A Climber We Lost: Matt Richard

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2024 here.

Matthew Aaron Richard wanted to be “the dirtiest dirtbag out there,” said his friend Kenny Duong, who met Richard in El Potrero Chico four years ago. Richard, who relished in his nickname “Ronnie the Rat” (“Everywhere he went, someone else was named Matt, so he just nicknamed himself Ronnie,” his mother explained), would often arrive at the crag with random new tattoos or funky hairstyles, such as a greasy mullet, a shock of curls, or a handlebar mustache.