Warren J. Harding, 77, rock-climbing pioneer
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Warren J. Harding, a pioneer rock climber who made the first ascent of Yosemite National Park's towering El Capitan in 1958, a breakthrough that ushered in "big wall" climbing in America, has died. He was 77.
Mr. Harding died of liver failure Feb. 27 in his home in Happy Valley, Calif.
Nicknamed "Batso" — for his hanging off rock walls like a bat — the 5-foot-6 climber was an iconoclastic California character known for his courage, flair and sense of humor.
Mr. Harding, who once described rock climbers as "glorified flagpole sitters," dined on a Thanksgiving turkey his mother had baked for him after hauling it up 600 feet by rope to his bivouac on a ledge during his historic El Capitan climb.
He made his living as a land surveyor on roads, highways and subdivisions. But it was while hanging precariously, often for days, on sheer granite cliffs in Yosemite that he became a legend.
In a climbing career that spanned the '50s through the '70s, the sport's golden age, Mr. Harding made 30 first ascents in Yosemite. Among the most significant: the south face of Half Dome, two routes on El Capitan (the Nose and the Wall of the Early Morning Light), and the west face of the Leaning Tower.
"Basically, he took climbing to another level in the late '50s by daring to go up and spend long periods of time on the big faces in Yosemite when no one had ever done so," said photographer Galen Rowell, who was Mr. Harding's climbing partner on the Half Dome climb in 1970.
Mr. Harding and a series of partners made the famous 1958 ascent of El Capitan via the so-called Nose route. Reaching the top took 45 days of climbing, which they did in stages over 18 months, leaving fixed lines down to the ground for easy access when they went back up.
The last nine days of the climb in November 1958, with partners George Whitmore and Wayne Merry, were spent continuously on the upper part of the wall, the longest time anyone had ever spent on a wall to that point.
Born in Oakland, Calif., Mr. Harding, whose father worked for the state Department of Highways, grew up in Downieville, Calif., and Marysville, Calif. During World War II, he worked as a propeller mechanic at Sacramento's McClellan Field. As a surveyor after the war, he worked for the state and for private construction companies.
Mr. Harding, who always enjoyed the outdoors, didn't start climbing until he was 30.
After his retirement as a surveyor at age 65 in 1989, Mr. Harding became the oldest man to climb El Capitan, ascending the Nose route he had pioneered.
Mr. Harding is survived by a sister, Ardeth Barber, of West Sacramento, Calif.