By Courtney Oldwyn

Special to the Journal

Wolf Bauer, acclaimed outdoorsman, passed away Jan. 23, just four weeks shy of his 104th birthday.

Born in 1912 in Bavaria, Germany, the avid skier, mountaineer and conservationist began skiing as a schoolboy in the Bavarian Alps. When his family immigrated to Seattle in 1925 he joined the Mountaineers and began skiing competitively. He was part of a team win of the club’s first ever Patrol Race in 1936 with a record time that has still never been beaten.

In 1936 he began a career in engineering with the Roche Harbor Lime and Cement Co. After pioneering the sport of kayaking he eventually changed careers, into what he called “geo-hydraulics”: the study of water and its affect on the coast line. Bauer is credited with inventing what is now the modern, fiberglass kayak.

He worked, skied, climbed and kayaked throughout the Northwest, becoming an avid conservationist and creating the Washington Environmental Council. In 1969 he wrote the “Natural Shorelines Act” which later became part of the Shorelines Management Act of 1971. Eventually this led him to another new career as the Northwest’s leading shore resource consultant.

His achievements in mountaineering included numerous first ascents, notably the Ptarmigan Ridge on the north face of Mount Rainier. He developed and taught the first mountaineers climbing course and led groups on many other first ascents. In 1948 he founded the Mountain Rescue and Safety Council.

Bauer was honored by the Washington State House of Representatives for his life long achievements, commitments and dedication to outdoor education and safety, as well as his steadfast commitment to the preservation of Washington rivers and shorelines in 2010.

Thanks to Bauer’s achievements in mountaineering, future climbers were able to achieve greatness. “When I stood on the summit of Mount Everest, I was standing on the shoulders of men like Wolf Bauer.” said Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Mount Everest in a quote from a Northwest Mountaineering Journal story about Bauer’s life by Lowell Skoog. “He was…an example of a wonderful life lived in the outdoors.”