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Laura L. Clark took this photo of George Whitmore during a hike at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park on 7/8/2018.
The last living climber on the first team to scale Yosemite’s El Capitan has died from complications of COVID-19. George Whitmore, 89, is best known for his historic climb in 1958 with his partners, Wayne Merry and Warren Harding. His pioneering techniques helped the group get safely to the top.
“They enjoyed having done it. It was a great adventure to them but none of them ever really had a big head about it, so to speak,” says his widow, Nancy Whitmore, 76.