James C. Martin, 1908-2004

[Lowell_Skoog]

A skier and climber who delighted in music and theater, Jim Martin died recently in Portland, Oregon, at age 96. Born in Seattle, Martin was introduced to mountains and skiing as a teenager by Wally Burr, a shop teacher in the Seattle schools. Martin helped Burr steam and bend hickory slats into finely crafted skis in Burr's home workshop.

 

In 1926, while a student at Seattle's Roosevelt High School, Martin attended a New Years outing to Mount Rainier with snowshoers and skiers of the Tacoma Mountaineers. He joined The Mountaineers and in the following years, with friends like William Degenhardt, Forest Farr, and Herbert Strandberg, he helped transform the club--and Northwest climbing--from mass ascents of the volcanos by large parties to a new era of adventurous climbing by small teams on remote Cascade peaks.

 

Martin and his peers were regarded as "outlaws" by the old guard that founded The Mountaineers in 1906. Small-group climbing and the making of first ascents was considered rather subversive to the ideals of the founders, who stressed fellowship during regimented summer outings in which a few experienced climbers guided dozens of novices up one of the Cascade volcanos.

 

That wouldn't do for Jim Martin and his friends. In August, 1930, with Bill Degenhardt and Evelyn McAlpine, he completed a "Triangle Tour," climbing Mount Rainier, Glacier Peak and Mount Olympus in a quick two-week vacation. In August, 1932, with Degenhardt and Herbert Strandberg, Martin explored the Southern Picket Range in the North Cascades, making first ascents of Mount Terror, West Twin Needle, West Peak, and The Chopping Block. Martin was also a pioneer skier. In 1930, with Bill Degenhardt and Ted Lewis, he entered the first Patrol Race, a grueling eighteen-mile dash on skis between Snoqualmie and Stampede Passes. He was also a member of the committee that selected U.S. skiers for the 1936 Olympic Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

 

Martin and his friends were among the last climbers to pioneer significant Cascade summits in the "pre-iron" age--before pitons, carabiners, and sophisticated belay techniques were introduced to the Northwest. Shoulder belays and the use of natural anchors like rock horns were the limit of their techniques. In an interview with Malcolm Bates for the book "Cascade Voices," Martin later admitted, "Nowadays they have grades 1, 2, 5 or 6 in Beckey's guide book. It's all Greek to me."

 

Jim Martin loved to sing, dance and yodel, and he met his future wife Lucille Morrill in the Mountaineer Players. Like many mountaineers, his prospects for romance had to compete with his love of the mountains. "I'd wait to see how the snow was for skiing," he later confessed, "and it took me the longest time to work in a date, but I finally did."

 

In 1941, Martin and his wife moved from Seattle to Portland where he was transferred by the Mutual of New York Life Insurance Company. He continued skiing and climbing near his new home. The May 1958 Mountaineer bulletin (p. 8) describes an incident in which Martin was caught alone by a storm high on Mount Hood during a March ski ascent. He survived a night without bivouac gear by digging three snow caves to escape from shifting winds and by performing calisthenics to aid circulation until the storm abated in the morning. As noted in the bulletin, "Once trapped by the elements, Martin showed what experience and equipment can do."

 

Daughter Judy Martin Hedges of Corvallis, Oregon, recalls: "My father loved to tell stories about his years with The Mountaineers: about his old-time climbing friends, his singing and acting with my mother and about the climbing and ski equipment they sent for from Europe. They couldn't get much from home until an acquaintance (Lloyd Anderson) started REI in his basement. My father was a great story teller with so much history to pass on. My son videotaped him telling about his life in Seattle about three years ago. A wonderful piece of saved history for our family."

 

Published photographs of Jim Martin can be found in "Cascade Voices" by Malcolm S. Bates (photos 2 and 6 at the end of Section 1) and in "The Mountaineers: A History" by Jim Kjeldsen (p. 39).

[Terre]

Lowell,

 

Thank you for posting a this bit about a person of local history.

 

Terre

Vancouver WA

[magellan]

Lowell, I love stories and history like this. Thanks for posting.

 

[JoshK]

RIP James

 

Lowell, as the others noted, thanks for the history of this amazing person. It's awesome that you keep together the information that interests so much.

[pindude]

Thanks so much Lowell. Well written and an obvious investment in time. Good to know about Martin, and that there were/are "subversives" in the Mountaineers.

[JayB]

Great Stuff

[Skeezix]

Cool. There was an article years ago ...I think it was in Signpost magazine... about how to make wooden skis in one's home workshop. I probably have it filed away somewhere. I'd still like to try it some time. Never could figure out what "lignostone" was, tho'.