Warren Harding (climber)

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

Life

Harding grew up in Downieville, California, the son of a family who moved there from the Midwestern, Iowa, during the Great Depression in the 1930s. He began climbing in the Sierra Nevada in the late 1940s and made a name for itself from 1953 onwards with some daring first ascents in the climbing scene in the Yosemite Valley , in particular in competition with Royal Robbins . After Harding and his climbing partner at the time, Mark Powell, were narrowly beaten by Robbins in the ascent of the northwest side of Half-Dome, they decided to tackle The Nose wall on El Capitan in July 1957 . Since their attempts attracted large crowds, the Park Service once prohibited further climbing and ordered that such ascents should only take place out of season. On November 12, 1958, Harding finally managed the legendary first ascent 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.

Harding also made a name for himself in a spectacular, 27-day first ascent of the Wall of the early morning light on El Capitan in 1970 with Dean Caldwell, which at the time received considerable media attention (with TV reports and an article in Life magazine). When they were stuck in the wall for several days during a storm, they refused to be rescued by the park service. Royal Robbins followed him shortly thereafter in an ascent that lasted only 7 days, removing many of its bolts to keep the wall clean . After this ascent, Harding was temporarily a media star who appeared on talk shows and went on a reading tour.

Harding was known for his extroverted, rough demeanor (nickname Batso ), including a penchant for large quantities of cheap red wine and a boisterous humor. He was a pioneer in the use of various climbing aids, developed in part with Roger Derryberry and previously with Dolt Feuerer in the 1950s. Since his goal, in his own words, was less technical climbing finesse, and he also used large quantities of permanent bolts to get there, he was criticized by other big wall pioneers such as Royal Robbins, who advocated clean , aesthetic climbing with as few bolts as possible . Harding did not let himself be deterred by serious injuries on his tours, for example he climbed shortly after a broken leg in a car accident. At Half Dome of Yosemite, he and the climber and photographer Gale Rowell had to camp for several days in a winter cold snap in the wall in November 1968, which both only barely survived. They had to be freed from the wall by a helicopter (and the abseiling Royal Robbins).

Harding published his memoir in 1975.

His main occupation was a surveyor and construction worker, first for the state of California, then for private companies in California, Alaska and Vietnam. After the 1980s, he gave up mountaineering and switched to ballooning .

Fonts

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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ National Parks Traveler of November 12, 2008: Fifty Year Ago Today, Warren Harding and His Buddies Conquered “Unclimbable” El Capitan, accessed on November 11, 2010
  2. ↑ like bat-hooks , bat for its nickname and basically absurd technology and bat-tents , sleeping bags hung on a hook in the wall. At times he also had a climbing equipment company called BAT , which was not very successful
  3. ↑ Portrait of Burt Snider, San Francisco Examiner 1986. Harding quotes a British man with whom he climbed and who criticized him: My God, Harding, you can't do anything! to which he replied I know, but I can do it forever.
personal data
SURNAME Harding, Warren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harding, Warren J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American climber
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1924
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 2002