I pull into the Project Wall parking at 7:10 a.m. and shut off my van. I sip coffee and step into the cool air; the canyon is empty and quiet, save for the rush of Rifle Creek and the bird songs that echo off the limestone walls.
“Morning!” Phil Gruber says with characteristic enthusiasm as he approaches. “You’re early!” He sounds pleased, as I hoped he would be. If the roles were reversed he’d be early, too. I wish him a happy birthday, give him a hug, then he gets to business prepping his climbing gear.
The canyon will be full of climbers, but most won’t arrive for another three hours. Gruber drove three-and-a-half hours from his home in Boulder last night and slept in his Tesla. He started warming up — walking, stretching, hanging on his portable fingerboard — 40 minutes before I showed up.
I’m here to belay Gruber on The Eighth Day (5.13a), a 160-foot streak of blue limestone, the so-called “king line” of Rifle Mountain Park. With a reputation for old-school bolting, a climber must risk big falls between its widely-spaced bolts (it’s intimidating enough that many Rifle veterans “haven’t gotten to it yet”).
Gruber, on the other hand, is attracted to the line. “Why bother with average climbs when there’s a five-star route I haven’t done?” he says. This sums up his modus operandi — certainly in climbing, but also in the rest of his varied and compelling life. At some point, he earned the epithet, Über-Phil. It stuck, because it’s spot-on.
Gruber is one of those rare people who seems to excel at everything he does. If he decides something is worth his time, he figures he may as well kick ass at it. He’s talented in many ways, but where Über-Phil really shines is when it comes to working hard.
For the last two decades, he led global consulting teams for companies such as IBM and Hitachi, and for 30 years he averaged 60-hour work weeks. Only recently did he become an independent consultant, cutting his work hours in half.
“It feels like I’m on a permanent vacation now,” he said laughing, despite his near full-time job.
The 54-year-old has been married to his wife, Becky, a hospital chaplain, since 1998 and they have two kids in college. He’s active in his local church, yet he said, “My beliefs are evolving,” alluding to his liberal ideology in an otherwise conservative-leaning realm.
His climbing, which began in 1988, has evolved as well. He used to focus on long routes, big walls and mountains, with ascents including the north faces of the Matterhorn and Eiger in Switzerland, Yosemite’s El Capitan and Half Dome in a single day, and many routes in Colorado’s Black Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Parks.
Lately, he’s spent more time sport climbing, which is objectively safer and more performance-oriented. For this, he trains religiously on his home wall (dubbed the “Pain Box”).
Gruber also works hard to establish new and difficult multi-pitch sport routes on the most impressive Flatirons walls, such as the south faces of The Matron and Mickey Mouse Wall, and the north face of Seal Rock. He has also done two first ascents on the Diamond of Longs Peak.
The thing about Gruber’s routes is they’re all king lines, just like The Eighth Day. He climbs confidently to the crux 110 feet up, where there’s a series of insecure moves on slippery, fingertip holds. From below I can only see his muscular silhouette against the clouds — his white, shoulder-length hair blowing in the breeze. He grabs a tiny hold in slightly the wrong way and teeters backward. I catch his swinging fall and lower him to the ground.
Happy with his effort, he rests for another try. He then tells me about a moment recently, when a friend asked him what he’d do if he had 10 days to live. I expect Über-Phil to mention climbing or surfing — his other passion.
Instead, he offers simple, down-to-earth wisdom that seems to transcend his über persona. “I’d hang out in Boulder with my family,” he says. “Maybe go to Pearl Street with some friends. You know Chris, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Contact Chris Weidner at cweidner8@gmail.com. Follow him on Instagram @christopherweidner and X @cweidner8
