Bob Murray

what parts of Tucson did Bob Murray develop and discover? I know about Matterhorn. Any others? I've heard he is reponsible for most tucson bouldering. How would you get his old guide?

Bob covered so much ground it would be impossible to list it all. A few off the top of my head:

Mt Lemmon: Windy Point, Matterhorn (and area), Amphitheatre (and others near rose canyon), Murray wall (near Arqueso's routes), Weeping wall and Helmet ridge. Rap Rock area. It Cliff area. Pima Canyon and Campbell cliff too.

Tucson Mtns: gates pass, red boulder, both passes at the north end.

East side: Tanque Verde cyn, Milagrosa cyn.

Other areas: pena blanca, Tortolitas, Cochise east-side (all over).

George Smith would be a good source for more info.

I have a copy of "Bouldering Beyond Campbell" that Murray authored, as well as a copy of his original hand drawn guide to Hueco Tanks.

Curt

Pima Canyon and Campbell Cliff? Pray tell--Is Campbell Cliff the band of rock face visible from town, about two-thirds up the front side of the Catalinas? ("Front side" viewing from Tucson, that is.)

And what faces have been climbed/developed in Pima Canyon? It's one of my favorite places to hike.

Thanks,
Mark

Campbell cliff is a north-facing crag about a third of a mile north of the end of Campbell Ave. It is invisible from town. In fact it's invisible until you walk up to the edge of the wash and look down into the little canyon. Back in the 70s and early 80s it was the "climbing gym" of the day. Often there were 10 or 20 people there after work. Now it's surrounded by Rancho Sin Huevos and off-limits to climbers.

I said "Pima Canyon" up above, but as I consult "Bouldering Beyond Campbell" I see that the boulder I was thinking of is actually in Finger Rock Canyon.

Is he still alive?

I have not seen him in a couple of years but he used to come into the Albuquerque gym at least a few times a year.

Is Tucson a small place,? No, the Arizona Flash developed all across the southwest. We were humbled in Texas to point at AF Bob Murray problems...

That is like asking if water is wet, or are deserts dry.

Contact Paul Davidson he may still have a phone number for Bob. Email him from this site.

Bob is alive and well. Doesn't boulder much anymore, mostly into thrashing up steep gullies and big long easier 3rd classes, ala Grand Teton, S route on the shield etc...

He will almost certainly not return a phone call or an email if he doesn't know you. I could be wrong about that but that's what I've been told by others. I've even tried sending him an email or a phone msg that so and so will be contacting him and they want to talk about XYZ area but he still often doesn't respond. Joe K might have some insight there. Bob is just very private person (no surprise there.)

Like JB said, if it's rock and it's in the SWest, especially AZ/NM, you can almost just assume Bob's touched it. Many of his favorite areas he would only disclose to a very small handful of folks (like a one handed man could count the people who know even 80% of the areas he's been.) He just really likes solitude.

That said, there is rock everywhere and I know of areas in NM that locals have found that Bob had been to the general area, but perhaps not to the specific locations that have become popular. He used to keep meticulous notebooks. I'd heard he'd tossed those but last time I asked him about them, he told me he still had them so at some point in time they might get released. I've been after him for close to 30 years now to publish his notes, his response was always "Who TF would buy a bouldering guide... Not worth my time." Little did he know...

Start a petition and I'll deliver it to him :-)

Boy, if he only knew how many people would be thrilled to check out those notebooks just for history's sake. Well don't give up Paul. Those notebooks are like the holy grail of SW bouldering.

This is an old subject. Each new generation tries to get these so called notebooks. But nothings been let go for over two decades. Bob's a cool guy, I talked to him recently. However, I don't think things will suddenly change. He's really never been into that spectrum of climbing. Many climbers especially the young generation sure could use some positive Zen like scriptures from the past to build on. But getting him to realize this is very difficult. Soon it will all just fade away, unless he takes action. But that's up to him.

Add me to the petition...

To me. It's seems Murray likes this type of attention.
BoulderingTucson.com /murray-project

I have some good size photos of Bob Murray. You can zoom in close enough to see how small the holds actually are. He's totally ripped, squeezing rock juice out of each bp. The photos were converted from 35mm slides to digital .jpg so the focus isn't perfect on some.
Bob Murray Photos

Sorry about the link above breaking. It's fixed now.

I've had good fun on some of those problems. Here are a few comments on the above Murray pics:

R1-16 and R1-8 (in that order) Show Murray on a dynamic variation of a Gill problem on the Sylvan Lake Boulder in the South Dakota Needles. In R1-8 you can see the late Kevin Bein spotting.

R1-6 and R1-7 show Murray on Gill's Scab Overhang problem--also in the SD Needles.

R1-3 is not actually a pic of Bob Murray. The climber is Chris Jones and the "spotter" is Bob Williams. I believe this is the Black Hole bouldering area at Morrison, CO.

Curt