Old Roubidoux Photos

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Messages 1 - 64 of total 64 in this topic
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 4, 2011 - 12:22pm PT
There's a lot of really old archive stuff from around 1910-30 that has a "Twilight Zone" kind of vibe to all of us who grew up bouldering out at Roubidoux. On certain days the place could be stunningly beautiful.




JL

Gary

climber
From the City That Dreams
Nov 4, 2011 - 12:25pm PT
Roubidoux has it all. Everything a climber needs. All within a half-mile or so:
Rock
Hospital
Cemetery
Phil_B

Social climber
Hercules, CA
Nov 4, 2011 - 01:06pm PT
That place kept me sane in grad school.

I remember the time I finally got FiveNiner (.10a), that was a good day.

My dog got skunked *TWICE* coming down the trail one evening. That was a hell of a ride home.
Keith Leaman

Trad climber
Seattle
Nov 4, 2011 - 02:04pm PT
John, Those photos are really good! They are reminiscent of American Luminist landscape painting. Around 1970 I was wandering the hillside looking for something new and "discovered" this clean crack. I was so pleased to be able to jam up the thing and couldn't wait to show it to Paul. Further, I couldn't believe he climbed it this way! He called it a "solid" 5.9. (Another climbing 'site calls it 5.12 if a lieback). A slab route low on the hill there-"Wall of Glass" I believe it is called, was one of my favorites.
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Latitute 33
Nov 4, 2011 - 02:10pm PT
^^^^
Nice shot of the Turtle Dome crack. I "learned" to jam on that thing and still have a scar on my left hand to prove it.

Great shots John, brings back lots of memories.

After a rain in the winter, Rubidoux could seem almost sylvan.
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Nov 4, 2011 - 02:46pm PT
Those last two color photos are indeed beautiful. I was going to say they looked like Barbizon School paintings, but close enough.

I learned to climb at Rubidoux so, graffiti and broken glass and all, I really like the place. Climb there alot and you will not want for callous on your tips. Whatever old photos I have of the place (late 70s onward) are all going to be in my old room at my parents' place in the OC.
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 4, 2011 - 02:50pm PT
When green, as in JL's last picture, the mountain almost seems a paradise amidst the urban sprawl.

So John, I assume they hadn't invented color film yet when you took that first picture? And I thought I was old. (haha)

Does anyone have a picture of the resident goat that used to wander the mountain in the early 70's? Anybody else remember it?
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Nov 4, 2011 - 04:25pm PT
nice Cragman!


yeah, cool photos Largo!

Having grown up in my climbing formative teens, just down The 91 from Riverside, I seriously would race home from classes to get out to Rubberducks to send what I could (sans pads back then) in the afternoon light. Usually smogging, but after the greenery would come, and the new growth on the pepper trees would be lush, it really seemed like you were 'above it all' of the hub bub down low.

Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Nov 4, 2011 - 04:52pm PT
That last pic in particular evokes my memories of Southern California at its best.
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 4, 2011 - 05:11pm PT
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 4, 2011 - 05:18pm PT
Great picture JL! What a great problem.

That picture makes one yearn for the days when the wall was free of paint.

Counterpoint, a problem just to the left taken a year or two ago. Fortunately, the city has since done a decent sand-blasting job, and the wall has been somewhat restored.

A late 70's/early 80's picture of the Dimes.
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Latitute 33
Nov 4, 2011 - 05:27pm PT
^^^^^
Dude, what is that around your neck -- an ermine collar?
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 4, 2011 - 05:30pm PT
Easy there, sketchy one...

There's a bunch of things about that picture that date it, that being one of them. Those sideburns were something "special"... Hilarious.
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 4, 2011 - 10:35pm PT
Roubidoux has some of the biggest sand bag ratings ever. Auto pilot might only be 5.11, but you better be a 5.12 climber or you'll tumble all the way down to the cemetary. And Surrealistic Pillar at V1 is just wrong.


rottingjohnny

Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
Nov 4, 2011 - 10:48pm PT
Thanks Largo for the pics...I use to get off work early and drive my 64 Bel Air from Long beach on the 91 for a Rubidoux session...Those were the days...
Darwin

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Nov 4, 2011 - 11:02pm PT

Anybody else able to get the stereo on the first image? It's actually an easy one.

I knew my years studying protein structures would pay off.

And yes the splitter is awesome.
Jereme

Trad climber
Bay Area, CA
Nov 4, 2011 - 11:22pm PT
Here is an old school photo of my father and uncle on Rubidoux taken sometime during the mid seventies.



TYeary

Social climber
State of decay
Nov 4, 2011 - 11:52pm PT
TY
dogtown

Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
Nov 5, 2011 - 01:19am PT
Hensel and Long; just a note. Its moves, problems and routes you guys did back then, that truly inspired me and others to push to levels once thought of as unachievable( for me ). True Rock Climbing Hall of fame guys. I love old school Photos!

Dawg.
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 5, 2011 - 10:36am PT
Great thread, guys!
It both brings back memories and inspires me to go bouldering today.
I'll see if I can scan some slides and add to the mix.
BillO

Trad climber
Yachats, OR
Nov 5, 2011 - 12:05pm PT
Always been my favorite place
.And still surprised how few people I see out there when I'm bouldering.
TYeary

Social climber
State of decay
Nov 5, 2011 - 01:23pm PT
Thanks for the correction, Randisi.
TY
stevep

Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
Nov 5, 2011 - 02:32pm PT
Ahh yes, tumbling off of Autopilot.
Robs may remember the pitch I took off fairly high on that. Not quite sure how it was I didn't fall to the road.
rmuir

Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
Nov 6, 2011 - 11:18am PT
Ah, yes, Steve. Popping off Autopilot from anywhere above head level is a dicey proposition. I do remember someone taking a high fall onto a pad laying on the sloping, wet, friable surface and taking a fast glissade all the way to the asphalt!

Here's a link to a very old animated GIF of the Pilot. Step by step.


The last part of the major crux on Teflon... (Posted elsewhere.)


Hey Phil... We wanna see those historic scans!
Fogarty

climber
BITD
Nov 6, 2011 - 02:44pm PT
Fogarty

climber
BITD
Nov 6, 2011 - 02:47pm PT
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 6, 2011 - 09:06pm PT
If, by some remote chance, there are a few sandbag ratings at Rubidoux I would have to think those are the fault of sketchy. If memory serves me right he twisted our arms and made us downrate things while preparing for the contests.

More pictures please.
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 12, 2011 - 12:32pm PT
Excuse my taking so long to post these photos. School work and getting the yard/garden ready for winter has taken all my free time.

Rob: I couldn't find very many slides of bouldering at Roubidoux. I guess we really didn't take that many pictures in those days (compared to today's 100 pics per day).

The following series is Jim Barker and Phil Haney top roping on the Joe Brown boulder. Anyone know what ever happened to Phil Haney?














PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 13, 2011 - 10:34am PT
I'm guessing nobody knows what happened to Phil Haney?
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Nov 13, 2011 - 11:39am PT
That is one of the Top 5 Rubidoux problems

Hell Craig, that sucker would be one of the top five problems anywhere. Broke my heart the first time I went to Roobie and saw all that freakin' paint.

DonC

climber
CA
Nov 13, 2011 - 11:45am PT
These are great! I started bouldering at Roubidoux in the late '60s and don't have a single picture.
Keith Leaman

Trad climber
Seattle
Nov 13, 2011 - 12:24pm PT
A practice aid climb across a thin seam, placing the pins like nuts so as to avoid scarring the rock . Then up an expanding flake (bats used to fly out when disturbed) to an overhanging bolt ladder.

@henny - I do remember a goat while out with Haney once. No pix tho.
Thanx for the post Phil. Svenson might know Haney's whereabouts?

@DonC - good to hear from you.

Great times working on problems there over the years. We used to bring 2 short pieces of plywood in Paul's VW Bug to lay over the traffic spikes in the "exit only" road, when the gate was locked.
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 13, 2011 - 01:04pm PT
Keith:
Here's a picture of you and, I think, Mary belaying "The Big Guy."
Love that shot of you doing aid!

Keith Leaman

Trad climber
Seattle
Nov 13, 2011 - 01:57pm PT
Phil: Yes, that is she-None more pure of heart. Here's a Wiki pic of the World Peace Bridge. Good stuff off the right edge.
Iron Mtn.

Trad climber
Riverside, Ca.
Nov 14, 2011 - 01:25am PT
Is there a reason you guys are spelling it "Roubidoux"?
It's actually spelled Rubidoux......
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 14, 2011 - 03:08am PT
As yes, the downroad. Many the times driving up the downroad on closed days, especially after the spikes had become non-functional. It used to also be the scene of occasional sprints on open days, trying to make it to the halfway connector where you could get back on the uproad, hopefully before meeting someone driving down.

Thanks for the classic pictures. Good stuff. The aid pictures, would that be the route on Major? (top of the mountain, just under the cross) Sure sounds like it by the description.

Anybody ever do any of the routes on the bridge tower, up to and into the windows? Spooky stuff as I remember, especially crossing the band under the windows. It's been many years since those things were an option, with the windows being closed off by bars.
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Nov 14, 2011 - 10:22am PT
I recall playing around on the bridge tower. In fact the first time I meet Robs Muir was on some glass-like problem to the right of the bridge. I remember him floating up the problem that neither my brother or I could do.
Iron Mtns: Sorry I missed you on my trip to SoCal. I'm going to try and talk Keith into going next year. I was spelling Rubidoux with an "o" because that was the way Largo spelled it. After all, who's going to disagree with Largo?
Gary

climber
From the City That Dreams
Nov 14, 2011 - 10:46am PT
Really cool photos, all. The '70s are sort of embarrassing though, eh?
CrackAddict

Trad climber
Canoga Park, CA
Nov 14, 2011 - 04:19pm PT
Wow, great thread. Thanks for posting Largo. Makes me want to go back and flail on some of those problems.
Iron Mtn.

Trad climber
Riverside, Ca.
Nov 15, 2011 - 10:53am PT
Iron Mtns: Sorry I missed you on my trip to SoCal. I'm going to try and talk Keith into going next year. I was spelling Rubidoux with an "o" because that was the way Largo spelled it. After all, who's going to disagree with Largo?


Ha ha, no worries Phil! I really would like to climb with you and Keith again. The trip to Washington is still something I look back on with a great deal of happiness and I learned so much from you guys on that trip.

As far as the spelling goes, not trying to be a smartass. I noticed Largo always spells it that way and I was curious why he did so (perhaps i'm missing something?)

I live pretty damn close to Rubidoux and I think it's time to get out there and start pulling again, it's been way too long......
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2011 - 02:24pm PT
Here's a bit on Rubidoux spelling:

RUBIDOUX - THE SPELLING

It is a fact that Louis Robidoux spelled his name as given here, but Mt. Rubidoux is correctly spelled with a "u" not an "o." Jane Gunther, Riverside County, California, Place Names, gives in the appendix of her book 32 variations of the spelling of this name. It was S. C. Evans of Riverside Land and Irrigation Company who bestowed the name and the spelling on the mount. In a contract made by Emil Rosenthal to buy the mountain variously known as "the mountain west of town" and Riverside Mountain was named in the contract as Mt. Rubidoux with that spelling. This was in November 1887. S.C. Evans was a well-educated, intelligent man and certainly knew how Robidoux signed his name. Why did he choose this one? Perhaps he thought it easier to pronounce or liked the sound better. Anyway the die was cast.

JL
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2011 - 02:32pm PT
I also am very curious whatever happened to Phil Haney. He and Ben Borson were on hand during the first few months we were learning the ropes out at Rubidoux. We were totally amazed and very fortunate to get dialed into the whole gymnastic chalk, super tight varrape boot, hippy athletic bouldering ethos, which we soon took to the walls of Yosemite.

But we learned the original Stonemaster gig from watching Haney, Borson, and from getting mentored by Paul Gleason. Early on (I was 17) I was fortunate enough to have climbed a bit with Phil Gleason, who had WAY more experience than I did and set me straight about a lot of things per long routes. Phil and I also almost got fried alive on Arrowhead Arete, which I have written about, and which is still probably my closest call with disaster on a climb.

Freaking lightning bolt missed us by that much. That's no sh#t.

Great times.

JL
neversummer

Trad climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
Nov 15, 2011 - 03:33pm PT
Thanks John and others for the stoke...i live 15 mins from there but have always given the bird to going downtown to climb...weather permiting im there this wknd.
rick graham

Trad climber
irvine,ca
Nov 17, 2011 - 07:50pm PT
Oldie bump…..Bill Antel TRing the center route on the Smooth Sole Wall (January 1973).

At the base, the only other person I recognize is Gary Lilligard in the dark sweater. Gary’s dad owed the Pack & Piton shops in Upland and Glendora. Sorry TonyY, I don’t have any good photos of us ‘Pack & Piton’ boyz climbing from that era.

Hard to see, but Bill's 8-track tape deck at the base with the volume cranked up to 11 is blaring Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’.....good times!
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 17, 2011 - 08:52pm PT
No Way!!!

Antel of all people! How cool is that?

Thanks for that picture.

Yeah, Deep Purple would be about right for that timeframe.

Killer.
Russ Walling

Gym climber
Poofter's Froth, Wyoming
Nov 17, 2011 - 10:43pm PT
rbolton

Social climber
The home for...
Nov 18, 2011 - 12:10pm PT
Someone say beehive? The cock-of-the-walk and lord supreme sand shoveler.

TYeary

Social climber
State of decay
Nov 18, 2011 - 03:06pm PT
Ho Rick! those were the days! I remember Gary's natty reddish sweater. And look how young Bill is!
@ Bolton, nice tat work!
TY
Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
Nov 18, 2011 - 07:45pm PT
Good fun here. Thanks for the photos. Rubidoux after a rainy winter could be as green as Ireland--for about a three weeks before it turned brown.

In that first post, I seem to recall that the crowd had gathered to see Muir doing the amazing "Candle Stickless" problem.

Smooth Sole Wall! I haven't thought about that one for some time. What's the modern rating?

Rick
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 20, 2011 - 06:48pm PT
Thanks Bolton. I knew I could count on you, it was just a matter of time.

Still jealous of the talons of steel, eh?
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 20, 2011 - 06:49pm PT
That's a pretty young looking Dr. F there.

Cool.
rbolton

Social climber
The home for...
Nov 22, 2011 - 08:39pm PT
The tat was a team effort, but unless my accomplice wants to be outed I won't throw him under the bus.

Henny,

How many times do we have to have this discussion? Chickens don't have talons! They are weak, brain-dead, flightless food. See below for the University of Illinois article on chicken feet.


Chicken feet
The foot of the bird contains only part of the ankle bones. In mammals, all of the ankle bones are included as part of the foot.

Poultry raisers use the term "hock" synonymous with the ankle region and "hockjoint" with ankle joint. The bird does not have a well developed calcaneum, which forms the heel of man.

No bird has more than four toes except chickens of the Dorking, Faverolle, Houden, Sultan, and Non-bearded Silkie Bantams, all of which have five toes. In these breeds the extra toe arises above the base of the hallux and projects upward, never touching the ground. In the Silkie, the extra toes often lie nearly in the same plane as the hallux. Some birds have only three toes, while the ostrich has two toes.

Coues in 1903 classified avian feet according to the position of the first digit as elevated, insistent (the tip touches the ground), or incumbent, full length of the first toe touches the surface on which the bird rests. All domestic fowl are included in the Galliforms.

In poultry literature, reference is made to booted and booting. This refers to feathering of the metatarsus rather then to a fusion of scales. "Ptilopody" would be a better term to designate leg feathering.

The claws in chickens are relatively short and not greatly curved and serve the function of scratching.

The chicken metatarsus has four surfaces, but they are not of equal size and some have an irregular shape. The two or three scutes on the forward surface of the metatarsus aid in identifying the anterior surface. The marginal boundaries can be seen fully only in medial and lateral views, but the encircling proximal and distal boundaries can be seen in several views. The proximal boundary is common with the ankle region; the distal boundary is the caudal end of the tarsometatarsus at the junction with the basal end of toes II, III, and IV.

The posterior boundary follows the margins of the medium size scutella on the caudal surface of the metatarsus. The medial margin of the posterior surface bypasses the base of the metatarsal spur so that the spur is included in the medial surface. The inferior boundary of the posterior surface was placed at the basal end of the accessory metatarsus.

The metatarsal spur, like the beak and claws, has two parts: the underlying osseous structure and the covering of heavily keratinized epidermis. The spurs in the chicken project from the axis of the metatarsus at an angle of about 90 degrees and are pointed posteromedially at about a 45 degree angle. They are placed between the middle and distal thirds of the metatarsus.

The proximal and distal joints are the reference landmarks for the foot; the latter is more readily palpable. These joints are circular because the accessory metatarsus is rodlike. (Refer to the figure on the next page for details.) Below the accessory metatarsal is a thickening called the metatarsal fold; it lies between the metatarsal pad and the base of digit I. The metatarsal pad is at the end of the tarsometatarsal bone. Its boundary is well indicated by the crease on one side between fold and pad and on the other side between pad and bases of toes.

The joint between tarsometatarsus and the bases of thirds and fourth digits established the distal end of the medial surface of the metatarsus. The lateral surface, like the medial surface, is broad adjacent to the ankle, and it narrows distally to a point between accessory metatarsus and fourth digit. It contains reticulate scales.

The phalangeal formula for the chicken is 2, 3, 4, 5. The first toe is the shortest, the third is the longest; the fourth toe has five phalanges and is only slightly longer then the second with three phalanges. In the chicken all flanges are relatively long except the terminals and those of the fourth toe. Although round in cross section, the toes seem to be divided into dorsal and ventral surfaces, based chiefly on scale structure and placement of the interdigital webs.

The chicken has an intermediate interdigital web joining toes II and III and a lateral interdigital web joining toes III and IV. The webs in the chicken extend no farther than the distal ends of the basal phalanges. The free edges of the webs are curved with the concavity outward. The webs are located at the junction of the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the toes, and their surfaces are covered with small reticulate scales.
henny

Social climber
The Past
Nov 22, 2011 - 09:01pm PT
There's always a rogue "research" article on the internet that can be dredged up to "prove" a point.

Pure steel.
Dimes

Social climber
Thinking about Retirement
Nov 22, 2011 - 10:25pm PT
I will volunteer to be the "rogue researcher" and support the article as fact! Go to tree, go to tree!!
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Nov 22, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
Henny is probably thankful that turkeys will be eaten, but not chickens.
rmuir

Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
Nov 26, 2011 - 12:27pm PT
Bouldering at Rubidoux... A place to either watch butts or show butts.


So here's a little bit of both!
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2011 - 01:34pm PT
Jesus, Rob. Where the hell'd you find that shot. We were juniors in High School I think.

JL
TYeary

Social climber
State of decay
Nov 26, 2011 - 02:37pm PT
Nice.....er.. shot Rob. Never seen Turtle Dome styled quite like that!
TY
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Nov 26, 2011 - 05:05pm PT
Craig ya highjackin' that photo of the parrot from me or did you get one similar to mine from way back when?
Peace
rmuir

Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
Nov 26, 2011 - 07:38pm PT
Nice one, eh Johnny?

...more RH goodness. The one above=the hard way. This one=a bit easier.


Hemophiliac's Horror, Turtle Dome, Mt. Rubidoux.

neversummer

Trad climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
Dec 1, 2011 - 08:25pm PT
This thread got me motivated to go play around out there last weekend...thanks.
ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 1, 2011 - 10:02pm PT
From a bouldering contest MANY years ago.
Peace

ron gomez

Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
Dec 3, 2011 - 12:47pm PT
Yeah Craig, I can send you the photo and any others ya like, glad you post em up and like em, they go back a way. Take care.
Peace
henny

Social climber
The Past
Dec 3, 2011 - 11:31pm PT
Cool seeing the pictures of the Major Concept. Thanks for posting those Craig.
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