Ray Warburton (of Bishop, CA)

Experienced Bishop climber and former Jackson ski guide, Ray Warburton, lost his life this week in a fall on the N Couloir of Mt Humphreys. On 9 June, Ray left on a solo day trip with plans to ascend the N Couloir and descend the E Arete.  When he did not return that evening, his wife Lesley, asked friends to check on him.  Inyo SAR was contacted after they found his vehicle still at the trailhead.  SAR and the friends began a search on the morning of the 10th. The friends located his body near the base of the N Couloir.

Ray was a 20+ year resident of the Bishop outdoor community, and enjoyed many days of climbing, skiing, mountain biking, and local potlucks with Lesley and friends.  He was always up for an adventure or a story/beta exchange. He left behind his wife, Lesley, and their two children.

Inyo Co Sheriff's report (Recovered photos and a Strava track suggests he had summited (or come very near to the summit), and fell while descending the N Couloir.  Another climber also heard rockfall in the area.  Ray was wearing a helmet.)

GoFundMe memorial fund for Ray's family

There will be an outdoor memorial for Ray on 6/27 in the evening in Bishop.  More details to follow on the GoFundMe page.

So sad RIP

my sincere condolences!

elmar

Ray was my friend for more than 35 years. There was a crew of us, serious powder hounds, that would often start at Nora's in Wilson, WY, and then ski Teton Pass most days of the winter.
Ray was perhaps the most hard-core and go-for-it in the group. I first met Ray during a group ski trip over Thanksgiving of 1984 into the Cirque of the Towers from the Lander side of
the Wind Rivers. I was a beginner and he chastised me for using too much toilet paper getting my business done. Over the span of the next 3+ decades I had many adventures with Ray.
I watched his intensity lessen as he became a family man. I spent a little time with Ray, Leslie and their kids. His family was everything to him.

Ray loved climbing in mountains, especially when there was a big hike involved. His weekend forays into the Winds during the 80's were legendary in terms of the number of miles covered
in just a couple of days. I will remember his stoke for anything adventurous, and his gentle giggle at something that he found funny. Ray is the first of our crew to pass to my knowledge.
In some ways, I'm surprised that we all have survived for this long. Sending my most sincere condolences to Leslie, the kids and their family. There is a substantial group of former
Jacksonites that are stunned and saddened by this news. 

I first met him while I was a young sprout in Jackson Hole and he was already a veteran backcountry skier, climber and adventurer – around 1985 or 86. Over the years (the JH crowd fairly small In those days) we connected for adventures in the Tetons and Wind Rivers. One our first big adventure was an early ascent of Rainbow Wall at Red Rocks (way before it was bolted as a free climb). I was leading the last pitch, and nailing a refrigerator sized block when it all collapsed and crashed thousands of feet below, past the Over the Rainbow Ledge we’d bivi’d on. Thankfully I was on the far left edge of an arching pitch and when I fell I swung free of the carnage and nothing touched Ray either. I just remember looking over at him (now at my level but about 50 feet away) and there he was, crazy wiry afro hairdo, with huge alarmed eyes but a big smile on his face. We finally topped out and carried our big loads out the canyon and came across a pretty girl in the canyon sunbathing like a Siren by a big pool of water – she was friendly but we were so speechless we just kept going w a nod, jaws dropped. Another time in Yosemite Ray and I tried N American Wall on El Cap, my second attempt. We were pumped and were charging, but on one of those A3 pitches early on (p 5?) Ray took a BIG whipper falling off some stacked angle pitons and he smacked his arm bad – breaking his wrist we later learned. We kept going but about by pitch 15 he couldn’t even pound out pitons his wrist hurt so bad – so we bailed. He felt bad but in hindsight he showed a crazy amount of toughness. Pretty typical of Ray – he had a lot of inspiration and was willing to put himself out there to experience wild adventures.

I had many other fun adventures w Ray, most of the memories include a lot of laughing and giggling.

Ray was a big music fan – in the 80s I was hard core Deadhead and he expanded a lot of my music exposure to some of the new stuff at the time – maybe the one that stuck w my the most was The Clash – Ray was always looking for something new. I owe that to him.

I called him Ray-Bones for obvious reasons…

The last time I saw Ray was in Yosemite Valley a few years back when we climbed a fun route on Higher Cathedral Rock– at the time we’d both transitioned on a good bit and had become fathers, clearly resetting out priorities. Ray was always smart, thoughtful and quick to laugh. His laugh was infectious. Man that guy had energy."

RIP buddy. with Ray Warburton

At a loss for words. I've known Ray for around 40 years. Haven't seen him in a few years. So sorry for Leslie and his kids. Ray's laugh and lightness is what I remember best. That and what a beast he was for his epic hiking ability in the Winds in his younger days. Last I saw Ray he was camping with Leslie and the kids. You could tell he was a great father and so in to his family.

Heartbreaking. So sorry to hear this.

Treasure those moments of head aching silence among the highest spires so close to the stars the sky a darker blue.

Only interrupted by the thunder of your heart.

It was the summer of 1996 (I think) when Greg Winston and Ray where travelling arround Patagonia, and they stoped by my father´s house in Bariloche, it’s amazing how just a couple of minutes were enough to start a solid connection between people that share a passion for the outdoors and sports. At that moment I was finishing high school but was already very much into rock climbing, so that was our first adventure. We went to Frey (my backyard) and shared some very nice climbs in this great granite playground, we where a good team, I was quite good at face climbing and Ray was a kick ass crack climber.
After that, Ray went back home telling me that he would see me in 5 or 6 year's, because that was how he was doing it then: work, get some money, and travel, and when he found a place he liked, he’d return. Also he gave me his phone number, and told me if you ever go to the states, call.
So I wrote down his number, but did not now where he lived.
In 1998 I had the opportunity to travel to the states and stayed with some friends for the whole summer, so after a couple of days I called Ray, without expecting anything more than to catch up with a friend on a cheaper, national call, but guess what, when Ray asked me where I was staying, i said Wilson WY, he said: ok, my turn to show you arround, I live 20 minutes from you over the path in Victor Idaho.
That is where I met his hard core, lovely girlfriend. Lesley and Ray took me out to play almost every weekend, I remember how much he loved his coffee in the morning, while trying to get rid of any extra weigth, and off we went , to the road again.
Gran Teton, Teton canyon, Mount Moran (paddling a canoe to its base) Crested Bute, Hobkac junction , City of Rocks , Wind River Range, Mount Helen and Gannet peak ... (glacier traveling is dangerous, but when you go with Ray and he says rope up, you better do, because 5 minutes later you will realize he saved your life when you are danglin inside a crevasse).
I don’t have many pictures because in those years I didn’t have a camara or cell phone, but in my memory for sure, some of the happiest adventures of my life.

Nunca te voy a olvidar mi compañero de cordada, mi mentor pero sobre todas las cosas mi amigazo.

Thanks to everyone who shared Ray stories.

Update: There will be an outdoor memorial for Ray on 6/27 in the evening in Bishop.  More details to follow on the GoFundMe page.
Update 2: Ray's memorial is Saturday June 27th 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the Elks RV Park at 3301 West Line Street in Bishop, CA

Like so many, I was stunned when I heard the news about Ray. I met Ray when we both worked for the USFS in the Wind River Range, in 1982. We learned to climb together in the Winds. Every weekend, marching in 10, 15, or 20 miles, doing a long route or two, hiking back out to be at work on time. Perfecting the art of "the floating sensation" on those long marches that always seemed to start at 2 pm, when we should have started by 9 am.
We shared a lot of tent time (it rained more back then), reading Joe Kelsey's little brown Winds guidebook like it was a novel, dreaming of the routes we would climb when we got the skills. " Why do you even bring that thing!" , he would say. "You've got that damn thing memorized!". Those who knew him will remember his really smelly feet. On the North Ridge of the Grand once, I remember him being 120' out on a lead, and I could still smell his feet!
Ray had such a positive attitude, tremendous drive, and rarely let things get in his way. He was goofy, and driven. We had our own language, we sang the Clash, the Pixies, X, The Replacements while we drove, hiked, climbed.. No folk music-we never would have got to where we were going! He weighed about 128 pounds but was one of the toughest people I ever knew, and ballsy.
So many adventures we had together. I miss you so much already, my friend, Del Ray.