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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 3, 2006 - 06:29pm PT
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I remember drinking wine in the old Mountain Room Bar with Warren and a cocky climber came up to him and said "I just climbed the Nose clean". When Warren didn't answer he said " I didn't use any pitons". Warren set his wine down and looked up at him and replied "Well, did you use any of my bolts?" The cocky climber turned around and walked off with his tail between his legs.
Ken
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Dusty
Trad climber
up & down highway 99
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GREAT STUFF KEN!!! Got any more??....
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Yes Ken -
Fun Warren anecdote you related.
More please.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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nice butt on phylthee phylms, anyone know who it is? Chickenskinner I gotta say this is one of the best post ever put up here, PLEASE keep it coming, FINALLY something that worth checking out besides McClennehans.
Peace
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 3, 2006 - 11:41pm PT
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Not so good to see you finally need bi-focals. Regarding your other posts.
I can't see or say without them (bifocals). It sucks getting old but it rocks because it is better than the alternative.
Ken
p.s. I might have something very incriminating. I will have to find out. Keep in touch.
p.p.s. Darn I am having to go through my shoe boxes (plenty of those) and look through the early binders when I was more impressed with my own climbing endeavors or scenic points I had never seen before. It may take awhile to find the important stuff.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Who hasn't been "Downward Bound" at one time or another...
great stuff, I love anything to do with VCs...
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 8, 2006 - 04:59am PT
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Hello,
The first time I met Harding was when I turned 16 and the day after I received my driver's license. I gave him a ride to his Mom's house in Sacramento after picking him up at Lovers Leap. I had been climbing during not so perfect weather and he had apparently been lurking and needed a ride. Scary looking fellow at the time. I was terrified at first ( because my parents told me not to pick up hitch-hikers! ) until he introduced himself and I immediately felt much better. My father knew who he was from the Wall of the Early Morning coverage and all I had to do was make a phone call and I got to eat dinner that night at his Mom's house, check out both corvettes, made climbing plans, got to meet his wonderful mother, and best of all got in no trouble at all with my parents for my first known infraction that my parents ever found out about.
Plenty more stories later if interested.
Ken
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More Air
Big Wall climber
S.L.C.
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Yes! Very interested.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Me 3.
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Strider
Big Wall climber
Home of the Great Miwok Spirit...
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Just have to say Ken that your posts lately here have been the best thing to hit this board in a LONG time. Ten times more interesting that the rest of the sophmoric drivel that goes for "climbing discussion" around here. If you were the only person posting on this board right now I don't think a single person here would stop coming back to check your posts. Please, keep them coming.
-n
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 11, 2006 - 05:57pm PT
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When Warren topped out on the Nose a reporter asked him how it felt to have conquered El Capitan. Warrens answer was "Well, El Capitan seems to be in a lot better shape than I am right now".
Ken
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Shano
Social climber
Pacific Beach, CA
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Jul 11, 2006 - 06:31pm PT
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a friend once told me about some footage he'd seen of WH on WEML topout. A reporter asked "Why do you do this?" or something equally inane.
Hardings deadpan response: "Because we're f*cking crazy."
I thot' that was about the funniest thing I'd ever heard.
Anybody else know of aforementioned dialog?
-s
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David Nelson
climber
San Francisco
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Jul 11, 2006 - 06:47pm PT
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Ken, let's hear and see more vintage stuff from the Yosemite Climbing Museum. How is it proceeding?
What have you been up lately? Been thinking about you, it is that time of the year (and then some).
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the Fet
climber
Earth
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Jul 11, 2006 - 06:56pm PT
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After Warren got knocked in the head by a loose block during the FA of Leaning Tower, the doctor at the clinic told him "I'm worried about brain damage". Warren and his partners got concerned. He then continued "but that's probably just because you climbers aren't right in the head to begin with."
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 12, 2006 - 12:20pm PT
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Fet,
Warren was actually unconcious after getting hit in the head. His partner was concerned because he could see blood dripping by. When Warren came to and was able to get back to his partner he insisted on drinking a bottle of wine before retreating to go to the clinic and get stitched up.
Ken
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 13, 2006 - 03:55pm PT
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Shortly after meeting Warren in 1975 we went climbing together at Phantom Spires? up on Highway 50. I was so excited because I wanted to try some harder climbing and I had a ropegun.
We hiked up a long and steep hillside from the highway. I carried the rack,water, and the rope. I didn't really know what he had in his pack, but assumed it was important because of his vast experience and I figured I was going to learn a lot from him.
It was hot that day and when we got up to the spires we looked at several of them and decided on one of them. A good portion of my water was already gone.
We racked up, tied in, and put our shoes on. I was climbing in some hand me down Robbins boots and Warren had some Pivettas that had seen so much wall action that the toes were missing and he had filled in the gaps with Epoxy coating the whole front of his shoes.
Warren started to lead and he kept sliding back to the ground because of his Epoxy coated toes. After several tries he handed me the rack and I ended up leading to the top of the spire and belayed him up.
We then went to another spire and started in the same fashion with the same results.
It was now getting close to dark and we were out of water. I mentioned that maybe we should head back down because I was really thirsty.
He suggested that we have a beer and start a campfire and cook up some hot dogs. He proceeded to empty his pack and pulled out the contents. He had 4 cans of beer, 2 wine glasses and a bottle of red wine, a package of hot dogs with coat hangers, a full loaf of bread, and a large jar of mustard.
We made a fire and ate and drank while watching the sunset. After our meal we stumbled back down the hillside in darkness and miracuously found my truck and I had sobered up enough to drive back to Sacramento.
This is a memory I will always cherish. So this was what climbing and companionship in the mountains was really about.
Ken
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the Fet
climber
The Milky Way
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Jul 13, 2006 - 05:27pm PT
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I wish I had got the chance to spend more time with Warren (and climb with him, you lucky bastard :-). He was so supportive, generous, and just plain fun to be around.
When I read Erik W's book "Touch the top of the world" and he tells the story of when he finished the first blind ascent of El Cap and comes down and Warren had driven down and is waiting for him at the Awahnee. Warren says "you son of a bitch". Then slaps him on the back and repeats it. And it takes Erik a while to figure out what he meant, that he was proud of him. Brought some serious tears to my eyes, still does.
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Wonder
climber
WA
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Jul 25, 2006 - 02:14am PT
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I missed this post first time around ( in Vegas, skateboard shootout - maybe you saw the happy birthday wonder thread )
But... this story is from 1990. My future wife and I were in the Valley and I was showing her the sights - like the Mountain Room. Warren was there and just hitting it off with Suzanne (my wife). She's a talker. So the bar closes and we wandered over to camp (well, the lot) to Warren's van. After we finished the drinks we snucked out of the bar Warren pipes up " I think I got another bottle back here. " He goes to the back of his van and starts throwing stuff around, digging deep. " Here it is, " he says. He comes out with a 5 gal bottle of red vino 3/4 full. My wife and I still talk about one of the best nites we ever had.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jul 25, 2006 - 02:45am PT
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I met WH in 1983, in the Valley, and he was amazing to meet in person. Like other "rock stars", he had none of the pretensions attributable to those at the top of other sports' pinnacles. He was like an uncle, or friend of a father, who was still attuned to youth and having a good time. And, yes, he was funny to talk to.
I was star-struck and didn' offer an invitation for a drink, or to hang out. Which he would have obliged, I'm sure.
Warren was THE MAN and his influence will be felt long into the future.
BTW: Rick Sylvester's ski==>basejump stunt for the James Bond movie (which one?) was one of the best.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jul 25, 2006 - 04:03am PT
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Warren was a great man and a great character too.
It was cool to meet him when he started coming back around the valley in the 80s, giving some slides shows and drinking in the employee dorms too!
It bears remembering that he wasn't universally appreciated during his heyday. If the supertopo forum was in existence back in that day, there would have been pages and pages of slander and controversy about Warren.
Which I only say to give perspective to our current slanders and controversies. Warren was priceless.
Peace
karl
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Roger Breedlove
Trad climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jul 25, 2006 - 08:34am PT
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I don't know if it matters much, but I think Warren was very much appreciated during his time in the 50s and 60s. It was only in the end that he was on a different path with climbing blank walls--Firefall Face ("But Warren, there aren’t any cracks up there," was Galen's first response to Warren's invitation.) in 1969 and the South Face of Half Dome in 1970, also with Galen, and finally the WEML in 1970.
After that, the old bonds were broken and people got pissed at each other and really mean spirited. It was also very public with published articles and slide presentations, that dragged on for a few years. Warren was funny, but everyone else took the bolting issue seriously, and increasingly Warren sounded shrill.
But it was short lived. While the 60s climbers thought that WEML was the harbinger of a new dark age, it turned out that it was the last gasp of the 'Golden Years'--the climbing world had moved on. By 1970, Robbins and Harding were no longer the cutting edge of big routes--Heart Route in 1970, Aquarian Wall, Son of Heart in 1971, Cosmos, Shield, Magic Mushroom, Zodiac in 1972--the old world was ancient history.
So, if ST had existed in the spring of 1971, it would have been all about the bad blood about WEML, bolts, and "Valley Christians." But by the summer of 1971 it was all about 5.11 and new El Cap routes.
I wasn't in the Valley when Warren started coming back, but I am glad to hear that he did and made friends with newer climbers that weren't part of those darker days. He deserves to be remembered for his good humor and great contributions to Valley walls.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 12, 2008 - 12:51am PT
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bump
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Max V02
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:39am PT
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I'm not one to look back and regret things. But it sure would have been great to meet Warren. Thanks for all the great stories. They are heartwarming in a WH kind of way!
Fletch
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Nov 12, 2008 - 01:11pm PT
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My own brush with Warren wit:
It was around 83-84 and I found myself buying drinks for the legend at the mountain room bar. I thought, "This is my chance, I HAVE to go climbing with this guy!"
I told him how much I was aching to get back up Higher Cathedral Spire and would he join me. He said "sure, but all I've got is these tenny shoes here." I told him no problem, that we had plenty of rock shoes around to get him into.
He looked at me with a mischievious gleam and said "Do I need to know any special knots for this?" and then began giggling to himself while I was laughing. He cracked himself up!
I made all the necessary preparations that night, and was super stoked. I went hunting for him in camp in the morning after he didn't show up at my truck at the agreed time.
When I saw him wobbling toward the bathroom with half his hair sticking straight up and full of leaves, I knew my dream was not to be. I tried to nudge him into it anyway, but he said "I really want to, but I promised this little sweety that I'd meet her for breakfast and I don't want to be late.."
I pleaded "But, you promised me first!" He grinned and said "There are spires...and then there are spires.." and walked into the john cackling to himself.
Oh well, I had some great fun hanging out with him a bit and got a good story out of the deal.
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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Nov 12, 2008 - 02:18pm PT
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batso is and always will be my hero. did not care for the status quo and always did it his way...
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Ferretlegger
Trad climber
san Jose, CA
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Nov 12, 2008 - 02:41pm PT
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I met Warren Harding in around 1969. I had saved up for a pair of the famous Royal Robbins Rock shoes (the blue monstrosities like ski boots, only worse) which had just come on the market. I went over to the Mountain Store, and a gnomish, devil of a character who was working there asked me what I wanted. I mentioned the rock shoes, and he kindly fetched them out of the back room and knelt there on the floor helping me try them on. All the while, he was exuding VERY POWERFUL vibes similar (in retrospect) to Marty Feldman as Igor in Young Frankenstein. "Yes young sir, do they fit your pretty feet? How else may I serve you sir", etc, etc, etc.
Certainly broadcast on the psi band if not actually aloud. Somewhere along the way I realized that I was being served by non other than the infamous Warren Harding himself, but I was too shocked to actually introduce myself and have a real conversation.
He was actually very nice to me, although the indignity of having to sell me shoes named for his rival and arch-nemesis probably grated his soul (assuming he still had one...). Anyway, I still have those awful shoes, and whenever they float to the top of my giant shoe collection, I still remember the thrill of association with a true legend of human endeavor, even if only for the few minutes it took to fit and buy them. A great memory!!!
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Nov 12, 2008 - 09:21pm PT
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He had 4 cans of beer, 2 wine glasses and a bottle of red wine, a package of hot dogs with coat hangers, a full loaf of bread, and a large jar of mustard
how great is that?
thanks for sharing
murf
I never got to climb or drink with Warren.
My Warren story removed one degree
We were up on the WFLT and my friends were going to try the South Face of Wash Column but they bailed AND that day they saw Warren hanging out in the amphitheater area. they ask if hes Warren Harding and Warren says "you got a six pack?" They went and bought one and had a great afternoon
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Nov 12, 2008 - 10:47pm PT
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Ed and others...thanks for bumping so many old threads I have never heard about not arriving on the Taco until @ 9 months ago.
This one is great. Also Peter Haan's gear and crack climb....The off width tips and the twilight zone and Do the Wide with pride.
Had plenty of time to read the past couple days. This has been great! Again Thanks. lrl :D
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Nov 12, 2008 - 10:59pm PT
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Some people who knew him for a long time (going back to the 50's) seemed to have the opinion that Warren was a really good guy when sober but kind of a nasty drunk.
Any comments?
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Dwain
Trad climber
Apple Valley, California
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Nov 12, 2008 - 11:03pm PT
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Warren Harding = Oliver Moon!!!
Dwain
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Dwain
Trad climber
Apple Valley, California
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Nov 13, 2008 - 07:44pm PT
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BUMP
for Warren Harding.
Because, any person with Warren in their name
has to be a COOL and WITTY Dude!!!!
Dwain Warren :)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Nov 13, 2008 - 10:23pm PT
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hey there chicken skinner, all... say, i really enjoyed reading all this...
just as lynne said... for us new folks, we have NO CLUE as to the treasures that lurk here at supertopo, shut off in the attic, for now...
we MUST someday find our way through them all...
:)
naturally, "choice bumps" will do it...
:)
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 15, 2008 - 02:04am PT
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Warren Harding
Semper Farcissimus
June 18, 1924 - February 27, 2002
“Warren Harding? Well, what can I say?”
That’s exactly how Warren would have started his own obituary. His usual demeanor was self-deprecating: To the question, “Are you the famous Warren Harding?,” he would retort, “Well, I used to be.” He believed that people are never what they were. They all grow… older.
Harding died at home in Anderson, California, well aware that the end was near. He had been in failing health for over three years and refused to exchange his lifestyle for an extended life span. He approached his end with the same wit that he exhibited throughout his life. From his bed, just days before he died, he quipped that he was definitely never going to buy any more 50,000-mile-warranty tires.
Warren was introduced to climbing at the age of 27 in 1952 and within a year had found his niche in Yosemite Valley. Most of us remember Harding as the Yosemite pioneer -- the prime mover in the first ascent of El Capitan in 1958, via the Nose, a milestone that marked the first time a wall of such size and difficulty had been climbed anywhere in the world. His first ascents of El Cap, the East Buttress and North Buttress of Middle Cathedral Rock, the West Face of the Leaning Tower, the East Face of Washington Column (later freed as Astroman), the South Face of Mount Watkins, the Direct Route on the Lost Arrow, and the South Face of Half Dome spanned the next two decades. In the Sierra high country he established first ascents on the East Face of Keeler Needle and the Southwest Face of Mount Conness.
Beyond his groundbreaking ascents, Warren was characterized variously as a rebel, iconoclast, and rogue. In his outrageous book Downward Bound, published in 1975, Harding described himself as “an undersized individual … [with] neither any outstanding physical attributes nor burning ambition. But I have a mind of my own and a love for the mountains.” Despite this self-description, Harding was a dashing figure in his heyday, well known for his penchant for good-looking women, classy sports cars, and Red Mountain wine.
And he did have a mind of his own and used it in formulating his climbing philosophy. He looked upon climbing as “an individual thing, not some kind of organized religion.” He was unimpressed and refused to be intimidated by admittedly “better climbers” when they espoused certain “climbing ethics.” Warren never hesitated to take on those whom he referred to as the “elite” of the climbing community and didn’t mince words in his castigation of “these gentlemen who, in effect, presume to tell me how to do my thing.” Climbing to him was something he did because there were no rules.
When he and Dean Caldwell completed their 27-day first ascent of the Wall of the Early Morning Light (a.k.a. the Dawn Wall) on El Cap in 1970, their placement of 330 bolts re-ignited a controversy that had smoldered in the Valley since Warren drilled his first bolt-hole. Was Harding putting up routes where no route existed or should exist? Excessive bolts and fixed ropes were being judged as “unethical.” To that sentiment Warren replied, “Climbing requires many disciplines, not the least of which is plain old ass-busting work, which is what bolts amount to!”
Royal Robbins, in concert with a few other well-respected Yosemite climbers, decided that the route should be erased. Two months after the first ascent, Robbins and I started up for the second ascent, chopping the bolts as we climbed. On the first bivouac, after four pitches, the question of interfering with an established route -- especially one with some admirably difficult nailing -- began to eat at Robbins. By morning we agreed to quit chopping. Robbins later wrote, “[It’s] good to have a man around who doesn’t give a damn what the establishment thinks … Harding stands out as a magnificent maverick.”
By the late 1970s Warren put serious Yosemite climbing behind him and dedicated his time to writing, lectures, slideshow tours, and the occasional sojourn into the mountains. Never giving up his union card, he worked off and on as a surveyor for the State of California. As he put it, “I’ll just plug along. Climb, work, climb, have an occasional glass of wine.” Into the 1980s there was a lot less climbing, a lot less work, and finally retirement -- and a lot more glasses of wine. He did, however, return to the Nose in 1989 to become, at that time, the oldest person to ever climb El Capitan.
Harding’s affinity for Red Mountain wine was his eventual and inevitable undoing. By the time he reached his 70s, he had been warned that his liver would not last if he continued to imbibe. When the end was near and his body began to shut down, he became confused and a little delusional. He wanted to know what was happening to him. The conversation led to discussing the Buddhists’ belief that the soul leaves the dying body and enters an embryo to emerge anew in a child. Harding pleaded weakly, “But how will you find me?”
During these last days, many of Harding’s old climbing friends began to visit. On one occasion it was planned to videotape Warren and some of his friends while they swapped stories of the golden era of Yosemite climbing. When his friends arrived they spent an hour or so greeting one another. Warren became impatient and whispered to the cameraman, “Do they realize there’s not much time left?”
During one of these story-swapping sessions, someone asked Warren which of all his bivouacs was the worst. He answered without hesitation that the storm-bound bivouac on Half Dome’s South Face route was his worst. Immediately he was asked which was his best. He grinned, and almost in a whisper, answered, “You’ll have to ask my girlfriends.” Finally someone asked what he would do differently if he had it to do over again. He replied, “I would be taller, smarter, and less nasty.”
Warren Harding? Have we said enough?
 Don Lauria
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Nov 15, 2008 - 03:04am PT
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Thanks Don,
Even though some parts of your post are part of the well known lore, you tied it all together with lesser known moments and many more examples of his fine wit. And you being one of those who knew him best (At least in here..) You've stolen the show.
It's good to have you here with us.
Thanks again,
Bruce
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 16, 2008 - 05:50pm PT
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I only did one climb with him. A failed adventure with Hennek, TM, and Warren. It was all his idea and and the first two pitches required a ton of gardening - we should have suspected as much since Warren insisted on bring two rather heavy gardening tools.
I led the second and last pitch. My mouth was so full of mud I had to scrape it out in order to talk. That was enough for TM & Hennek. They quit, so Warren & I did so, too. Warren always respected me for not wanting to quit and for swallowing so much mud.
I spent a lot of time with him in his non-climbing years - there's another anecdote that will come from those times.
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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Nov 16, 2008 - 07:31pm PT
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I love that two of my good friends who now have two beautiful children and have been married for many years, were introduced to each other , by Warren, at the mountain room.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 16, 2008 - 07:35pm PT
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"My mouth was so full of mud I had to scrape it out in order to talk."
There is a great joke in there, Don.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 16, 2008 - 08:49pm PT
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Breedlove, I'm not sure I want to hear it.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 16, 2008 - 08:56pm PT
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When Warren was younger back before he quit climbing, he could be a very nasty drunk depending on who pissed him off, but in his old age he was very mellow - even while inebriated.
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Nov 16, 2008 - 09:32pm PT
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That is good to hear, Don. I only knew Warren in the 70s.
Regarding the joke, sometimes the incomplete anticipation is better that the realization. Just like....
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couchmaster
climber
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Nov 17, 2008 - 12:52am PT
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Awesome stuff Don.
Hey, I've always been curious, when you and Robbins did Wall of the Early Morning Light on the 2nd ascent. How did you pull the bolts? Did RR really just take a chisel to the bolts? Would RR undo the nut and then chisel, or did he just whack on them? The last part of the question is this: like everyone, we all know RR changed his mind and quit chopping, but did he ever go replace the bolts he whacked?
Not a big deal, I was just wondering.
Thanks!
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 17, 2008 - 02:28am PT
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First of all they weren't bolts, they were aluminum rivets. There were no nuts or hangers - hangers weren't used except at belay stations. They/we looped wire over the rivet heads and clipped the loops. Actually, Warren and Caldwell made their own special wire cable loops. Robbins and I used a very limited number of wired Clog nuts. We would just slide the nut down the loop and lay it over the rivet head then slide the nut back up. Since we had a small number of these we had to leap frog them on occasion. When we cleaned a pitch, we cleaned carabiners and wired Clog nuts (on the rivet ladders).
Oh, and yes, we used chisels and literally chopped them off flush with the rock. We tried to be neat. To my knowledge Royal has never replaced any of them - but then I've never asked him.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Max V02
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Nov 17, 2008 - 02:36am PT
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I love that two of my good friends who now have two beautiful children and have been married for many years, were introduced to each other , by Warren, at the mountain room.
Hey wildone... I have no idea who your friends are, but this just made my day!
Fletch
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wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
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Nov 17, 2008 - 08:11am PT
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Let's just say that one of them has a back that's....kind of...silvery in color.
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Barbarian
Trad climber
all bivied up on the ledge
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Nov 17, 2008 - 11:53am PT
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The key to Harding’s sense of humor was his ability to laugh at himself. He was always in on the joke.
In 1980 I stumbled across a some folks making a “climbing” film. I ended up carrying gear for them and, at one point, playing a “body” liberally doused with stage blood by a whacked-out special effects guy nick-named “Kaboom”.
The highlight of this foolishness was meeting Harding…and seeing his wit translated to film.
Best scene: Warren arrives in the Valley – It is night when the bus from Merced arrives at the Lodge. The driver gets out and opens the luggage bay under the bus. A startled Harding rolls out of the luggage compartment and onto the ground with a 1 gallon jug of wine in hand. He reaches back in to the hold, grabs his bag, and staggers off towards Camp 4.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 18, 2008 - 04:03am PT
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Mike,
Semper farcissmus!
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Swifter
Social climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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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!"
Descent from the climb cost me $3000, but that's another story.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 26, 2014 - 03:13pm PT
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When in Doubt, Go Higher!
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Oct 26, 2014 - 05:21pm PT
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Great stories!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Oct 26, 2014 - 06:23pm PT
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Guido-Harding and Mort, circa very early 60s.
I'm about the same age, 16, as when Ken first met Warren. Fortunate to have been surrounded by such mentors and characters so early in the game of life. Then again how strange to be communicating on the Internet about a day over 50 years ago while listening to the 2014 World Series on an old-beatup-trashed AM radio sitting outside the door.
I played catcher: Little League, Babe Ruth and Legion ball. Seemed like the most exciting, dangerous and fun position. I'm thinking baseball and climbing here. Ain't life great!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Oct 26, 2014 - 06:30pm PT
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THAT photo is the way I first made the connection between Guido, and Joe!
I've loved that picture for years.
Thanks Guido!!
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oct 27, 2014 - 05:37pm PT
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Harding was nailing a pitch on a small sea stack somewhere between Bodega and Jenner - Harding leading. All of a sudden he let out a horrendous scream. “Whatsamatter?” I yelled. There were a few moments of amazingly inventive profanity, then he said, “I just drove my finger into this crack. When you come up to clean it, just leave the damn thing in there.” Then he finished the climb.
There was nothing solid on top to rap from, so we dropped the ends of the rope down opposite sides and rapped simultaneously. Back at my car (a 1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe) he said, “You drive - I’m a casualty. I need some serious anesthetic.” He dug into the box of supplies and came up with a jug - a gallon of Pedrizetti red, which was around $1.25 in those good old days which we had already reduced to about a quart. He said, “Nah - got something better,” and pulled out a bottle of Paul Masson Rare Tawny Port, which was our preferred celebratory toast. It must have done the job, because he hung his damaged finger out the window and waved it at good many of the cars we passed.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 27, 2014 - 06:30pm PT
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hey there say, ken and all...
wow, since the newer bump... got to see this again...
still enjoy it...
and say, as to this:
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 8, 2006 - 04:59am PT
Hello,
The first time I met Harding was when I turned 16 and the day after I received my driver's license. I gave him a ride to his Mom's house in Sacramento after picking him up at Lovers Leap. I had been climbing during not so perfect weather and he had apparently been lurking and needed a ride. Scary looking fellow at the time. I was terrified at first ( because my parents told me not to pick up hitch-hikers! ) until he introduced himself and I immediately felt much better. My father knew who he was from the Wall of the Early Morning coverage and all I had to do was make a phone call and I got to eat dinner that night at his Mom's house, check out both corvettes, made climbing plans, got to meet his wonderful mother, and best of all got in no trouble at all with my parents for my first known infraction that my parents ever found out about.
Plenty more stories later if interested.
Ken
still enjoy it as if a great 'intro post' before all the rest, here... :))
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Oct 28, 2014 - 11:36am PT
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Awesome bump. More tales please!
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Oct 29, 2014 - 10:40am PT
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This is another historical thread with far less than 300 posts.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Oct 29, 2014 - 01:20pm PT
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A bad ass character!
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Oct 29, 2014 - 11:16pm PT
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We love this stuff!
Thanks to all!
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Oct 30, 2014 - 07:04am PT
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I had heard countless stories of WH mostly involving alcohol and C4 before I finally met him in the late 70's. My buddy Tim and I were climbing at Lover's Leap and came down off our route and headed back to our packs and my dog. There near our gear was Warren and TM Herbert not looking too happy.
TM cheers up a little since he and Tim knew each other. He goes on to explain that my beast had eaten their sandwiches. Harding said nothing while his scowl said everything. The furrows on his temple would deepen and his downward pointing ends of his mouth would drop as he'd glance over at my happy dog. I knew I had to do something quick and declared we had beers to share. Warren's scowl disappeared and we spent a fine afternoon in their company.
BTW I asked TM about his 1966 FA of the Line and he told me, "hell we didn't do it first, we found an old piton high on the route that day." If these rocks could talk we'd no doubt hear many lost tales.
Charlie D.
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| Messages 1 - 59 of total 59 in this topic |
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