Allen Frame Hill

1962 - 2016

Allen Frame Hill, 53, died at his home in Denver on March 24. He was born on April 24, 1962, in Oklahoma City, and also lived in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Littleton, Colo. He graduated from Arapahoe High School in 1980. He attended Colorado College and graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science in 1987. His love of the mountains was fostered at Cheley Colorado Camps, in Estes Park, where he hiked and backpacked in Rocky Mountain National Park. He later took up rock climbing, which became one of his lifelong passions. He was especially interested in the history of mountaineering and owned many books on the subject. Allen was co-producer and co-director, with his friend John Catto, of the 2001 documentary film "Jump!," about rock climbers and spire jumpers in the Czech Republic. The film won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, starting with the International Mountaineering Film Festival in the Czech Republic, where it won both grand prize and audience prize. For several years, Allen had been working on a film about the "Club Vagabond," a group of climbers in Europe in the 1960s who congregated at a hotel in Leysin, Switzerland. Allen is survived by his parents, Vernon and Margaret Hill, of Centennial, Colo.; two sisters, Marilyn Hill, of Pasadena, Calif., and Catherine Lay, of Albuquerque, N.M.; a brother, David Hill, of Denver; two nephews, Jack Lay, of Albuquerque, and Ethan Hill, of Middletown, Conn.; and a niece, Sarah Lay, of Albuquerque. Donations in Allen's name can be made to the John Austin Cheley Foundation, P.O. Box 912780, Denver, CO 80291. Allen's friends are invited to celebrate his life at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., 1634 18th St., in downtown Denver, on Saturday, June 4, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.