛。参加的向导必须独自攀登两条路线，一条是上攀加下攀。另一条是30米的横渡，以完成路线的时间来决定成绩。