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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Mar 13, 2018 - 07:43pm PT
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Use to ditch work early and drive from Long Beach , boke a smole , and boulder till the sun set...Remember seeing Largo and his posse jamming that turtle dome fist problem... Good times...
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Mar 14, 2018 - 10:59am PT
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Mar 14, 2018 - 11:00am PT
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Mar 14, 2018 - 11:03am PT
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Mar 14, 2018 - 11:35am PT
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^^^
Always heard about the McKay guide but don't recall ever seeing it. BTW, I learned to climb at Rubidoux as well through a course advertised at the old Holubar store in Santa Ana/Costa Mesa.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Mar 14, 2018 - 04:49pm PT
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Nice post Roots!
Rubberdux, many fond memories. First time assistant guiding, aka set top ropes and encourage noobs AND get paid $80 to do it in the 1980s.
T_Hocking, where was said board stashed? I missed a good opportunity, me thinks. Mostly the road was closed in the 80s. Sundays I recall it being open.
I don't think they allow vehicles on it any more?
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Mar 14, 2018 - 06:36pm PT
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Thanks for posting the contest problem list.
Haha. That's messed up. Coathanger and Flabob were both 19 points and the Bullethead was 20. There's plenty of hilarious ratings on that problem list. Never trust Randy.
For a long time prior to spikes they closed the up gate and left the down gate open. The solution to that was obvious. Up the down road. Standard practice was to go up the down, and since no one else was likely coming up, park on the road right under Borsen's and crank the tunes.
Good times.
Edit: Rubberdux? There was a common, slightly vulgar variation, on that theme.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Mar 14, 2018 - 09:27pm PT
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When I started at Rubidoux (73) it was vehicles at any time. Then it went through the cycle described where it was sometimes not opened. Then, I'm guessing 80's, something like Sun-Wed open to vehicles and Thu-Sat foot traffic only. Weekend parking had become a horrific PITA in both the upper and lower lots.
I believe it was ~95 that there was a harsh winter with mega moisture. That washed out huge sections of the road, in particular a major blow out below the upper lot on the west side. The road was closed for many months while they repaired. When the road did reopen it quickly went to allowing no vehicle traffic - period.
Pretty obvious why it became foot traffic only. Although broken glass and graffiti continued to be problems anyway.
The place could be quite nice really. In cool weather. On a clear day. Poppies along the base of the hill blooming. All the hillsides covered in green grass.
I only bouldered for a couple of years up there with Dane. Fun times. The Pink Bug, Middle of the Road Madness, and Octopus problem names originated from the Gun (aka: Mulli-gun for his habit of taking Mulligans while golfing, aka: Dane)
There was also a string of problems that were named playing on Danes "Gun" name. The Pop Gun, The Muzzleloader, The Musket, The Squirt Gun, The Machine Gun, ..., quite a few actually. He was bouldering there at a good time - he helped ferret out a bunch of new problems mid 80s.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Mar 15, 2018 - 09:21am PT
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I remember my Dad driving me and my friends up the road when I was about 16 and I thought for sure I was going to die.
There were sections that were to narrow for normal cars, and one tire would be off the side of the road here and there, but if you kept the speed high enough, you would float over those sections.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Mar 15, 2018 - 10:47am PT
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Only visited once. Passed by a hundred times on way to Tahquitz. The only time I stopped to climb was on maybe some Sierra Club sponsored outing.
Drove up to some large expanse of rock, don't know the names or places out there. Lo and behold, there was Royal Robbins half way up the cliff/slab(?). He yelled down for me to come up and threw me a rope. When I got up to him he remarked, wryly, "I didn't mean for you to bring me a beer!" I had carried my open can of beer up in my free hand.
We drank it.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Mar 15, 2018 - 07:51pm PT
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T Hocking:
We did do roped climbing as well. Around that time even though I was bouldering quite a bit I was still viewing it as a means to another end - roped routes. We (along with Kevin Powell) did a fair amount in the Whitney Portal as well as at Tahquitz/Suicide.
I happened to be at Tahquitz the day he twisted, and broke, his ankle at the base of Traitor Horn. Total fluke accident. He was eating an apple while looking up and stepped on a rock wrong. Really wrong. I remember three of us helping him hop down the trail to his truck. His partner was supposed to drive while he rode. As I was getting in my car his truck blasted by, with him driving of course. When he got to Riverside he knew the hospital visit would be slow so he went home first and had chocolate chip cookies and milk before going to the ER. He ended up with a cast, hobbling around on crutches for a few months. I'll always remember my surprise at seeing him driving as the truck went by in the parking lot. Broken ankle and stick shift, didn't make much sense.
Yeah, there were some good trips with the Gun.
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Mar 16, 2018 - 07:53am PT
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Ah yes, the Rubidoux Bouldering Contest…
That contest guide was a YUGE work of fiction, and most of the characters were given names which nobody had heard of. There were a few villains contained therein, but it really was a tall tale.
Case in point: Route #121 "Sliding Glass Door", seventeen points.
Now, Vogel had publically forbade us from competing, so those on the banned list spent the morning cruising around scoping the scene and pulling down on all the routes… We just couldn't carry a scorecard. Down at the Wall of Glass, there was a crowd inspecting the so-called "Sliding Glass Door' which no one wanted to try since there was a penalty if you touched the route, made an attempt, and failed. Loss of points, maybe? (I forget.) Many folks, though, were interested in the high points…
I casually mentioned that this tiny thing was a 'standard' problem first found by Paul Gleason, and it was also possible to snag the sloping jug on the summit by making a quick run up and a leap. Hint, hint. Within two minutes, about a dozen lads had bagged the points, since there wasn't a prohibition in the rule book. Hah.
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Mar 16, 2018 - 07:55am PT
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And the goat. The Rubidoux Goat!
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Mar 16, 2018 - 08:37am PT
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The Contest Guide was pretty useless when I was working on the Rubidoux Bouldering Guide, as well as the Mackey Guide.
I had to check out everything myself and then get Henny's input and approval.
Rubidoux was always special to me because it where I learned to climb, where I would go anytime I wanted some real rock with the shortest drive, where I met many new friends, like Largo, Robs, Acomazzo Henny, Dimes, Charles Cole, Mike Paul, Todd Battey, Spencer Lennard, RV, DEE
I had a good grasp on the main areas, but on the North Western lower areas I just made up names and ratings on some of the crap.
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Touque
Trad climber
Santacruzcalif
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Mar 16, 2018 - 12:26pm PT
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Just wanted to say bouldering at mount rubideux in the 70s with randy Vogel Bruce nyberghoward king and spencer Leonard were some of the best days ever .randy would drive or I'd take the bus from Tustin boulder for hours go to del taco and always head home stoked with a good day of bouldering and GOOD friends. Matt
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Mar 16, 2018 - 01:13pm PT
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It was a Noggles back then
edit
Naugles
I loved them back then
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Mar 16, 2018 - 02:25pm PT
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North Western lower areas I just made up names and ratings on some of the crap.
Hey Craig! ^well that's probably why I had a hard time topping out on some of the stuff that I thought I could based on your ratings. LOL.
I spent a lot of time combing those hills for all the named (in your book) 5.10s and under. I think there are +80..it took me a while to get them all but I eventually did.
One of my top Rubidoux favorites was Antennae Roof. Hella fun!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 21, 2018 - 06:53pm PT
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bump for high school memories
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