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Gorgeous George
Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
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Mar 15, 2017 - 11:46am PT
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The cycle of life.
I remember being in college and studying RR's books on rock craft like they were the Bible. They showed me the way of life, as it existed for me then. I've looked all over for them and can't figure out where they disappeared to. I'd love to read them again now.
jg
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Axis
climber
San Jose, CA
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Mar 15, 2017 - 11:47am PT
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Please post any info on funeral or memorial service.
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zmaster
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Mar 15, 2017 - 11:49am PT
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I never had a formal Rockclimbing class as I learned from the 2 Rockcraft books and some non-impressive rock in the midwest. 40 years later I taught piles of people to climb including my wife and kids and climbed throughout the world. He inspired us all.
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Larry
Trad climber
Bisbee
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Mar 15, 2017 - 12:14pm PT
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Thank you, Royal.
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Russ Aulds
Trad climber
Delano, TN
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Mar 15, 2017 - 12:37pm PT
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This ones for you Royal. Thanks for my first lessons learned from Basic Rockcraft!
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Mar 15, 2017 - 12:40pm PT
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for the record, a couple of encounters with this great climber--
i did a feature article for rock & ice in the early 90s on the climbing area in southern new mexico which got me started on this sport: the organ mountains. digging into the climbing history, who should i encounter but RR, back in the beginning of it all. he was stationed in the army in nearby el paso. the locals were surprised one day to find him doing an aid route, high up on an "impossible" wall. it eventually went free--many, many years later.
i've done a little professional guiding, but it never quite took. at a couple of meetings i suggested opening up yosemite to other guide services besides the sacrosanct YMS. hell, why the heck not?
i think it was at an OR convention in reno--royal took me aside and sorta whispered: "just go ahead and guide in the valley. that's what i did."
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Phil Bard
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, OR
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Mar 15, 2017 - 12:46pm PT
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In 1978, before I was worth much as either a climber or a photographer, I was packing up my rope and shoes at the base of Ranger Rock when Royal and a young apprentice showed up. Royal uncoiled the rope and started off up After 7. His partner was obviously new to it all, and when Royal was about halfway up the first pitch the pile of rope became a huge tangle and the poor guy just looked lost. He said something about it to Royal, who stopped and just stared down. I ran over and sorted out the mess as the belayer sheepishly thanked me over and over. Royal said nothing at all, and when I was done he just started climbing again. I grabbed my camera and shot two photos.
Years later I met the apprentice again, rented a room from him in Berkeley. He didn't recognize me but I remembered. He laughed about that day and how terrified he was going out to the rocks with a legend.
Truly...
Note that he passed up the (later placed) bolt.
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SpokaneBob
Ice climber
Spokane, Washington
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Mar 15, 2017 - 12:49pm PT
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Hi Fellow Climbers,
So much has already been said by others. I do not really have anything to add, but felt a certain inner imperative to express something. Royal was a giant for me. Like so many of you I bought his books, importantly his "Basic Rockcraft" in the early 1970s and learned to climb from that, along with what any older climbers willing to climb with a greenhorn kid at the time taught me. I bought his shoes of course, but too small it turns out--they always hurt my feet.
He was a living legend to me. Later in life I got a chance to meet him a couple of times and I am so grateful for those brief encounters. He brought a rigorous ethic and vision to his climbing that few can match. The history of climbing is marked by the contributions of many, but of that many, only a select few really stand head and shoulders above the rest--he was one--at least for me he was. I am glad I got a chance to tell him that some years ago.
My day is impacted. Despite my best efforts today I remain unfocused and a bit empty. Thank you Royal. I never matched your rigorous ethic in my climbing but I tried, at least some of the time, and your influence on me was, and remains, a gift of great value. Perhaps the best thing I can do as tribute is make an effort to find some young climber, take that person out, and be a patient and wise mentor--maybe tell a story or two along the way. I think Royal would like that.
Bob Loomis,
Spokane, WA.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:00pm PT
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My heart goes out to Tama and Liz.
Royal was in a class by himself.
Surprisingly modest about his enormous contribution to our particular form of insanity, an inspiration and an icon.
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:09pm PT
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Goodbye to the giant of American rock climbing and inspiration to me starting out, struggling up his many good first ascents at Tahquitz and Yosemite in awe.
Thumbing through my old diary now to think back on routes of his I enjoyed. There will be no forgetting this man.
Condolences to his family.
Tom Higgins
LongAgo
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:18pm PT
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Before I stared actually climbing, I began reading about it.One day, I bought a thin magazine at Highland Outfitters in Riverside when I was getting some camping gear. It was an issue of Summit containing Royal’s article on his solo ascent of the Muir Wall, the first solo first ascent of El Cap. It was like reading about the feats of the Greek gods: fantastic, heroic, and almost beyond my imagination. Like he was with so many others, he was one of the initial inspirations for my own adventures. For that, I’ll be always grateful.
Too many great accomplishments to list, but I was always most impressed with his routes in the Alps, on the Dru and Aiguille du Fou, that were so far ahead of any rock climbs in the Alps in the early sixties.
Met him several times over the years, most recently at Bachar’s memorial. He didn’t seem to act the part of the demigod that he unquestionably was. At the memorial, Royal was introduced as being one of John’s heroes, but Royal startled the audience by stating, “John Bachar is my hero”, and then eloquently explaining why.
He really was climbing royalty and as long as people climb mountains, he won’t be forgotten.
Rick Accomazzo
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oldtimer
climber
Concord,CA
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:18pm PT
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Even though i was expecting this sometime soon it was still a shock to hear it. I used to work for Royal in the Warehouse and both retail locations plus i used to Kayak with him a lot. I will certainly miss him, he was always a hero to me. I loved how he lived life with such character and elan. I miss him already.
He used to love the color of the green grass in the afternoon sunlight on the way home from kayak trips. He always called it "that special time of the day" i always remember that from Him.
As he said when our good Friend Bruce Carson died "in a world full of villians it is sad to lose a hero" he was a hero and always will be to me.
Condolences to Liz, Tamara and Damon!
Love
Garry Pollard
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:23pm PT
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It was fun bouldering with Royal in the early 1960s in the Tetons. We were both in our 20s and full of energy. A few years later we met again in the Black Hills Needles, where Royal skipped up a number of hard climbs, including the classic Cerebus. He did Queenpin also, and I repeated his route (for a second ascent?), amazed at how he put in a protective bolt. He and I with my wife Lora and Liz walked in to the Incisor one afternoon and I had the pleasure of belaying Royal as he played on the forbidding north face, going up further than I cared to venture. Calm and in control, his moves were precise and effective. I was very impressed with the maestro.
He took a fairly serious approach to bouldering at a time when "Big Wallers" sometimes passed the activity off as simply playful and of no consequence. For me, this was one more appealing facet of a great climber, a Spirit of the Age. I was always impressed with his gentlemanly and reserved demeanor during a period when it was popular to run to excesses with alcohol and drugs.
A true gentleman who had great successes in his life has passed.
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Atkinsopht
Mountain climber
Boston, MA
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:27pm PT
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Robbins: A giant in the preservation of the native rock we all embrace.
His conservation influence in the 'Gunks was unparalled and far reaching.
http://www.atkinsopht.com/mtn/screeds.htm 'Gunks 70's
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clode
Trad climber
portland, or
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:33pm PT
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WOW! What a shock when I saw Chris' email! I learned much from the Rockcraft books when I took up climbing as a teenager in the early 70's. On my first trip to the Valley I had a brand new pair of blue RRs. I remember it was in June, I was on the Apron, and got caught in a thunderstorm. The Apron became a solid 4-inch thick sheet of water. I got soaked. When my RRs dried out the next day, they fit perfectly!
As I posted years ago:
There once was a man named Robbins.
He really knew how to pound pins.
He went up the Big Stone,
All alone,
And came back to Liz's big grins.
Condolences to family, friends and the Earth's climbing world!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:34pm PT
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I'm saddened by the fact that in my many years of climbing that my path never crossed that of Royal's. He was to me, a setter of the bar, the standards we all hoped to meet. More than physical standards, Royal was our setter of ethical standards--which I strongly took to heart. The concept of "bold leading" was an outgrowth of the earlier Oliver Perry Smith/Rudolf Fehrmann school of thought, but in a more refined way. In my mind's eye, Royal will be there with the greats gone before, sitting around that campfire eternal, with the likes of Paul Preuss, Oliver Perry Smith and Rudolf Fehrmann, and Emilio Comici, all swapping takes of facing death and the fear of death--all grinning and laughing at the Grim Reaper.
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The Frog
Trad climber
West Allis WI
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:35pm PT
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I first met Royal Robbins at a 'Never stop exploring' type lecture. Two things impressed me about him-his matter-of-fact, non-bragging approach to describing his adventures and the way he was able to change, but still keep exploring as he got older. As a climber now in my 70's, I've had to change some goals and the level of climbing I do, but his inspiration is one of the things that keeps me enjoying what I can do, whatever the level. Rest well, Royal. Those of us who knew you will always remember.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:39pm PT
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. . . Royal will be there with the greats gone before, sitting around that campfire eternal, with the likes of Paul Preuss, Oliver Perry Smith and Rudolf Fehrmann, and Emilio Comici, all swapping tales
You bet, Rodger. Right up there with other great pioneers!
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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Mar 15, 2017 - 01:43pm PT
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Having known Royal for more than 50 years, if I were to choose one word for what he meant to me it would be INSPIRING. I came of age with him as a mentor, not so much personally, as through his climbs and the style and ethics that he displayed not only on his climbs but in his writings as well. He made me want to be like him.
Rest in peace, Royal; it’s your lead… My sincere condolences to Liz, Tamara, Damon, and everyone who knew and loved him.
Ken Boche
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