Peter Harding

Peter Reginald James Harding (30 December 1924 – 24 October 2007) was a British rock climber who was prominent in the development of traditional climbing in Britain during the period following World War II.

Climbing career Harding was born in Nottingham but raised in the East Midlands and took his first job as an apprentice at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby. He was inspired to climb during a cycling holiday in Snowdonia in late 1943, and the following January he bought a cotton rope and began to visit the crags of the nearby Peak District with his girlfriend and climbing partner Veronica Lee. By the following summer, Harding was one of the leading climbers in the Peak District, and was beginning to make first ascents of his own, including many routes now regarded as mid-grade classics. The first of these was Promontory Traverse at Black Rocks, now graded at E1 5b, and which crosses a large overhanging prow. This was followed by routes such as Goliath's Groove at Stanage Edge, the first route to be graded "Exceptionally Severe (XS)", and Suicide Wall at Cratcliffe Tor in 1946, to which he gave the same grade. While modern protection has made Suicide Wall safer than it was for Harding, it is still regarded as one of Britain's most exciting rock climbs.

In 1947, Peter Harding moved to Shrewsbury where he became a lecturer in engineering at the technical college and began to climb in North Wales. He made numerous first ascents there, the most important of which was Spectre (HVS 5a) and Ivy Sepulchre (E1 5b) in the Llanberis Pass, which would remain among the hardest routes in the area for the next decade.

Harding also introduced new European aid climbing to Britain, which had previously been regarded as unsporting by British climbers. His most important route in this respect was Kaisergebirge Wall (HVS 5b) in the Llanberis Pass which he climbed in 1948 and which presaged the increased acceptance of the use of pitons in the 1950s. However, by 1950 his family and career had begun to take priority over climbing, and a new generation of climbers, led by Joe Brown and Don Whillans, took over.

Harding left teaching in 1951 to work on brake linings at Small & Parkes, and later Mintex, where he eventually became a Research and Development Manager and produced many technical papers on the braking of road vehicles. This job allowed him to indulge his interest in motor racing, and he became a regular rally driver. He continued to climb into his seventies, and in 1994 surprised many younger climbers by making a solo ascent of the difficult "Younggrat Route" on the Breithorn.