Early
Bouldering in the Riverside Area
by Phil Gleason
To the best of my memory bouldering in the Riverside area (namely Big
Rock and Mt. Rubidoux)
started to become "bouldering" and not just
practice, warm-ups for "real climbing" with Lee Harrell. Lee had
climbed with John Harlin in the Alps and Chuck Pratt in the Valley, and
he was our mentor into the world of "serious" climbing. We (Paul
Gleason, Keith Leaman, and I) would follow Lee around the largely
unvisited rocks of Big Rock while he showed us one problem after
another. Lee's home was also a focal point for young men
interested in climbing, and it was through him we met Phil Haney, Jack
Schnur and several local climbers.
Certainly other mountaineers and
rock climbers had visited these areas first. The Sierra Club used
these rocks for training, as did both the military and the Riverside
Mountain Rescue team. But as far as we could tell, no other group
worked the boulders like we did. Forming a tight little support
group we would try and try a boulder problem until one (and then
usually the rest of us) would be successful.
Through Lee Harrell
we heard about John Gill and the amazing problems he climbed.
Both Paul Gleason and Phil Haney went to Colorado to
climb with Gill (although I can't remember who went first). They
both came back with astounding stories and brought a new level of
inspiration to the local scene. Paul in particular had a new
attitude about bouldering, a higher level of commitment. He also
had seen the power of the dynamic move and the value of physical
training. At this time Paul was working at
Highland Outfitters in Riverside and would boulder at Rubidoux almost
every day before work. It was during this time that Paul met Rob
Muir, another amazing climber. Paul then met, climbed with and
inspired John Long, Richard Harrison, and Rick Accomazzo. The
rest is well-known history. Rubidoux developed into a very well known,
destination bouldering area; Big Rock was altered (many of the boulders
destroyed) to construct a dam and a man-made lake.