Richard Wright has Died

I just learned last night that Richard Wright died on January 4th. Richard was one of the most important people driving the expansion of climbing in the Front Range, developing numerous routes and crags. He was also a huge contributor of information to this site. He will be missed.

Obituary

I never met Richard but I've seen his name countless times as FAs in guidebooks and across the internet. Hell of a developer. He will be missed.

He will be missed. He was always willing to share his new routes and share beta. Great guy.

Wow. Hard to believe. I was in a training class with him at R n J about five years ago. He was incredibly fit, strong, positive and intense. He loved to share info about new routes he was working. He was great to have in the class. I'm glad I got to meet him. Condolences to family and friends.

Sad news. Richard was a tireless force--easily one of the most prolific route developers in Colorado. If you've clipped bolts on the Front Range, you've surely clipped one of Richard's. He was a great guy, eternally positive and incredibly productive. Front Range climbing won't be the same without him.

Yes, very sad. Condolences to family and friends

I never met him in person, but we emailed back and forth for many years regarding this site.

Many condolences to his family and friends. Very sad news to hear.

Richard deserves a 12 Hilti salute for his contributions to climbing. RIP.

Here is a brief selection of some of Richard's tremendous contributions to our climbing playground. If you enter "Richard M. Wright" and "RMWright" in the Mountain Project search box you get over 250 routes. Not all of those are his FAs, but the vast majority are (and surely there are many others unaccounted for). Below are a few of his most well-known contributions. His Clear Creek FA list might as well be the Clear Creek top ten list:

Clear Creek:
People's Choice
Wet Dream
Skippin' Stones
5th of July
First Impressions
The Hipster
Eiger Direct
Solid Gold
Curvaceous
Peer Review
Battle's End
Y2K
Vixen
Stone Cold Moderate
Skimbleshanks

Empire:
Walk On Water
Tremendous Trifles
Priceless
Nearer To Thee
Moving Zen
Windows On the World
Higher Calling

Rifle:
Rumor Has It
Bottom Feeder
Ivory Tower
Several Lower Ice Cave Routes

He has at least one first ascent at each of the following areas, and in most cases he has many. In some cases he has the vast majority, and the crag likely would not exist without Richard's efforts:

Clear Creek
Boulder Canyon
Eldo
The Flatirons
Estes Park
Devil's Head
St Vrain Canyon
Castlewood Canyon
North Table Mountain
Empire (including Ra, Goat Rock, Halidome, etc)
Rifle
Lime Park
Windy Point
Mill Creek Crags
Haus Rock
Georgetown Crags
Silver Plume
Chicago Creek

I never met Richard but certainly knew of him and his prolific climbing career. I'm sorry to hear this news.
Here's Richard's MountainProject account ...it's clear he was very active and will be missed.

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear this. I had the pleasure of meeting Richard this summer at the Mill Creek crags near Dumont, an area he spent a lot of time developing over the last three or so years. He graciously allowed me to pitch in on development efforts, and we enjoyed each others' routes. I ran in to him hanging from a fixed line, brushing lichen alone in the forest, seemingly loving every minute of it. He was still climbing hard and putting up 5.12 FA's, so this comes as a shock to me. Richard was certainly a legendary Front Range developer.

I pretty much spent the 90's climbing with him and Tod Anderson. We has a lot of great times together. I will save my stories for his celebration, but I would like to point out a few highlights of his:
I am pretty sure he was the first climber to visit Rifle with a sport climber/rap driller's eye. I remember the Monday following his first drive through Rifle when he showed up at Paradise. He was wide-eyed and intensely animated describing what he had seen. I don't remember if he bolted Rumor Has It that first trip or the following weekend, but RHI was the first bolted sport line there.
And, for at least a decade he held the top contributor spot here on Mountain Project/Climbing Boulder.com
So much beta that we figured he could not have possibly ever got any professional work done; but with his high-ranking position at UCHMC he obviously did.
I hope that ABS logs in here and lets us know when the celebration of his life will be.

I never met him, but this is a bummer. He definitely contributed a ton to Colorado climbing in a very humble way.

rip, thanks for all the great routes

Huge bummer for front range climbers. I was never close to him, but knew who he was and talked to him at the crags for many years.

My early days on here as a lurker and then a member, he was a frequent contributer. Sad news.

This is very sad news that Richard has passed away. Going back to the late 1980s, Richard established some of the finest sport routes on Colorado's Front Range. It boggles my mind to think about how many routes he established including many multi-pitch routes in Clear Creek & Empire. He had an amazing eye for a good line & did a wonderful job equipping well thought out, safe routes. I was lucky enough to have been included on a couple of those first ascents that Richard drilled. Most notably Wet Dream at the Wall of the 90s in Clear Creek.

Richard had an endless amount of energy, was always positive & enthusiastic. I always enjoyed his company. I had been out of touch with Richard in recent years & only learned about his cancer in early December. He will be deeply missed.

Bump, because Mike Lane and I were just talking about Richard. Mike's account from this thread is deactivated. 

Here’s a nice article
https://coloradocancerblogs.org/cancer-researcher-and-rock-climber-richard-wright-has-passed/