Robert Lindley Murray Underhill (March 3, 1889 – May 11, 1983) was an American mountaineer best known for introducing modern Alpine style rope and belaying techniques to the U.S. climbing community in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

On July 19, 1931, Underhill and park ranger Fritiof Fryxell completed the "remarkable" first ascent of the North Ridge of the Grand Teton, which is rated IV, 5.7 in the Yosemite Decimal System.

[7] Departing Wyoming, Underhill went on to California at the invitation of Sierra Club leader Francis P. Farquhar, for the purpose of teaching the most advanced techniques of roped climbing and belaying developed in the Alps.

Underhill began by instructing a group of Sierra Club members in those techniques in the Minarets, practicing on the slopes of Mount Ritter and Banner Peak.

[8] After this introductory course, an advanced group led by Underhill and including Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn, Lewis Clark, Bestor Robinson and Glen Dawson traveled south to the Palisades, the most rugged and alpine part of the Sierra Nevada.

[9] There, on August 13, 1931, this party completed the first ascent of the last unclimbed 14,000+ foot peak in California, which remained unnamed due to its remote location above the Palisade Glacier.

After a challenging ascent to the summit, the climbers were caught in an intense lightning storm, and Eichorn barely escaped electrocution when "a thunderbolt whizzed right by my ear".

Three days later on August 16, Underhill, Clyde, Eichorn and Dawson completed the first ascent of the East Face of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States.

"[13] Underhill himself commented that "the beauty of the climb lies chiefly in its unexpected possibility, up the apparent precipice, and in the intimate contact it affords with the features that lend Mount Whitney its real impressiveness.

Three previous recipients of the award, Lynn Hill, Peter Croft and Alex Honnold, expressed dismay at Underhill's slurs and support for the renaming.