Conquest of El Capitan

Climbing enthusiasts will gather to remember the moments that led up to taming of a landmark.

Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008

Much like it dominates the entrance to Yosemite Valley, El Capitan dominates Yosemite rock climbing.

Climbers prefer the shortened version, El Cap, or its most common nickname, "The Captain." Three thousand feet of sheer, vertical granite that's as accessible as it is beautiful to look at.

While El Capitan has witnessed many astonishing climbs over the decades, none are more celebrated than the first ascent, a gargantuan effort finally completed in November 1958 by Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore.

The route that Harding, the party leader and one of Yosemite's legendary figures, had chosen and literally nailed his way up would become known as the Nose.

Fifty years later, the Nose remains the most popular route out of dozens on El Capitan. Each year hundreds of climbers, many of them from far-away countries, travel to Yosemite to tackle iconic features such as Stoveleg Crack, King Swing and the Great Roof.

"Every rock climber in the world knows the Nose of El Capitan," said Steve Roper, author of several books on the subject. "It's what they aspire to."

This weekend a large group of them, including some of the early pioneers, are commemorating the 50th anniversary of El Capitan's first ascent with two days of storytelling and slide-shows. Most events are open to the public.

Among the honorees are Fresno natives and lifelong residents Whitmore and Rich Calderwood, a team member who didn't reach the summit.

"We realized what we were doing was out of the ordinary and special, but it's safe to say we didn't realize how special it would be," said the 77-year old Whitmore, standing in the leafy front yard of his Fresno home. "To this day, my life is influenced by that climb."

Harding, who died in 2002, surely will be the gathering's biggest absence. Without this visionary, remembered both as "a brave and tenacious man" and "a sports car-driving, hard-living hedonist" by two who climbed with him, history wouldn't be the same.

When rock climbers first started poking around Yosemite Valley in the 1930s, El Capitan couldn't have been further from their minds. It was simply unfathomable. But standards (and boldness) improved rapidly, and by the mid-'50s every major formation had been scaled except El Capitan and Half Dome.

Half Dome, about two-thirds the height of El Capitan and less sheer, fell to a party led by Royal Robbins in June 1957. One prize remained, and Harding wanted it more than anything.

According to Roper's 1994 book, "Camp 4," Harding spent an entire day peering at El Capitan through binoculars trying to find a way up. El Cap has two major faces, southwest and southeast, and the route he chose followed the subtle prow on the buttress that connects them. This prow, or nose, is obvious only from the side.

"Warren always liked the boldest looking lines," said Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association. "But I think the main reason he chose it was it had an obvious ledge system that was nicely spaced out for storing provisions."

Harding and his rotating band of partners (eight men would pitch in at various intervals) needed plenty of provisions. While mountaineers in the Alps and Himalayas had climbed higher peaks under worse conditions, never before had anyone attempted a wall of this height and steepness.

A climb this huge required "siege tactics" that were unheard of in Yosemite. Instead of trying to complete the route in one continuous push, a notion that was deemed impossible, the climb was done incrementally. The party would spend all day reaching a certain high point, set fixed lines, rappel down and later use the fixed lines to regain their high point.