Lynn Hill was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 3, 1961. She grew up in Fullerton, California. 

Hill is the fifth of seven children. Her mother was a dental hygienist and her father an aerospace engineer.

Hill was an active child who excelled in running, gymnastics, and climbing. She liked to climb everything; from trees to street lights.

When Hill was 8 years old, she did gymnastics but hated how the girls “had to smile and do cutesy little routines on the floor". So, even though she was doing very well in the sport, she quit at the age of 12.

Hill tells how she influenced others to be “resistant to rules”, especially the ones that are unfair to women’s rights and racial freedom. Hill brought these issues to light and helped others fight against them.

Hill even noticed at a young age how in her family, the boys only had to do weekly tasks while the girls had daily ones.

In high school Hill did gymnastics again and improved so much that she was one of the top gymnasts of the state! This skill eventually helped Hill to a great extent for her success and career in climbing.

Hill’s ability to conceptualize a series of complex movements as small, distinct ones and to be able to not succumb to pressure helped Hill against other competitors.

Lynn Hill was already into climbing competitively in the 1980s, but her first big accomplishment was in 1979. She was the first person to free climb Ophir Broke in Ophir, Colorado, rated a 5.12d. It was the hardest route ever climbed by a woman (not free climbing) and it was the most difficult crack climb in Colorado and in the top three with Yosemite.

Long was amazed by Hill’s ability. He has said "that's when I knew for certain that this woman had extraordinary talent".

In her autobiography, Hill explains how it was this first big climb that she realized it isn’t somebody’s height that keeps them from not climbing well, its their creativity and mindset. She states, "The big lesson for me ... was to realize that despite what appeared to be a limitation due to my small stature, I could create my own method of getting past a difficult section of rock. John's size and power enabled him to make long reaches and explosive lunge moves that were completely out of my range. I, on the other hand, often found small intermediate holds that John couldn't even imagine gripping ... Short or tall, man or woman, the rock is an objective medium that is equally open for interpretation by all."

Because of her amazing climbs in The Gunks, Hill was invited to climb in Europe in 1986. The French Alpine Club had invited her and some other elite American climbers to climb in the Verdon Gorge, Fontainebleau, and Buoux.