John Salathe

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John Salathe (1900-1993) was a pioneering rock climber and the inventor of the modern piton.

Salathe was born in Switzerland and emigrated to the United States. He had been a blacksmith before a mid-life spiritual conversion led him to devote his life to ascetic meditation and rock climbing. When he began climbing in 1945, he found that traditional pitons used for climbing in the Alps were too soft to be driven into narrow cracks without buckling. In his San Mateo Peninsula Ornamental Iron Works, Salathe used high-carbon chrome-vanadium Model T axles to forge extremely strong pitons which could be hammered into the hard Yosemite granite without buckling, as well as removed without getting mangled, thus rendering them reusable. These thin pitons became known as Lost Arrows, and are still manufactured under that name by Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.

In 1946, Salathe and Anton (Ax) Nelson climbed the southwest face of Half Dome in Yosemite; this is generally considered to be the first big wall climb in Yosemite. The two climbers spent the night on a small ledge, making it Yosemite's first climbing route to require a bivouac.

In 1947, Salathe and Allen Steck managed the first "ground-up" ascent of the Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite. (The piton was named after the spire, not the other way around). The ascent took 5 days and included four bivouacs. (The first ascent of the spire was technically achieved earlier in the year by Anton Nelson and friends, who had lassoed a rope over the summit beforehand to aid in their climb.)

In 1950, Allen Steck and Salathe made the first ascent of Sentinel Rock's 1,500 foot North Face. This four-day ascent is considered Yosemite's second "Big Wall" route.

The Salathe Wall on El Capitan was named after Salathe (although he did not climb it) in 1961 by Yvon Chouinard.

[edit] Quote

"I find that rock climbing is the finest, most healthiest sport in the whole world. It is much healthier than most; look at baseball, where 10,000 sit on their ass to watch a handful of players" - John Salathe, 1974

"Foops, no more rope!" - Salathe after rapelling part way down the face of a cliff in Yosemite. He proceeded to cut the ends off his rope and prussiked back up to the top. (source: Gunks Guide/Todd Swain)