‘Mr. El Cap’ has died. He led first paraplegic climb of iconic Yosemite Valley monolith

Mike Corbett climbed El Capitan so many times he earned the nickname “Mr. El Cap” from climbing partners who joined him on ascents up the enormous granite monolith rising some 3,000 iconic feet above Yosemite Valley.

Many are celebrated in Yosemite climbing history, including the 1989 climb Corbett did with Mark Wellman – the first paraplegic climb of El Capitan.

Despite all he did and gave, Corbett was humble about his accomplishments.

“I consider myself a solid partner,” he told the Sierra Star in 2011 for a profile, declining to call himself a great climber. “I had 44 different partners on El Cap because people liked to climb with me because I had a sense of humor and we were going to make it to the top, and, if anything, I’ll make it to the bottom.”

His family and friends are missing that sense of humor. Corbett died over the weekend at his Ahwahnee home in eastern Madera County. His wife, Jennifer LaDuca, said a friend found him dead of unknown causes in his bed on Sunday. Corbett was 68.

He was a great ambassador for climbing who inspired millions, said friend and longtime climbing partner Ken Yager, founder and president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and its museum and gallery.

“He cared about people and he helped them out when they were in need,” Yager said.

Mike Corbett and El Capitan in Yosemite National Park

Corbett and Wellman essentially invented a new system of climbing that allowed Wellman to get up El Capitan by doing about 7,000 pull-ups over eight days. Wellman lost the use of his legs seven years prior from an accident in the John Muir Wilderness.

At the end of their grueling climb up The Shield route, Corbett carried Wellman piggyback on a final stretch to El Cap’s summit, where many reporters waited to greet them and share their inspiring feat with people around the world.

“It’s one of the storied moments in the history of Yosemite, it really is,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Jay Mather, who was covering the climb for The Sacramento Bee.

Mather compared the moment to when Lynn Hill became the first person to free climb The Nose route on El Capitan several years later.

Corbett and Wellman’s adventure earned them an invitation to the White House to meet George H.W. Bush, who signed the Americans with Disabilities Act on the one-year anniversary of their famous climb.

“It definitely changed people’s attitudes about disability,” Mather said of the climb.

Other climbers who are paraplegic have since scaled El Capitan, including Enock Glidden in 2016, who said he was first inspired to climb it after reading about their 1989 ascent as a teenager.

The climb set in motion a string of similar ones for Corbett, who often acted like a light that shone on others who he helped take center stage.

The same year as his climb with Wellman, Warren Harding, then 65, asked Corbett to help him again climb The Nose route Harding pioneered with a team in 1958.

Corbett and Wellman climbed Half Dome together a couple years later, marking another paraplegic first ascent.

Corbett also led 81-year-old Gerry Bloch up El Capitan in 1999, making him the oldest man to climb it. And the first man to climb Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary – also inspired and impressed by Corbett – asked him to be his Yosemite guide when he visited the national park.

Yager was 17 when he met Corbett in Yosemite. They did their first El Cap climbs together.

“I’d say we were the first nobodies to do those hard El Cap routes, and especially to do a couple of them, it wasn’t a fluke, right? And so I think those routes became trade routes due to like, ‘Well, if those guys can do it, we can do it,’” Yager said with a chuckle.

Corbett went on to climb El Capitan 56 times, his family said, in addition to scores of other famous big wall climbs in Yosemite.

Rock climber shared history at Yosemite Climbing Museum

A few days before he died, Corbett was in Yosemite National Park, celebrating the opening of a new rock climbing exhibit there with other eminent Yosemite climbers. It was initiated by the Yosemite Climbing Association, which played a major role in its creation. Corbett started working as chief docent of the association’s Yosemite Climbing Museum and Gallery in Mariposa after rekindling his friendship with Yager last year.

“Mike was so happy, so happy – I can’t even tell you – so happy with the museum,” LaDuca said.

Corbett’s daughter, Ellie Dominguez, said he started collecting artifacts from the first big wall climbers over 30 years ago, envisioning the creation of a museum where people could learn about these pioneers.

“He respected those who came before him, and wanted their legacies to live on long after he was gone,” Dominguez wrote in a Facebook post. “He was so grateful to his lifetime climbing partner, Ken Yager, for fanning the spark of his early vision into flame and making it a reality.”

Corbett retired from working in construction after living in Yosemite Valley for 30 years, where he had a number of different jobs. One of his favorites was serving as a Zamboni driver for the Curry Village Ice Skating Rink. Corbett later also became “king of the flashlight hike” through the recreation department of Tenaya Lodge, located just outside Yosemite’s south entrance.

His wife described him as an independent free spirit who hitchhiked across the United States at least a couple times in his younger years; a passionate artist who put everything into whatever he was doing; and an animal lover who shared her goofy sense of humor.

Nikyra Calcagno, Ellie’s mother and Corbett’s ex-wife, described him similarly.

“He just lived life with so much passion. He had a ton of interests,” Calcagno said. “He really had this like brilliant mind, this fascination with history and this amazing capacity to recall historic facts and information. ... He’s known for his climbing but he was just so multifaceted and full of life.”

Some of his other interests included hiking the John Muir Trail multiple times, and being a huge fan of the Fresno Grizzlies. He caught scores of their baseballs at games over the years.

“Catching home run balls at 57 is the same feeling I got climbing El Cap at 35,” he told the Sierra Star in 2011.

He told the newspaper he wanted to inspire people to be unafraid to follow their dreams, and do what may seem impossible.

“If you have an idea and it’s realistic, pursue it,” Corbett said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”

His daughter shared this parting message to honor his legacy:

“We ask that you raise your children to be stewards of the environment, as he was,” Ellie wrote. “We ask that you carry on his spirit of adventure!”

Mike Corbett

Born: Oct. 5, 1953

Died: May 8, 2022

Residence: Ahwahnee, Madera County

Occupation: Yosemite Climbing Association employee, rock climber and retired construction worker

Survivors: Wife Jennifer LaDuca; daughter Ellie Dominguez and her husband, Juan Dominguez; and grandchildren Madeleine, Sofia and Lucas.

Services: Plans are still being decided.

Remembrances: In lieu of flowers, Corbett’s daughter said the family requests donations to the Yosemite Climbing Museum via PayPal @YosemiteClimbing or by sending to P.O. Box 2006, Mariposa, CA 95338.