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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Nice.
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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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In the summer of 1975 Jim Wilson, Steve Emerson and I rode our bikes to Yosemite from Orange County; and excruciating journey. Richard was in Camp 4 that summer and the three of us spent lots of time hearing his stories and gaining mentorship about women and relationships.
One fine day Jim and I got onto the double decker shuttle bus at the Lodge, and noticed Richard already on the bus, sitting directly under the stairway. We say nearby and Jim curiously asked Richard “why are you sitting under the stairs”, which seemed odd to us.
The bus stopped at the next point, and two very attractive young women in very revealing short skirts descended and stairs and exited the bus. All three of us followed the young gals with our eyes, and Richard’s gigantic smile and wink demonstrated why he preferred that scenic position.
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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so sorry to hear this news. richard was a great friend from way back. when gag and i did our first trip to red rocks, he took us in, and we had kept i touch sort of since then, which was in the early eighties. bummed to hear of tina's passing also, what a double whammy. tina was good people. haven't since lisa since she was a toddler, but my heart goes out to her. take care, steve
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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minus a slice
pi is now 3.13
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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So many memorable times with Richard early on, trying to learn the climbing craft. Lisa may not have heard much about it because he gave it up later, but Richard was once interested in ice and alpine climbing.
I recall a fine weekend climbing the beautiful, Mendel ice couloir, with Richard, John and Ging. The water ice was hard and transparent, like climbing on a ice cube, complete with frozen bubbles of air.
And there was a memorable road trip in 1975 to the Canadian Rockies, with Tobin, Mike, Richard and me, all stuffed into Mike's little Datsun station wagon. A high lght was Richard and Tobin doing the Beckey/Chouinard on the north face of Mt. Edith Cavell one day, and Mike and me the next, because we only had enough ice gear for one team at a time.
But our first practice climb on snow was when we drove (and pushed) the Pinto a long ways up the four wheel drive approach road to Bloody Mountain, near Mammoth. The boys posed trying their best to imitate French Technique, which we had read about in the Chouinard catalog.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2014 - 10:53am PT
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We spend endless nights up in "The Basement" of his mother's house, reciting passages from mountaineering books. Because there was no local climbing culture or heritage to directly draw from back then, we just read the books and made things up our own selves. In a very real sense, the whole Stonemaster movement grew out of those early road trips in Ricky's blue pinto and Mike's red station wagon and Robs MG and Tobin's blue Datson. It was like riding the crest of a tidal wave.
JL
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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It was like riding the crest of a tidal wave
But BOLDER because you guys "dropped in" on that tidal wave!
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Because there was no local climbing culture or heritage to directly draw from back then
Well not no fast Mr. Long, there was a very well established climbing culture back then. I would dare to suggest more accurately that you and your contemporaries were rejecting it (or didn't take any notice of it?). It was that disruption that forever changed things dramatically. Richard, you and others were certainly change agents.
RIP Richard Harrison, you left a legacy.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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John, how come Richard is carrying the pack?
Rock, paper, scissors....or just, his turn!
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john bald
climber
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RIP Richard you were loved by many
mucho thanks to all who have contributed here
for keeping Richard's story alive
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2014 - 06:16pm PT
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Charlie, there was a climbing culture back then, but we didn't so much reject it as we never really encountered it as we were bouldering with no rope out at Rubidoux and trying to free as many aid routes as humanely possible. There was a precedent for this stuff, but we were already our own tribe after a few months so we mostly just built the ship as we sailed it. For a while we tried to hook on with Bud Couch and the other reigning king pins out at Idylwild, but that never took and Richard was one of the main proponents of just going our own way. Everybody brought something special to the group. More than anything else, Richard brought style.
JL
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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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John, Ricky, Robs and Mike......
The story has probably been told elsewhere, but I'd love to here how the Stonemasters discovered climbing and how you all found each other as a team.
Spencer
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Richard was once interested in ice and alpine climbing
Back in the Fall of 1974, we decided that we'd better go try some late Summer ice in the Sierra. Not shy about doing something big, we set our sights on Mendel. Armed with heavy packs and shod with Superguides, Richard, Goodykontz, Ging (?) and I headed off for the Next Adventure. One two-man tent…
Confident and experienced novices we, we humped up the trail—such as it was, back then. Now, Mendel doesn't show itself until you're nearly upon it, but we kept looking. The trail got dodgy, and our skills were very poor, but we were certain of the outcome even if we were uncertain of our location. After miles of talus and boulder fields, the tiny tent was pitched and the route was just ahead of us waiting for the pre-dawn start. Killer clear night and a bright moon on this gigantic couloir. French technique here we come!
Crossing the 'shrund, we followed a tenuous line of foot prints as we zigzagged twenty-five pitches or so (I'm pretty sure we counted 'em) from one side of the rock wall to the other looking for anchors. Not much ice, not too steep, but pretty fun, none-the-less. Two parties of two, you can see [in the photo below] how we left ice screws in place for other team. Topping out on the Lamarck Col, we were dismayed to look across the Evolution Valley to the North Face of Mt. Mendel and the REAL Mendel couloir!
Damn. We had just done the second ascent of Mount Lamarck's (13,417') North Couloir, missing the first ascent by only a few days—Fischer/Jensen post-holed it just ahead of us.
Bummed, we were forced to make our way back down via the Lamarck Col trail, back across the talus field to our gear and shelter. And, of course, a big storm came in that night, so the four of us spent the night packed into that ridiculously tiny tent.
Mendel waited for another trip.
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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One of my favorite Richard shots:
Package of fags in the breast pocket.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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That pic is great! When was it?
I seem to remember a classic pic of Richard on some JT pillar (headstone?) where he had his hand over his eyes doing a classic pirate scanning the horizon pose. Anyone got it handy?
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jludes
climber
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It's called "Aiguille de Joshua Tree" 5.6ish solo
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jludes
climber
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Nothing epic, just a little gym climbing story . . .
Richard used to come into the climbing gym where I worked the front desk, set routes, typical gym stuff. As some of you probably know, when you set gym routes, you get a few complements here and there but complaints are probably more frequent. Route setting is mostly thankless, laborious, and poorly compensated toil.
I had recently set a very thin route on a 90 degree wall that few, if any people were interested in trying out, perhaps because it wasn't steep, or because of the chance that you could break an ankle on one the off-route gigantic gym jugs should you blow a clip/move and fall on the thin route.
Of course, these are considerations of an average climber, not Richard. To the best of my knowledge, Richard was the first and only person to lead it. No big deal, just another little gym route. What WAS a big deal--to me--were the kind, unsolicited words he had to say to me about the route, something to the effect of,
"That's a good route John, it's like climbing outside."
"Like climbing outside . . . " When I heard those words from Richard Harrison, about my little gym route, I felt like I had won the lottery!
Those words remain, by far, the best and most meaningful compliment I could ever possibly expect for such work. Years later, it's the only one I even remember at all, and that makes perfect sense to me.
-j
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Stock pose:
Also, review the golf photo from upthread.
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Rollover
climber
Gross Vegas
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Wow!
Classic poses..
RIP
Is that Rick A and Tobin S in the background?
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