Beth Rodden (born April 5, 1980) is an American rock climber known for her ascents of hard single-pitch traditional climbing routes.
Her work impressed free climbing pioneer Lynn Hill, who invited Rodden to make the first all-female ascent of Madagascar's Tsaranoro Massif in 1999.
[3] In 2006, Beth and then husband Tommy Caldwell, competed in the 2006 Triple Crown Bouldering Series to raise money for climber's access.
[4] In February 2008, Rodden redpointed the first ascent of Meltdown, a thin sustained crack in Yosemite previously projected by Ron Kauk.
[7] On a climbing trip to Kyrgyzstan's Kara Su Valley in August 2000, Rodden, then-boyfriend Tommy Caldwell, and fellow climbers Jason "Singer" Smith and photographer John Dickey were held hostage for six days by rebels from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
At midnight on August 18, the commander left them all to search for batteries for the radio as well as food, leaving only one guard, Ravshan Sharipov,[9] to watch the four captives.