Warren Harding (climber)

Warren Harding (June 18, 1924 – February 27, 2002) was an American rock climber. He was the leader of the first team to climb El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, in 1958. Harding made many first ascents in Yosemite, some 28 in all, including The Wall of Early Morning Light (later The Dawn Wall).

He was nicknamed "Batso", a reference to his penchant for spending days living on vertical cliffs and his exuberant and iconoclastic nature. Harding developed specialized equipment for climbing big walls, such as the "bat tent" for sleeping, and "bat hooks" used to hook precariously on small cut-out bits of granite—examples of his B.A.T. or 'Basically Absurd Technology' products.

Harding authored the book Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing. The book contains a description of the ascent of the Nose and the Wall of Early Morning Light (1970), as well as instructions in climbing basics, ratings of prominent climbers of the period and a humorous account of rock climbing controversies and lifestyles of the 1960s and 1970s.