Rich Calderwood, an early contributor to Yosemite’s Golden Age, belayed Warren Harding on the Great Roof during the first ascent of the Nose, assisted on the East Face of Washington Column (now Astroman), and built three of the seven Stoveleg pitons.

“I’m 88, and I started climbing when I was 15,” Calderwood told Chris Van Leuven from his home near Sanger, outside Fresno, for the Yosemite Climbing Association newsletter, where this story comes from. At 21, he spent about 13 days on the first ascent of the Nose, though not on the final push, and joined several notable early Yosemite ascents, including Phantom Pinnacle Left (1957), Arches Terrace (1958), and Coonyard Pinnacle (1961).

The 1950s

Climbers used no harnesses. “We tied the rope directly around the waist, two or three turns of rope… and used a bowline on a coil,” he says. Footwear was improvised: “I ripped the soles off my shoes, purchased Vibram soles… hand-stitched and glued them on.”

With no mechanical ascenders, teams relied on prusiks and stiff nylon or Goldline ropes. “There was a certain amount of stretching, but not much,” Calderwood recalls. To speed prusiking, he developed his own technique: “Hang from the chest loop, pull both legs up high… then stand up. I could go a little better than 500 feet per hour… and it was strenuous.”

Here's Rich Calderwood ascending fixed lines on The Nose by Wayne Merry.

Early Climbs

A high school friend introduced him to technical climbing. On his first outing at a cliff above Hospital Rock Campground in Sequoia National Park, “I found… a couple of steel carabiners and several pitons.” His first Yosemite trip included Overhang Bypass, a peak near Tuolumne (name forgotten), Arrowhead Pinnacle, Cathedral Peak, and Eichorn Pinnacle. He returned to the Valley regularly afterward.

Washington Column

At 21, Calderwood met Harding through Mark Powell, who was sidelined after a severe ankle injury. Harding, already working on the Nose, tested Calderwood and George Whitmore on the East Face of Washington Column. After a weekend of progress, he was impressed enough to bring them onto the larger project. The modern route Astroman did not yet exist; this was its earlier form. Mountain Project credits the FA to Warren Harding, Glen Denny, and Chuck Pratt (1959), with the FFA by John Bachar, John Long, and Ron Kauk (1975).

The Nose

When Calderwood and George Whitmore joined the team, Harding had already fixed long sections of rope on the Nose, using full siege tactics: hauling, rappelling, re-ascending, and building anchors. Crowds gathered in El Cap Meadow, and Calderwood recalls Park Service pressure on Harding:

“There was a lot of pressure… They wanted to get this over with. You got some nasty letters… saying that this was a stunt and a publicity trick and it wasn’t really legitimate mountaineering.”

Starting in September 1958, Calderwood spent 13 days helping the team push higher. Food was bare-bones: cold Campbell’s soup “just cold out of the can.” Though he preferred free climbing, he immediately saw the free potential on the Stovelegs:

“I thought… if this was 50 feet off the ground, it wouldn’t be an aid climb… it’s a jam crack… But when you’re 1,400 feet… above the ground, psychologically it was a big factor.”

His main tasks included hauling supplies, rigging a 600-foot spool of 7/16" rope from Camp 4 in the Gray Bands to Dolt Tower with hauling bolts every 120 feet, and body-belaying Harding on the Great Roof and cleaning the pitch.

Leaving the Climb

Calderwood was juggling school, full-time work, marriage, and a pregnant wife. He says:

“I knew that if I stopped and dropped out, I’d regret it… I left my slings and gear up on the ledge so I couldn’t go back up… It was a difficult decision. I was pretty upset about it—pretty emotional.”

According to Ken Yager, Calderwood stepped off the climb only one or two days from the summit.

Stovelegs

Although the team was already above the Stovelegs when he joined, they needed more of the oversized pitons. Harding asked if he could make some. After a scrap-yard hunt, Calderwood found a three-legged stove whose legs the clerk was willing to sell. He bought three porcelain-coated legs for a dollar each.

“I bent the shape, did some cutting and fitting, and had my uncle do some brazing… they weren’t as big as the original four.” The partially intact porcelain caused problems: “When they pounded them, the porcelain tended to chip and fly off… So, I reworked them and beat on them until the porcelain was chipped off.”

He asked only that the pitons be returned, knowing their future historical value. But heavy gear was cut loose during the descent and much was lost. One Stoveleg fell near the Folly above Camp 4; Tom Rohrer recovered it in 1973. Calderwood eventually donated his remaining Stoveleg and pitons to The North Face’s historical collection, giving one to Whitmore as well.

“I’ve seen some of the Stovelegs in the museum collection, and I think at least one of them is one of the ones I made,” he says.

Rich Calderwood eating canned goods on El Cap Tower. Photo: Courtesy Wayne Merry