Richard Goldstone skillfully brakes after a fast descent from Cloudveil Dome                                                                                   photo PG   

Richard at Devils Lake                                                                          photo:PG

Richard at the Gunks, recently, doing City Lights

RICHARD GOLDSTONE   Richard was part of the "second wave" of climbers joining the UCMC. He and Stephen Derenzo became almost weekly participants at the Devils Lake cliffs. Richard soon developed his own style of climbing: a smooth, well thought-out, one-limb-at-a-time precision assault. I don't recall Richard ever taking a fall or making a desperate or ill-planned move. He went on, of course, to become one of the finest rockclimbers in the United States.

The following comment is from the Master of Rock, John Gill, taken (with permission) from his website: www.johngill.net

  Rich Goldstone : (Richard Goldstone) This photo was taken in the mid 1960s on some rocks off the road to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain NP. I first met Rich at the Jenny Lake boulders in 1961, when he was about 17. He became very interested in bouldering and in gymnastic-inspired training techniques for bouldering and rock climbing. Rich became adept at rope climbing and improved the carryover to rock by occasionally climbing very thin cords, rather than the traditional 1.5” diameter. When climbing traditional rope he would never focus on speed, but climbed slowly, taking maximum reaches with one hand at a time. He was also one of the first climbers to use surgical rubber tubing for learning various strength tricks, referring to the tubing as an FFD (you’ll have to ask Rich!).

He quickly became an exceptional boulderer and one of the most graceful rock climbers I've known. We spent many hours in the 1960s bouldering together in the Tetons and Black Hills, pulling torn flesh off our fingers and using vast quantities of chalk and tape! We also climbed together at Dixon Springs, where Rich challenged the existing standards (even at temperatures of 5 degrees F). Back east, he became a legend in the Gunks, climbing many difficult routes, including the FA of the thin face climb, Farewell to Fingers(5.11) in 1970. Rich climbed widely, and made notable FAs in the Needles of the Black Hills, including the first free ascent of the famous and intimidating Needle's Eye Spire.

Dr. Goldstone is a mathematician, and teaches at Manhattan College in New York State. (When he and I and R. F. Williams got together on the rocks it was to answer the question: how many mathematicians does it take to solve a boulder problem? Three, apparently.) Rich was one of the best boulderers of his generation, and a wonderfully witty and skilled climbing companion!

Richard and I climbed a variety of routes together in the Grand tetons in the early 60's. I recall these in particular: Complete Exum Ridge of the Grand Teton; Red Sentinel (Richard led the crux pitch); Gray Slab route on Disappointment Peak (first ascent); E. Hourglass Ridge of Nez Perce (first ascent); direct Jensen Ridge on Symmetry Spire; N. face of Cloudveil Dome.

Climbing Photos of Richard

Richard earned a B.A. in Mathematics from NYU, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from City University of NY. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Manhattan College.

In his own words:

Richard Goldstone

I started climbing while a high school student in 1957. My first climb was the Owen-Spaulding route on the Grand, guided by none other than Glenn Exum himself.  Two more guided climbs were followed by a number of hair-raising adventures in the Tetons with similarly inexperienced acquaintances and a lot of scrambling in RMNP.  Although one of the Teton guided climbs was the SW Ridge of Symmetry Spire, I didn't do much rock-climbing above easy fifth class until I arrived at UC in 1961, fell in with Steve Derenzo and Peter Gardiner, and started going to Devil's Lake.  I think that we, together with Bob Williams, managed Western trips every summer while I was at UC, mostly to the Tetons, but we also did some climbing in the Needles in S.D. During these trips and ones that followed, I spent a lot of time bouldering with John Gill, who had just left UC with a Masters in Meteorology when I arrived there.

After UC I move back to NYC and "joined" the Vulgarian Mountain Club. Many climbs in the Shawangunks, Whitehorse and Cathedral Ledges, Cannon Mountain, the Tetons, Wind Rivers, Devil's Tower, S.D. Needles, Eldorado and Boulder Canyons, RMNP, Bugaboos, Yosemite, Tahquitz, and Red Rocks, to mention the most well-know areas, followed.  Although the intensity of my involvement has varied over the years, no year went by when I didn't do some climbing, and recently, with my daughter off to college, I've been more active again.

I married my wife Mara in 1983, and in 1987 we had a daughter, Sarah, who is now a freshman at Boston University.  After seven years as a high-school mathematics teacher at the Fieldston School in Riverdale, NY, I went to the CUNY Graduate School and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics under the supervision of Eldon Dyer.  Jobs at Bard and Marist Colleges followed before I settled at Manahttan College in Riverdale, a block or two away from Fieldston where my teaching career had begun.