Who was John Salathé? Previously Unpublished Story by Allen Steck

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Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jul 11, 2015 - 10:06am PT

Rather amazing that Allen doesn't already have a biographer working with him in the Bay Area. He is the best of his generation being just ahead of John and certainly has had a very consequential and fascinating life in and around the mountains.

Those of you that were fortunate enough to come to the first Oakdale Climbers Festival got a really good hit of the estimable Mr. Steck.

During the preparations for that event Ken Yager and I were in contact with him bugging him for images and at one point he got a touch annoyed with us and declared "I'm not quite sure why I am messing around with all this stuff when what I really should be doing is smoking a joint out in the garden."

Well, it turns out that our efforts were worth the annoyance and his reflections on climbing with John and also on the early days working with the Ski Hut and Mountain Travel were pure gold. He has always given back much more than he has chosen to require of us in the climbing community and for that I am truly grateful.

Any of you STers that are interested in helping with Al's book please consider joining in the effort IF he would like the assistance. A big driver in these Festivals that I put on through NACHA and the Elevated Lives Project is to inspire exactly this kind of deeper biographical inquiry so if you are capable, step up and join in the work and fun.

HighTraverse

Trad climber

Bay Area

Jul 11, 2015 - 12:15pm PT

Steve,
I presume you've been in touch with Al's daughter. If not, give me a shout.

It makes complete sense that Salathe would use Ford axles. Why would he buy shiny new stuff when he could buy the axles from the local junk yard at a fraction of the cost per pound, or even scrounge from local farmer's worn out cars? After all San Mateo county still had thriving orchards and truck farms.

When I was climbing with Palo Alto guys in the mid 70's it was claimed Salathe's blacksmith shop had been on El Camino Real in Palo Alto just south of Page Mill Rd. True or false?

And one more oddity: I climbed the Salathe route on the Hand (scary even with bolts) in the mid 70's and found a couple of older guys on top. One of them claimed to be Salathe! Was he spoofing me or........? I had already heard of Salathe and knew he was Swiss and living in Swtizerland. If this bloke didn't have an accent I would have certainly known he wasn't Salathe. Was the other Steck? I hadn't met Al at that time and wouldn't have recognized him.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jul 11, 2015 - 01:21pm PT

John probably used flat bar stock that was the same alloy as the steel used in Ford axles to make his horizontals and blades rather than using the axle material itself. Roper mentions this distinction directly but the myth follows the man.

I am not in touch with Al's daughter and haven't mentioned getting any help for this project directly in recent conversation with him. The book is something I first heard about when this thread showed up.

BooDawg

Social climber

Butterfly Town

Jul 11, 2015 - 03:02pm PT

A most excellent Thread, Chris! Thanks, Allen! And Steve. More, More!

steveA

Trad climber

Wolfeboro, NH

Jul 11, 2015 - 04:13pm PT

Having worked as a blacksmith off and on, for years, I really doubt Salathe
would use Ford axles, as a source of high carbon steel. It would require a huge amount of effort, and fuel to reduce a bar of that size down to material suitable for pitons.

However; Salathe could have used an oxy-acetylene torch to cut pieces from a large bar, like an axle, and then reduce those pieces by forging, into pitons. That is a possibility.

BBA

Social climber

Jul 11, 2015 - 04:44pm PT

Steck’s writing begs the question, why did Salathé make such dramatic changes in his life? Was it because he was nuts, or did he have a rational influence which, when added to a slightly delusional mindset caused the change?

What follows addresses the question. I mentioned it to Roper some time ago. He thought it was speculation and might make good fiction, but allow me to put it here for those of you who will convict on circumstantial evidence.

William Kat, my grandfather, was an early climber in Yosemite. He worked for the Yosemite Park and Curry Company (YPCC) and lived in Yosemite for most of the period 1927-1946. Kat Pinnacle and The Kat Walk are named for him.

Born in 1875, William was a native of the Netherlands. He learned German in school and was fluent in it. He was trained as an upholsterer.

At age 17 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The medical people said his only hope was to get back to nature, which he did, walking barefoot, eating only fruits, nuts, vegetables and cheese. He worked as an itinerant gardener and along the way became a follower of Ferdinand Jacobus Domela Nieuwenhuis. Nieuwenhuis preached against the five K’s, Kerk, Koning, Kapitaal, Kazerne en Kroeg (Church, King, Capital, Army Barracks and Pub). Nieuwenhuis also recommended for vegetarianism and against smoking.

William Kat thus became an atheist, vegetarian (except for cheese), teetotaler, anti-smoker and socialist. He was also one of the founders of a socialist concert band in the Netherlands in which he played tuba or sang if a vocal part was required.

William immigrated to Canada and stayed in Saskatchewan for 9 years where he became a carpenter in addition to being a failed wheat farmer. Because of the times and the smallness of a prairie community he went silent on the issues of socialism and religion. In 1913 he immigrated to the United States settling in Oakland, California.

He became a carpenter and then a contractor building houses for the well to do in Berkeley. At least one of the houses he built is on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage list. However, a firestorm in 1923 destroyed part of Berkeley north of the U.C. campus and two houses he was building burned. He had no insurance, so he went back to carpentry to pay his debts.

In 1927 he began working as a finish carpenter for the Ahwahnee, and there he remained as jack of all trades, upholsterer, carpenter, locksmith, etc.

After the Navy took over the Ahwahnee in 1943 Donald Tresidder, president of the YPCC, was selected as president of Stanford University in Palo Alto. He had William come with him to do cabinetry in his home at Stanford.

As mentioned in Steck’s article, German speaking Salathé came to the U.S. via Canada as had Kat. He settled down to work in San Mateo, 13 miles north of the Stanford Campus.

Now for the speculative part. Let us suppose William Kat met John Salathé. Perhaps Salathé was in the area doing iron work. If they met, a German conversation would have entailed. They had a lot in common, both coming from Europe through Canada, both speaking German, and both working in the trades. William was in excellent health for a 68 year old (he lived to age 97), but Salathé’s health was not good at this time. Kat was always ready proselytize.

After William Kat’s time in San Mateo, Salathé had visions which turned him, in most respects except for religion, to be like William Kat. William Kat ate all kinds of herbs and wild plants. Try stickery radish leaves to learn how a real vegetarian does it. William always sang while he worked, arias from the Messiah by Handel and Schubert’s songs. Although he was an atheist he loved Handel; the arias suited his tenor voice. People said he sang like an angel. If they had conversed, William certainly would have told Salathé how wonderful Yosemite was, and the joy of mountaineering and rock climbing. William Kat had become a member of the Sierra club in 1941.

We hear from Steck that Salathé was in Tuolomne Meadows at the Sierra Club’s lodge seeking solace in the mountains. Or, was it the power of suggestion of what Kat had told him of the beauty of Yosemite? William Kat said he had been on every trail in the park except one, so he had plenty of stories about the high country.

After Kat returns to the bay area in January 1946 following his retirement from the YPCC, Salathé starts rock climbing.

When I add it all up, Salathé and Kat probably met, and Salathé internalized what Kat told him and ascribed it to angels. Those damned voices!

So, there you have it. If you wish to become acquainted with Kat during his Yosemite years, try https://sites.google.com/site/katbiography/volume-iv

Bill Amborn (BBA)

rbord

Boulder climber

atlanta

Jul 11, 2015 - 05:40pm PT

Hey thanks! Inspiring and humbling to connect our climbing heroes with our human foibles. :-)

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jul 12, 2015 - 11:43am PT

Bill- Interesting speculation and given the relatively small number of climbers post WWII likely an accurate one.

Did your grandfather maintain any relationship with the Sierra Club rock climbing sections in his later years?

I feel that it is safe to say that John had already seen Yosemite Valley by the time he started climbing as he would certainly have checked it out on the way to Tuolumne Meadows where he is reported to first have learned about the Bay Area Sierra Club RCS by talking with a caretaker at the Club Lodge there in the mid- 1940s.

John was clearly an old soul and came into climbing with some extraordinary talents for both his age and the time. Along with his physical talents and legendary determination came a certain moral clarity which in my mind made possible his conversations with his higher self or his "angels". Tom Frost has had the same sort of experiences without any of the eccentric background noise that makes it easy to dispel these moments as "kooky" when John's case is examined more closely.

Tom and John both had deeply held spiritual views that became more wholistic as time went by and neither tended toward atheism by example if your grandfather did indeed provide that.

That they would resonate on the topic of diet I have no doubt at all as I imagine they would have had little company in the climbing community in such a choice.

You have presumably studied everything in the way of letters and journals that the estimable Mr. Kat left behind and I would be amazed if the arc of John's climbing career would have escaped his notice or mention along the way.

In short, John's world view doesn't presume contact with your grandfather in my opinion but it is fun to consider the possibilities that such a meeting could have yielded.

If John hand met William and been influenced by the exchange then I think that it would have come up in the well-documented later conversations with Roper and Steck.

I will certainly ask both of them about the possibility and see what comes of it when I see them in the near future. What did Roper think about your proposal?

looking sketchy there...

Social climber

Lassitude 33

Jul 12, 2015 - 11:53am PT

SuperTopo at its best. Great Article and BBA, very interesting speculation as to William Kat's influence on Salathe.

Inner City

Trad climber

East Bay

Jul 12, 2015 - 05:59pm PT

This is a fantastic thread. Great reading! Thanks for sharing such interesting history.

Plaidman

Trad climber

South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA

Jul 12, 2015 - 11:00pm PT

Awesome. Love reading the history. Thanks for posting. I'd buy the book for sure.

Plaid

bbbeans

Trad climber

Jul 13, 2015 - 04:18am PT

Doesn't get much better than this. What a legend. Thanks for sharing C-Mac!

Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2015 - 09:37pm PT

I will try to publish another story next week

Tobia

Social climber

Denial

Jul 20, 2015 - 06:52am PT

Very interesting reading, can't wait for the next story you publish next week.

Besides the climbing history, both his mental ascents and descents, are intriguing.

Yeti

Trad climber

Ketchum, Idaho

Jul 20, 2015 - 07:21am PT

As usual, Allen has delivered a great story. I look forward to more and will buy the book if/when it's published. Thanks much.

Doug Robinson

Trad climber

Santa Cruz

Jul 21, 2015 - 12:52pm PT

Allen,

This is great stuff. Haven't even read the whole thing yet, but I hasten to send encouragement and bump it back to the front page.

Publish it, of course! Your writing is fine and balanced -- and dare I say mature?

Last week I gave a slide show about the origins of Yosemite climbing at LeConte Memorial Lodge in the Valley. Spent most of my time on George Anderson's siege of Half Dome in 1875. Y'know, his drill-fest of 5/8" by 6" holes and hand-forged bolts took so long he built a cabin at that little spring a mile down the trail. The birth of wall climbing.

Then there was John Muir's solo of Cathedral Peak in 1869. 5.4 summit block in leather-soled shoes. The birth of Yosemite free climbing.

But when I got to Salathe, I was stymied for material. So thanks for this!