Warren Harding, First Ascent, Wall of Early Morning Light
Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell completed the first ascent of the Wall of Early Morning Light on El Capitan’s most sustained and sheer face in October of 1971. The pair was forced to wait out storms while on the wall, and to drill extensively through areas that looked to be more natural from the ground. They started the climb with 15 days of provisions but required 27 days to finally make the summit. The National Park Service mounted a rescue for the team when they were mid-route but Harding and Caldwell famously refused and continued their epic ascent unaided. They were met on the summit by throngs of media as the climb had captured the public’s imagination in ways previous Yosemite climbs had not. In an interview, Caldwell explained “we must be the most wet, stinking, miserable wretches imaginable, but we’re alive, truly alive, like people seldom are.”
In early October of 2019, two members of Yosemite Climbing Management set out to repeat Harding and Caldwell’s visionary line. Climbing Ranger Brandon Adams and Climbing Steward Matthew Bernstein spent four days climbing the route. Hundreds of original rivets placed by the first ascent team allowed Adams and Bernstein the opportunity to appreciate the climb’s historic nature. Despite the hardware’s age, most rivets seemed to be in good condition though all future parties should be prepared to replace anything if it were to fail. Though much of the beginning and middle of the route is characterized by rivets, the top third of the climb above Wino Tower climbs very natural features of exceptional quality and beauty. Adams and Bernstein recommend future parties bring sufficient supplies of small wire rivet hangers and a single large cam equivalent to a Black Diamond C4 #6, in addition of course to a standard big wall El Capitan rack. The Wall of Early Morning Light travels through some exquisite terrain but is not as classic as nearby Mescalito, or perhaps even New Dawn.
Tommy Caldwell, Dawn Wall
The famed Dawn Wall route established by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January of 2015 winds through the same terrain as the Wall of Early Morning Light. The Dawn Wall boasts sustained difficulty and is one of the hardest big wall free climbs on the planet. The progression of climbing and the history of Yosemite vertical pioneering becomes readily apparent to climbers on the Wall of Early Morning Light, a climb that was once itself amongst the hardest in the world.
Climbing on this section of El Capitan provides the opportunity to reflect on the decades of climbing and generations of climbers that have led us to the modern proud standards of rock climbing in Yosemite.