Pete Cleveland Was a Father Figure to Many Who Put Up Midwestern First Ascents Using “Ancient Gear”

Every January, we share a tribute to members of our community who we lost last year. Some were legends, others were pillars of their community, all were climbers. Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.

Pete Cleveland, 84, October 5

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Dr. Pete Cleveland was one of the great climbers of his time, but it’s not obvious at first glance. In early October of 2025, he “hung up his harness” for the last time at the age of 84.

On a cool spring morning in South Central Wisconsin, an old man in a raggedy button-up shirt with a red Pirates baseball cap rolled up in his little red Ford Ranger pickup. Peter Grant Cleveland (1941-2025) was a regular on weekend outings with the Chicago Mountaineering Club. He showed up like clockwork every weekend to climb on the slick quartzite of Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin, where smearing doesn’t work. He was in his early 70s and past his prime, but still outclimbed many strong climbers.

Upon arrival at the outing, Pete would immediately strike up a conversation with anyone within earshot range. His great conversational skills and the large library of topics in his mind would immediately commence a long discussion on a selected subject. He loved engaging conversations and had a demeanor that made it easy to let the conversation flow. Often, we would have to “rescue” a poor victim who didn’t know how to escape the black hole vortex of Pete’s prolific conversational skills. A common tactic was to call out, “Pete, I need you to belay me!” to distract him and end a 20-minute conversation with a new climber who was too polite to do so themselves.

There’s only one Pete Cleveland in the universe, but he had many facets of interests he could discuss at length. He was the self-proclaimed last general practitioner medical doctor in America. Pete graduated from the prestigious Rush Medical College in Chicago after earning a degree in chemical engineering from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Besides climbing, medical-related topics as well as science were favorite subjects at the crag or evening campfire. Sometimes he would bring medical journals with mark-ups underlined to share the latest exciting development in science at the crag.

However, Pete was best known as a legendary rock climber who pushed the envelope, using ancient gear, to establish first ascents around the country. Many of those first ascent were at Devil’s Lake. The 1960s and 1970s were his prime days, when he established some of the hardest grades of the time. Some of the routes he established at Devil’s Lake are still out of range of most climbers today. Just Googling his name will return many examples. Pete first climbed a route called Superpin (5.11 X) in the Needles of South Dakota that some say nobody has repeated to date.

But to many, Pete’s biggest accomplishment was being a great friend and climbing mentor. Often, you would see him take time to teach young kids the art of climbing. He was patient and encouraging.

Pete was also a “climbing father” to many. When belaying climbers struggling in a difficult crux, he was a cheerleader shouting words of encouragement, with plenty of beta spray. Everyone needs a “climbing father” who believes in them. He fit those shoes well.

As a single father, he was not perfect, but he admirably pursued perfecting fatherhood. Even at his memorial, you could feel the love he had for his son and daughter from the way they spoke about him.

In recent years, Pete battled health issues limiting his climbing, but he was making a strong comeback and still showed up to his climbing community regularly. On his final day of climbing, Pete was injured during a rappel and sadly did not recover.

Pete Cleveland is one of a kind. A kind friend and mentor we will always miss.

“Pete, you’re off belay.”

Read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2025 here.

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