Chris Jones Interviews Warren Harding Mountain #9 1970

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Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 17, 2010 - 11:44am PT
A great interview with Batso while he was still in the thick of it! From Mountain 9, May 1970.




survival

Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
Apr 17, 2010 - 12:47pm PT
Awesome, I will read this later today!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2010 - 01:58pm PT
That series of Galen portraits are some of the best shots of Warren, IMO.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2010 - 11:07am PT
Gotta love them diabolical sideburns!
Camster (Rhymes with Hamster)

Social climber
CO
Apr 20, 2010 - 11:25am PT
Roxy

Trad climber
CA Central Coast
Apr 20, 2010 - 12:12pm PT
Jones asks, "Is it true you are the oldest rock climber in the USA?"

Harding's reply, "Only Fred Becky is older"

I love this stuff...thanks for the scan job!



the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
Apr 20, 2010 - 05:57pm PT
"I prefer to believe all the myths and legends. - they're all true!"
kubok!3

climber
Austin, TX
Apr 20, 2010 - 08:15pm PT
Great stuff! One of the greatest climbing characters of all time...
Bulldog

Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
Apr 21, 2010 - 04:47pm PT
Thanks again Sensei! How about a story of your solo "Turning Point".
AlexReinhard

climber
Apr 30, 2010 - 09:03pm PT
NICE! THANKS!
Younkin

Mountain climber
Utah
May 1, 2010 - 01:36am PT
I got to go to the slide show Warren had at the Swallows Nest in Seattle after his wall of the early morning light climb, he had a funny picture of him taking a dump in sturups... He is a very short person, Jimm
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 1, 2010 - 01:47am PT
^^^^ Ya shoulda come out drinkin' with us afterwards Younkin - that was epic! (at least for me)
eagle

Trad climber
new paltz, ny
May 2, 2010 - 07:52pm PT
i can't read the article because the print is way to small. i loved his book downward bound and when he was sick i asways wanted to sent him my copy for an autograph. warren was the man....he rocked
Watusi

Social climber
Newport, OR
May 2, 2010 - 07:55pm PT
Classic!!! "Batso Lives Forever!" Still have my copy of "Downward Bound...":)
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
May 2, 2010 - 08:16pm PT
Bulldog,

> Thanks again Sensei! How about a story of your solo "Turning Point".

See:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1023273/Steve-Grossman-care-to-reflect-for-us-on-Turning-Point
Fuzzywuzzy

climber
suspendedhappynation
May 3, 2010 - 01:40am PT
Loved it then & now.

Thanks Steve. How about "Reflections of a Broken Down Climber" next?

BTW has Higgins, "In Due Time" appeared on ST?

Here is the link to Tom's site and the story - a must read.

http://www.tomhiggins.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=15
T2

climber
Cardiff by the sea
May 3, 2010 - 09:51am PT
That photo of Warren on Keeler needle stunningly resembles the late Muggs Stump to me.


R.I.P. Warren and Muggs!
Fuzzywuzzy

climber
suspendedhappynation
May 3, 2010 - 12:07pm PT
YES. There is a distinct resemblance.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - May 16, 2010 - 11:11am PT
The really striking resemblence is between Warren and Galen Rowell. A short week of beard growth and those two are ringers!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 27, 2010 - 12:03pm PT
The grizzly wall of fame! Grrrrrrrrreat!
Lasti

Trad climber
Budapest
Sep 4, 2014 - 04:42am PT
BUMP for BATSO
Charlie D.

Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
Sep 4, 2014 - 05:53am PT
"Perhaps the best thing about climbing as a way of life is that it gives you the opportunity to make some very wonderful personal associations" - WH

Amen Warren, thanks for the bump Lasti!!!
clinker

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
Sep 4, 2014 - 05:53am PT
The culture itself.
John Ely

Trad climber
DC
Sep 4, 2014 - 07:45am PT
Some reminders of the guy who did that 'best climb in north america' etc.

Perhaps the second most unfairly maligned climber after Bonatti....?


■Lauria on Harding's Financial Trip Planning:
One summer day in 1954 it seemed too hot to climb in the Valley (isn't that always the truth in summer) so Harding and I decided to climb the Mt. Hoffman Thumb. No great climbing challenge but a great excuse for a Jag ride. We got up to the filling station and found neither of us had any money! At least the folding kind. So Warren reaches behind the seat and pulls out a bag (it might have been buckskin) that was full of silver dollars! I must have looked surprised or asked some silly question about banks. Harding said, "I look so suspicious I wouldn't be able to cash a check at my own bank even if I had an account there!"

■Harding Describes Reaching the Top of El Capitan:
I SUPPOSE this article could be titled The Conquest of El Capitan. However, as I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was conqueror and who was conquered: I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was.

■Harding on Harding's Legendary Endurance, as recounted to Snider:
Oh, God, I was always a total mess. ...I hate climbers like Royal Robbins who are so superior. He doesn’t mean to be, he just is. He’s methodic, scientific, capable, and so competent it makes me envious. I was climbing with some hotshot Brit in Yosemite once, and he said, ‘My God, Harding, you can’t do anything!’ I said, ‘I know, but I can do it forever.

■Drinking Account by Climber Russ Walling:
Warren: Hey Fish.... you got a wine opener? Me: nope. Warren: sure ya do..... (then in a flash he busted the top off the bottle against the door jamb of my VW van). Warren: thanks! and then he shuffled away......

■Harding Drinking Account by Harding, satirizing the American Alpine Club's 'Accident Reports' in his 'Descent' Magazine:
It has recently been demonstrated that drinking leashes can be useful in preventing needless tragedies in the home was well as on the rock. For example, at the gathering of friends in the DESCENT office in Fresno, Batso was into his cup (as he is liable to do). Becoming insenced over some topic of conversation (as he is liable to do), he staggered off blindly, apparently heading for the upstairs bedroom. However, he referred to the wrong door and fell down the cellar stairs. Fortunately he was unhurt, wedged between the stair case and the hot water heater. Needless to say, he could have been very seriously injured, and although this wasn't the case, a drinking leash could have spared him the indignity of such an accident.

■Harding's 'Reflections on a Broken Down Climber,' in Rowell:
My once-keen analytical mind has become so dulled by endless hours of baking in the hot sun, thrashing about in tight chimneys, pulling at impossibly heavy loads.... so that now my mental state is comparable to that of a Peruvian Indian, well stoked on coca leaves...


Some of the FAs of notable choss piles that are never repeated:
■1954 'Harding's Chimney' & 'Harding's Other Chimney', Sugerloaf, Lake Tahoe, CA, with Jim Ohrenschall.
■1954 'Upper' & 'Lower Phantom Spire', Lake Tahoe, CA, with Jim Ohrenschall.
■1954 'North West Books', 'Left & Right Water Cracks', Lembert Dome, Tuolomme Meadows, CA, with Frank de Saussure, friends.
■1954 'East Buttress', Middle Cathedral Rock, Yosemite, CA, with Jack Davis and Bob Swift.
■1954 'North Buttress', Middle Cathedral Rock, Yosemite, CA, with Frank Tarver; Craig Holden and John Whitmer.
■1956 'East Arrowhead Chimney', Arrowhead Arete, Yosemite, CA, with Mark Powell.
■1956 'Promulgated Pinnacle', Sentinel Rock, Yosemite, CA, with Bob Swift.
■1957 'East Arrowhead Buttress', with Wally Reed and Mark Powell.
■1957 'The Worst Error', Elephant Rock, Yosemite, CA, with Wayne Merry.
■1957 'East Side', Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite, CA, with Mark Powell.
■1958 'Northwest Buttress', Ahwiyah Point, Yosemite, CA, with Wayne Merry.
■1958 'The Nose', El Capitan, Yosemite, CA, with Wayne Merry and George Whitmore (47 days in several pushes).
■1959 'Beverly's Tower', Cookie Cliff, Yosemite, CA, with Gerry Czamanske.
■1959 'Merry Old Ledge' Three Brothers, Yosemite, CA, with Gerry Czamanske.
■1959 'Southwest Face', Mt. Conness, Yosemite High Country, CA, USA, with Glen Denny and Herb Sweedlund.
■1959 'East Face', Washington Column (later 'Astroman'), Yosemite, CA, USA, with Glen Denny and Chuck Pratt.
■1960 'Keeler Needle' of Mt. Whitney (14,000+ ft), with Glen Denny, Rob McKnight and Desert Frank.
■1961 'West Face', Leaning Tower, Yosemite, CA, with Glen Denny and Al MacDonald.
■1962 'Delectable Pinnacle, El Capitan, Yosemite, CA, with Brian Small.
■1962 'North Face', The Rostrum, Yosemite, CA, with Glen Denny.
■1962 'The Flue', Sentinel Rock, Yosemite, CA, with Bob Kamps
■1964 'South Face Route', Mt. Watkins, Yosemite, CA, with Yvon Chouinard and Chuck Pratt.
■1968 'Good Book', The (Right Side of the Folly), Yosemite, CA, with Tom Fender.
■1969 'Southwest Face', Liberty Cap, Yosemite, CA, with Galen Rowell and Joe Faint.
■1969 'Firefall Face,' Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley, CA, with Galen Rowell.
■1970 'South Face Route', Half Dome, Yosemite, CA, with Galen Rowell.
■1970 'Wall of the Early Morning Light' ('Dawn Wall'), El Capitan, Yosemite, CA, with Dean Caldwell (28 days in one push).
■1976 'West Arete', Mt. Winchell, Sierra Nevada, CA, with Galen Rowell.
■1978 'Forbidden Wall', Yosemite Falls, Yosemite, CA, with Dave Lomba, Christie Tewes and Steve Bosque.

photos from dubious places...
Don Lauria

Trad climber
Bishop, CA
Nov 19, 2014 - 12:13pm PT
Bump for clarity. The "Lauria" quote never came out of my mouth. First of all, it's attributed to a trip with Warren in 1954 - I didn't start climbing until 1961 at the age of 29. Secondly, I always had some money in my pocket.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 6, 2015 - 11:45am PT
Batso and Beasto bump!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 12, 2015 - 01:12pm PT
Downward Bound Bump...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2016 - 03:16pm PT
Warren bump...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 10, 2019 - 11:15am PT
Valley Icon bump...
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Mar 10, 2019 - 04:49pm PT
Our move to a new home progressed to the "unpacking the endless boxes of books" stage last week. It started well, but then ground to a halt when Chris' "Climbing In North America" came out of one of the boxes.

Re-read the whole thing. Incredible summary of climbing in the US and Canada from way back when until the mid-1970s.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Mar 10, 2019 - 05:03pm PT
Chatted with Chris at the AAC banquet in SF this weekend. He is well and has retained his wit.
Fossil climber

Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
Mar 10, 2019 - 06:52pm PT
Thanks, Steve - I hadn't remembered this one. Lots of good memories.

Wayne
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