Downward bound: A mad guide to rock climbing

by Warren Harding

From the inside flaps of the dust Why would anyone want to climb a mountain? The most famous answer to that question is Mallory’s “Because it is there.” Warren J. Harding has a different “Because it’s there and we’re MAD!” Harding, who prefers to be known as Batso, achieved instant fame (but no fortune) when he and his partner Dean Caldwell made the first ascent of the most difficult rock face in the United States—the sheer, smooth 3,000-foot Wall of the Early Morning Light in Yosemite Valley. The climb took 27 sometimes freezing and rain-soaked days, and was praised by Sports Illustrated as “probably the most skilled piece of technical climbing ever achieved.” But in typical Batso fashion, it was carried out with spectacular nonchalance and buffoonery, including spurned rescue attempts and exuberant wine-drinking parties. Sometime later, Batso had the audacity to presume he could write, so here is DOWNWARD BOUND—a brainchild nurtured by a twisted mind and a hallucinatory imagination. An inside and totally distorted look at the history and present state of rock climbing, this hilarious book is also a first-rate manual for the beginner and the seasoned climber. Here you’ll learn about climbing à la Batso, and have the dubious privilege of discovering Harding’s many innovations, such as BAT tents and BAT hooks (BAT standing for Basically Absurd Technology). Moving on, but not necessarily upward, you’ll find insane accounts of his most infamous climbs, including that crime of the century, the ascent of the Wall of the Early Morning Light. DOWNWARD BOUND also tells the ludicrous story of Batso’s war with the “purists” who have tried to turn climbing into a religion, dramatizes his pointless search for ethnic identity, and recounts many other equally irrelevant adventures in a career that has gone steadily downward from the beginning. – PRENTICE-HALL, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Genres: Climbing, Nonfiction

204 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

American rock climber, was the first climber to scale El Capitan, the 1,098-m (3,604-ft) granite monolith in Yosemite National Park.

Reviews

[Joshua Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a classic. Im not a fan of the 'do whatever I want' attitude, as that leads people to act in ways that go against what is best for everyone, namely preservation of land and stewardship. But I think Warren seemed like a fun loving guy, who was driven toward a goal. It was great to hear his side of the story, I'm so glad he took the time to put it down on paper

[Kyri Freeman]

It actually has a lot of useful information. I learned a lot about climbing (aid techniques, history, choice of beverage) from reading it. The cartoons are the best part, but many readers will also appreciate the author's well-aimed (but funny) criticism of the elitist, pompous hypocrites who are way too common in the rock climbing world.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best rock climbing books I've ever read. Totally puts me in Harding's corner and I feel very defensive of him now as future generations deride his accomplishments while praising Robbins's. Harding is a kook, but he's a serious talent, and this book is a joy.

[Galactic Hero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guy's kind of immature, sure, but also endearing and refreshing. Illustrations were great. And Royal Robbins's second (bolt-cutting) ascent of the Dawn Wall comes across as one of the bigger dick moves of Yosemite lore.

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny

[Michael Sump · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downward Bound, A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing, by Warren R. Harding, is a book from the 1970s by one of the pioneers of “big wall” rock climbing in Yosemite National Park. Harding's credentials as a climber are significant. He was lead on the team that first ascended El Capitan in 1958. He and a colleague were the first persons to climb the first true “big wall” when he climbed the Wall of the Early Morning Light of El Capitan in 1970. This was a climb that publicized climbing to a general audience, as the team was pummeled by storms and had to ward off efforts by the National Park Service to rescue them. There was also a historical controversy surrounding Harding's use of “bolts” and the riff with his archrival, Royal Robbins, who duplicated the feat while trying to remove all of Harding's climbing aids. In all, Harding had over 28 “firsts” in Yosemite climbing.
Harding was a controversial climber and one of the self proclaimed “bad boys” of climbing. There is a conflict between those who get up the mountain anyway they can safely and those who expouse that there should be “rules” about how you climb. These are the so called climbing ethicists who award “style points” for how things are done. They frequently zeroed out Harding, as they viewed him as the anti-Christ. He viewed (some of) them as nattering armchair climbers. He views some of them as damn fine climbers. He also allows that a number of them—even as they criticized him for trying to profit from his fame (notoriety) as a climber—were much more successful at “cashing in” than he ever was.
This is the first book I've ever read about big wall climbing, and I was intriqued by the challenges of the sport and the technical skills required to spend multiple weeks on a quest to get up one of the “big walls” of Yosemite.
Harding is a much better climber than writer, a fact that he would not dispute. His efforts to cash in on his climbing notoriety were not particularly successful and the details all of this in a disorganized splash of a book that reminds me of too many 1970s efforts by writers without the talent to emulate the Gonzo Journalism style of Hunter S. Thompson. I give it a 3, primarily because of it's technical insight and because I found it amusing. I do admit that I would read a couple more books on the technical aspects of climbing (perhaps one by Royal Robbins) before ever leaving my weight suspended by a piton that I hammered into a mountain crack.

[John Mattson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very humorous book from the early days of Yosemite climbing. The famous Batso Harding pokes fun at the legendary elitists (essentially Royal Robbins) of the period, and offers his own fun filled guide to the sport of rock-climbing. This book is filled with great cartoon style sketches, and actually offers some valuable insight into the sport. An all-time classic book from the early days of big-wall climbing. Warren was on the first team of climbers to climb El Capitan, and numerous other hard routes in the Sierras. He was notorious for a life style that included lots of wine, woman, and fast cars.

[Henry Witwicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started it all for me back in '79. I was never scaling big walls, as Warren (and Galen) did, but after reading this book I was hooked. It was not their experiences, it was their approach to the sport and nature that I admired, I even went so far as to spray paint my helmet to reflect how I wanted my climbing activities to coexist with nature. Their adventures, while WAY beyond my abilities and nerve, inspired me and left me with amazing memories of either top-roping with my friends or bouldering solo at Mt. Boucherie.
Thank you Batso (and Beasto).

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the ultimate window into irreverent Yosemite rock-climbing culture... even less politically correct than John Long, if that's possible. A perfect antidote to the earnest, holier-than-thou volumes that dominate the genre, much as I love those, too... if you can find this book, read it!

[Clara Mazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Downward Bound" si potrebbe tradurre in italiano con: "Verso l'abisso", per come l'intende Harding. Un libro veramente sorprendente, unico nel suo genere. Brillante, spiritoso, autoironico, graffiante ma mai offensivo, fuori dalle righe ma pur sempre ben ancora ad una chiara e specifica corrente di pensiero "rivoluzionario" degli anni '70 che ha animato anche i climbers di Yosemite. Harding si presenta con le peggiori credenziali: un eccessivo bevitore (a tal punto che anche il grande amore della sua vita alla fine lo lascia per questo) da una parte, un forte contestatore dei nascenti climbers puristi dall'altra. La stessa Lynn Hill definisce questo libro "dubious", il suo climbing partner Dean Caldwell nonché protagonista insieme a Harding della prima sul Wall of the Early Morning Light non solo gli sottrae tutta la documentazione della loro ascesa ma eviterà sempre di menzionarlo. Harding muore nel 2000 ma nessuno dice come - sicuramente non in montagna o durante un'epica impresa.
Eppure questo "devil Harding Batso" non fa altro che battersi per tutta una vita contro i Royal Robbins del momento, cercando semplicemente di far valere la sua posizione: quella di scalare come più gli piace senza imporsi a nessuno, a differenza di quello che tendono a fare invece i "grandi" di Yosemite, molto impegnati a predicare il "vero modo di arrampicare" e la "vera etica" della scalata. Ha cercato di farsi apprezzare per chi era, visto che lui, sinceramente, nonostante le amarezze e le delusioni che ha incontrato, non ha mai "disprezzato" chi era diverso da sé nell'arrampicata.
Forse ne ha sofferto più di quanto non lo voglia ammettere (da qui il suo bere, il suo spasmodico ricercare di farsi notare) ma il suo uso dei chiodi, condannato e disprezzato dai "puristi" nascenti, non gli è mai stato perdonato e si è trasformato in un equivalente di K2 per Bonatti: ad ogni intervista si ritorna su questo punto, sebbene persino Royal Robbins alla fine gli abbia riconosciuto talento per quello che ha fatto.
Onestamente non tenevo in grande reputazione neanch'io Harding, dopo averlo visto in Valley Upraising ma questo libro mi ha fatto capitolare sin dalle prime righe. Scritto sotto forma di uno scrip, ambientato in una delle conferenze di Harding per presentare il suo film (o quello che aveva) della sua ascent sulla parete di cui sopra, fa partecipare personaggi strani, ma buffissimi che gli pongono domande divertenti ma giuste, a cui lui risponde tramite slides (che gli ha disegnato la compagna) sia spiegando in maniera davvero esilarante i basics dell'arrampicata (e anche se ci scherza su, non è mai impreciso nè irresponsabile), sia lasciando andare a riflessioni (più che condivisibili o comprensibili) su questa disciplina e sui suoi protagonisti nonché ai ricordi delle sue esperienze. Un libro intelligente, arguto che fa trasparire una persona che lungi dall'essere approssimativa è ben preparata sull'argomento e che possiede una solida cultura su tutti coloro che partecipano e che hanno partecipato a questo sport. Consiglio vivamente!!