1984 Honorary Member Profile : Pete Van Gelder

"I don't know if I can speak highly enough to match the man," says world-class climber John Roskelley of Pete (Ernest) Van Gelder. "He kept me in mountaineering... put me where I am today."

John recalls it was hard to feel "accepted" as a teenager in a 60's Mountain School where the sport was mainly peopled by adults. "I was just going from sport to sport when I joined. It was Pete's ability to relate to a younger person and make them feel part of the crowd...his willingness to accept a person for what they could do...his positive attitude toward everyone. He was very warm!"

Pete was a Club workhorse from the day he claimed his Mountain School graduation summit card at 51 atop Mt. Hood in May of 1963. In a meteoric rise, he led his first trip (to Two-Mouth Lake) in September, was a Board Trustee by October, climbing chairman in '64, and began two terms as president in '65. By the time he was awarded honorary status in 1984, he had put in six more stints on the Board (1972-1976 and 1977-1979). Memories persist of his 1968-1972 years as Chalet and Properties chairman, with those creative workparties: the Woodchoppers' Ball, the Rooftop Party (replacement), plus construction of the much-longed-for fireplace.

He climbed with a vengeance, leading both Mt. Rainier (14,410 feet) and Mt. Adams (12,276 feet) in a 4-day weekend in 1966. By 1969, he had summited the highest peaks in Wyoming (Gannett at 13,785 feet), Montana (Granite at 12,799 feet), and Idaho (Borah at 12,655 feet). Idaho's Chimney Rock was a 1967 goal.

Though he had roamed the outdoors as a hunter much of his life, wife Elaine remembers his enthusiastic response to the Mountaineers. "He was so happy to find such a great bunch of people, who accepted everybody no matter what you did!" Elaine was with him through a myriad of activities and provided "support" to the rest. Clutching the Chalet tow hanging ropes for ski lessons... Big Mountain ski weekends (first led by Elaine via train in 1968)... snowshoe hikes and ski mountaineering jaunts where Pete perfected his "Creek Christie"... the Tetons 1965 summer outing where Mt. Moran spawned the infamous "Chicken Badge"... hauling in the Longhorn feast for annual banquets at the Chalet... plowing through December snow to a "surprise" 70th birthday potluck at the Chalet in 1981.

Kinnikinnick's are dotted with Pete-led scrambles in Idaho's Selkirks, where the Van Gelders often played genial hosts at their Priest Lake cabin, handbuilt after their marriage in 1946. "Pete had done some logging before," Elaine explains, "and I learned to peel logs and handle one end of the crosscut."

One must was the annual day-long 100-mile bike ride from Priest Lake to Spokane that Pete initiated. He would roust you out at 5:00 a.m. for Elaine's oatmeal and coffee. Many a Club member was lured into the jaunt that Pete first did at 16, pedaling a balloon-tired one-speed over the bumpy, unpaved surfaces that meant overnight in a haystack. "We have Pete to thank for our bicycling program," wrote then-president Sam Schlieder in a spring 1986 Kinnikinnick obituary tribute.

Photography was another love. Pete was Spokane Camera Club president, too. Local newspapers were sprinkled with his often-award-winning outdoor photos.

Pete spent his first 8 years at Lake Coeur d'Alene's Rockford Bay. The family moved to Portland, but he returned for high school at North Central. The Depression cut his Gonzaga University studies to 2 years. When Pete left Tom Price's Chrysler Plymouth body shop as foreman in 1977 after 45 years, "retirement" meant 6:00 a.m. golfing, woodcarving, and, of course, hiking and biking with the Mountaineers.

A Word from the President in the autumn 1965 Kinnikinnick says it all about Pete and the Mountaineers.

"I'm sure I share with many, memories of good fellowship, banter around the campfire, anticipation of a good climb or hike and the enjoyment gained in just being out. Fulfillment is not measured in whether the summit is reached, or the ultimate goals attained. It is the appreciation of what is given us, and the good use we make of it in this great Northwest of ours."

Lorna Ream