Absolutely astounding some of the climbing history that is buried in the forum. I just stumbled onto this one after going down a major Supertopo wormhole. Needless to say my jaw dropped when I saw the quality climbing content posted especially by the user ‘Chicken Skinner’. Who this person is I have no idea but remain very grateful he/she has posted these materials. The letter from the park service expressing their attitudes regarding the ‘trick or stunt mountain climbing’ employed on The Nose, and the response by the FA team is particularly entertaining.
The thread was started to organize a celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent:
How many pictures have you seen of Harding, face gnarled and teeth gritted gazing upward into the great abyss on some foolhardy first ascent?
“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.” — Warren Harding