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Tamara Robbins and Marty - 12/2025
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-- Meeting Royal --
Royal Robbins is a major famous climber and it took a while for me to figure out how to approach him. I saw him many times at the trade shows, but he was always very busy and I did not want to take up any of his time. Royal Robbins had a company at the time named Royal Robbins Clothing. Finally I took a deep breath and warmly approached him. He looked at me and said sorry he was busy. Understandable since at the Outdoor Retailers Show, companies show off their new products to sell, and work on getting pre-season commitments out of the retailers who carry their products. This is an important show for manufacturers and I was just a fly-by climber just trying to say hello. I stopped by his booth the next day just to discover he had already left for home. I was left in disappointment but the game was on!
Six months later was the show again, and I had only four days to connect with Royal. The trade shows each are only four days long. I didn't want to pester him on the first day, nor did I want him to escape the show without me shaking his hand. I decided that the third day was going to be my approach. During the first two days of the show I made sure I went by his booth to make sure that he was actually at the show. He was there! Yes!!! Finally on the third day I saw a moment to sneak into his booth for my greeting. He said hello to me, asked why I was there and gave me a handshake and then started to walk away.
I was devastated that he was walking away from me and was being kinda rude. I however understand the importance of the trade show, and I was the one that was hindering him from getting his job done. But this time I exclaimed "Royal just one more thing." I put together a climbing gear photo foldout to show him, just to see if there was any way I could obtain even one piece of his gear for my museum. I assumed my foldout photo display would create curiosity to him, but it didn't. He threw it to the side and said "that's nice," and walked away. I felt as though my girlfriend just told me she was breaking up with me as I stood there in my puddle of dismay.
Six months later was the next show and I found a great photo of Royal to get his signature on. The game is on again! This time he was warmer to me as he signed the photo, smiled, and once again swooshed me out of his booth. Wow! But this time there was no puddle, since I was getting used to the "dumped" feeling. My friends said that maybe his ego is so huge that I was just the little person. I disagreed and stated "He just does not see me." So I changed my plan of attack.
Six months later was the show again, and I had only four days to connect with Royal. The trade shows each are only four days long. I didn't want to pester him on the first day, nor did I want him to escape the show without me shaking his hand. I decided that the third day was going to be my approach. During the first two days of the show I made sure I went by his booth to make sure that he was actually at the show. He was there! Yes!!! Finally on the third day I saw a moment to sneak into his booth for my greeting. He said hello to me, asked why I was there and gave me a handshake and then started to walk away.
I was devastated that he was walking away from me and was being kinda rude. I however understand the importance of the trade show, and I was the one that was hindering him from getting his job done. But this time I exclaimed "Royal just one more thing." I put together a climbing gear photo foldout to show him, just to see if there was any way I could obtain even one piece of his gear for my museum. I assumed my foldout photo display would create curiosity to him, but it didn't. He threw it to the side and said "that's nice," and walked away. I felt as though my girlfriend just told me she was breaking up with me as I stood there in my puddle of dismay.
Six months later was the next show and I found a great photo of Royal to get his signature on. The game is on again! This time he was warmer to me as he signed the photo, smiled, and once again swooshed me out of his booth. Wow! But this time there was no puddle, since I was getting used to the "dumped" feeling. My friends said that maybe his ego is so huge that I was just the little person. I disagreed and stated "He just does not see me." So I changed my plan of attack.
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Ok here we go again. Six months later was the next show, he is present at the show, let's get him on the third day, etc. My technique was dialed in but this time I noticed that Liz his wife was at the show also. Hmmmmm…… I just so happened to have with me this photo shown on a page in the Climbing Magazine, of Liz and Royal standing on top of Half Dome. My answer was now clear. I waited until "Beer-30" and saw Royal over by the La Sportiva booth talking to many friends. Liz stood behind him like a fly on the wall and nobody was talking to her, but ten or so of Royals friends were talking to him. I approached Liz, introduced myself, and had a conversation with her like she had just come across a girlfriend that she had not seen in many years. We were laughing loudly and were having fun, as Royal would occasionally look over his shoulder to see what was going on. Eventually I asked for HER signature which she was blown away when asked. This really made her day! I exclaimed to her on how great it was to meet her and to share gut busting laughs with her at the show, then I started walking away with my back to Royal. |
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I waked 15', turned around and noticed Royal was staring at me in my eyes. I exclaimed aloud to Royal in front of his friends that "I guess while I am here I could get your signature also." Royal's shoulders shrieked as the crowd exclaimed the "OOOOH" howl from Marty's theatrics. Since that moment, Royal remembered me and we have shared many laughs together at the shows.
----- Royal Robbins (February 3, 1935 – March 14, 2017) was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. -----
----- Royal Robbins (February 3, 1935 – March 14, 2017) was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. -----
Photo: Jaime Gangi
Photo: Jaime Gangi
Recently I visited Tamara Robbins and told her this story. She filled me in on facts where Royal would not have reacted to anything of me hitting on Liz or anything like that. Royal was not that type of person. My plan was not me hitting on Liz, but making Liz the more important person that I was after to get a signature from. Royal would be secondary. Even knowing of this information, I know that at the show that followed this show six months later, Royal on day One personally walked up to me and without me wearing my show name tag, he said my name and mentioned that is was good to see me. On day three of this show I was over by the climbing wall in the climbing area of the show and I was reorganizing my brief case. Royal came over to me and sat down and talked to me for 1/2 hour or more with great conversation, and thanking me for becoming a Eagle Scout. The Royal Robbins company sold in 1999, and that was the last time I talked to Royal.
Royal Robbins - Memorial, March 12, 2018
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Royal Robbins, Memorial, Special stopper was made by Black Diamond
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