This Joyful Swiss Climber Had an Indelible Impact on Utah’s Wasatch Range

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.

Franziska Garrett, 70, October 17

On my first desert climbing trip in Utah—almost two decades ago—in Ibex, my partner and I were standing on the hardpan, looking at the routes, when up drove James and Franziska Garrett in their van.

James asked if we needed a guidebook—because he’d written one! We gratefully accepted, and that night we camped together. They invited us to travel with them for the next week, visiting areas James and Franziska were developing.

That spirit of generosity and passion had a profound influence on me, and on the path that led to my work with the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance (SLCA) for the next two decades. The love and spark between James and Franziska was unmistakable. I’ll always remember Franziska calling up softly, “Schindler …” That was their signal for James to take up the slack. Or, as she would tell me with a smile, “elevator” (Schindler is a manufacturer of elevators). Her joy and kindness lifted everyone around her.

Born and raised in Bern, Switzerland in 1954, Franziska was an accomplished Utah climber whose partnership with James produced a wide range of first ascents on granite, quartzite, and sandstone formations throughout the western United States and abroad. A few classics she contributed to include, but are definitely not limited to:

• Black Streak (5.10a/b PG13), Devil’s Castle, Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT (FA 1986, with James)
• Broken Dankles (5.7), White Rocks, West Desert, UT (FA party noted in route history)
• Stealing Thunder (5.10 PG13), Pingora, Wind River Range, WY (FA contribution 1994, with Fred Beckey and team)
• Beyond Plaisir (aka, BYOND) (5.10a), Pontok 3, Spitzkoppe Range, Namibia (equipped and published in 2006 with James)
• Routes in Utah’s West Desert including Pyute Pockets, The Cleft, and Stinger 

Active during a formative era for climbing in Utah’s Wasatch Range, Franziska helped establish several modern classics now featured in local and national guidebooks. Her contributions span alpine, desert, and international venues, marking her as one of the quiet yet influential figures in late-20th-century Wasatch climbing.

Her work remains documented in Wasatch Granite, Ruckman Guides, and numerous American Alpine Club and Mountain Project reports. She was also an active member of her local climbing community and a member of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance.

When SLCA shared the news of her celebration of life service, Conrad Anker commented: “Franziska was one of the people who always had a smile. In the `80s, we would meet up for dinner with James and whoever else was about. Even though time and distance separated us, she was always part of the recurring memory cache of peeps we love.”

Franziska grew up in a small apartment on Monbijoustrasse within a few blocks of the capital building. The middle daughter of three, her mother always called her “Das Gluckskind,” The Happy Child. Her older sister Kathrin once told me that she would run home after school because she was so excited to do her homework. She excelled in school and went on to advanced High School Gymnasium Kirchenfeld. It was here where she met her lifelong friend Madeleine Blanchard. They went on to study Medicine at Universität Bern, graduating in 1979.

Together with her husband James, Franziska moved to the United States, settling in Utah in 1981. After completing her residency at LDS Hospital, she became board certified in internal medicine. Almost immediately, she was recruited by Intermountain Health to work in their new urgent care clinics, where she was employed from 1984 until 2022, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She continued to climb as long as she could.

In between work, Franziska and James climbed, skied, and traveled the world, living a life of love and adventure. She always remained extremely close with her Swiss and American families of sisters, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, in-laws, and countless friends, especially those in the Kandertal Valley of Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland.

By all standards, Franziska lived a full and amazing life.

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

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