Warren Harding (climber)

Warren J. Harding ( * June 18, 1924, † 27 February 2002) was an American mountaineer and pioneer of big wall climbing in California.

Life

Harding grew up in Downieville in California, the son of a family that moved there in the time of the Great Depression in the 1930s from the Midwest (Iowa). He began in the late 1940s in the Sierra Nevada with the climbing, and made in 1953 by some daring ascents in the climbing scene in Yosemite Valley talked about, in particular competition for Royal Robbins. After Harding and his former climbing partner Mark Powell were beaten in the commission of the northwestern side of Half Dome just to Robbins, they decided in July 1957 to take the wall The Nose of El Capitan in attack. As their trials attracted large crowds, the parking fee at once said the Continue climbing and ordered that such ascents should be made only out of season. On November 12, 1958, the legendary first ascent Harding finally succeeded with Wayne Merry, George Whitmore and Rich Calderwood in 47 days with several attempts. The route is still one of the most popular rock climbing routes in the United States.

From a talking Harding also made in a spectacular, 27 -day first ascent of the Wall of the early morning light on El Capitan in 1970 with Dean Caldwell, the then considerable media attention reached ( with television reports and an article in Life Magazine). When they were stranded during a storm several days in the wall, they refused to be rescued by the Park Service. Royal Robbins followed him shortly thereafter in a floorboard, which lasted only seven days, taking away many of the bolts to keep the wall clean. After this climb Harding was temporarily a media star, who appeared on talk shows and went on reading journey.

Harding was known for his extroverted, rough appearance (nickname Batso ), including a preference for large quantities of cheap red wine and a poltrigen humor. He was a pioneer in the use of various climbing aids, partially developed with Roger Derryberry and previously in the 1950s with Dolt Feuerer. Since his goal was in his own words less in climbing technical finesse, and he sat at your destination to get large amounts of permanent bolts, he was criticized by other big wall pioneers such as Royal Robbins, who campaigned for clean, aesthetic climbing with as few bolts. In his tours Harding did not prevent them from serious injury, so he climbed briefly after a broken leg in a car accident. At the Half Dome of Yosemite, he had in November 1968 with the climbers and photographers Gale Rowell several days a winter cold snap in the wall camp, which both survived just barely. They had to be freed from the wall by a helicopter ( to be abseilenden Royal Robbins ).

Harding published his memoirs in 1975.

His main job was Surveyor and construction workers, only for the state of California, then for private companies in California, Alaska and Vietnam. After the 1980s, he gave up mountaineering and resorted to balloon flying.

Writings

• Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing, Prentice Hall, 1975, Menasha Ridge Press, Birmingham, Alabama 1990