Matt Cox

The visionary 70‘s hard man Matt Cox passed away in October 2024.

Matt was a tremendously bold leader and extremely strong for his day. He did the first ascent of many testpiece routes at Joshua Tree, Suicide and Tahquitz rocks like Trespassers Will Be Violated, Illusion Dweller and many others.

Matt also led several very hard and scary repeats in that era such as “The Edge” and the “Green Arch“ at Tahquitz and numerous others probably unreported.

Matt trained hard and was known for his extreme ability on hard boulder problems and had very thin slab routes, later rated 5.12 and 5.13.

Matt will be dearly missed by his family and friends.

I offer my sincere condolences to Matt’s Family and many many Friends.

RIP 

A So-Cal legend!  I remember in the old Joshua Tree guidebook (John Wolfe?) there were many photos of him leading difficult for the day routes in a swami belt & shorts with boxer shorts hanging down.  He was obviously a big part of the local scene although unfortunately, I never met him.  

My condolences to his friends & family.

Levy

Matt was a real force in the SoCal climbing scene in the 1970s, leading many of the hardest test pieces of the time with a minimum of fuss and gear.

I'll always remember the sound of his nails scraping as he crimped a razor blade thick edge, while pulling off some amazing move. 

Matt had about the strongest fingers of any climber of his time and likely the present.

Knowing what the know now, that fellow would likely be flashing 5.13s and redpointing 5.14s

I always tried to be far enough away to not hear that dreadful finger nail scraping technique at Rubidoux! It seemed completely absurd, I think to everyone nearby.

If I remember correctly, wasn't he the first person to lead the first pitch of Stairway to Heaven at Tahquitz all free and only using stoppers and hexes?

William Leventhalwrote:

A So-Cal legend!  I remember in the old Joshua Tree guidebook (John Wolfe?) there were many photos of him leading difficult for the day routes in a swami belt & shorts with boxer shorts hanging down. 

Yes, from the Wolfe guides.

RIP Matt

My condolences to friends and family. 

Didn't know him personally but remember meeting him once at Mt Rubidoux bitd. He and my mentor Jim Wilson did some routes together. 

Tad

Very sorry to hear this news.

Last time I saw him, we'd just finished climbing Etude, up at Suicide. Just as we were walking back to the base, some noob zippered the first 80 feet of Guillotine, and was lying in a bloody heap at the base. Matt and I helped the poor soul to Humber and a ride to the ER.

That was the last time I saw Matt. I think that was in 79.

Rest in peace, Matt....climb on....