Richard Harrison has passed away

TNB: Climbers We Lost in 2014
By Alison Osius

Richard Harrison, 60, October 24
Richard Harrison lived and climbed in Las Vegas for 35 years, pioneering at least 100 routes there, but he left his mark far more widely: in Suicide-Tahquitz, Joshua Tree, Yosemite and Tahoe, with further ventures to big faces in Mexico.

The author of so many bold, hard routes in Red Rocks that any climber today will probably follow his path, Harrison was one of the original Stonemasters memorialized by the writer-climber John Long (who plans to write about him in our upcoming annual compendium, Ascent). Still, Harrison remains something of an unsung hero.

He, Long and Rick Accomazzo all went to high school in Upland, California, and learned to climb together.

“Ricky had all the talent,” John Long posted on Supertopo, “and Richard had all the commitment. I just talked loudly.”

Harrison’s routes in Red Rocks include Adventure Punks (5.10d), Cloud Tower (IV 5.12a), Buffalo Wall (V 5.11 A3), Lone Star (IV 5.10+) and Sergeant Slaughter (V 5.10 A2) with Paul Van Betten and others; Rock Warrior (III 5.10) with Jay Smith and Nick Nordblom; and the Woodrow (5.10- R) with John Long. In Yosemite he established the classic Electric Ladyland (VI A4 5.10a), named for a huge thunderstorm, with Gib Lewis and Rick Accomazzo on Washington Column, and bold early 5.10s such as Greasy But Groovy with Long and Accomazzo, Shake and Bake with Accomazzo, and Spooky Tooth with John Yablonski and Fred East. He, Long and Accomazzo did the first free ascent of Le Toit (5.11c), a multipitch aid line with a roof high on Tahquitz, in 1973, and Harrison and Long freed the big second pitch of Iron Cross (5.11) on Suicide. The two also put up Imaginary Voyage (5.10d) in Joshua Tree in 1977. At Lovers Leap and in the greater Tahoe area, Harrison climbed many fine routes, including Purple Haze (5.10d) with Jay Smith, also in 1977. Another landmark was the first free ascent of D7 (5.11) on the Diamond Face of Long’s Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, with John Bachar in 1977.

Harrison died unexpectedly October 24 only four days after his wife, Christina (“Tina”) succumbed to the depredations of a brain tumor. They had met 35 years ago in Yosemite, and leave a daughter, Lisa, 22, around whom the climbing community has rallied.

An obituary in the Las Vegas Review Journal states: “He pioneered rock climbing in Red Rock National Conservation Area, establishing some of the area's most popular routes that are enjoyed today by climbers from around the world. … Off the rock, Richard loved listening to punk rock music and all types of racing, especially Formula One. He dabbled in motorcycle racing and had a passion for Porsches. His success on the rock was matched in business. For more than 20 years he ran his thriving window cleaning business.”

Says Rick Accomazzo, “Whenever I caught up with him on the phone or in person over a 43-year time span, I’d ask about his family and what he had been doing. He’d chuckle and his response was always the same, ‘Family’s great and you know, the usual: been doing some new routes.’ Richard was dedicated to the climbing life like no one I’ve known, except [John] Bachar. Yet for how much he loved climbing, you got the contradictory sense that he never took it too seriously and appreciated the underlying absurdity of risking life and limb to struggle up some piece of rock. So he really couldn’t be bothered to spend time discussing himself or his climbs in the climbing media or guidebooks. The focus was always on the next climb, the next new route, preferably partnered by his wonderful daughter, Lisa.”