Berg Heil 1/19 2020 Rest in Peace

We lost another great person of our kind and a historical figure in American Mountaineering Yesterday.
Dee Molenaar *1918 +2020 .
A big Berg Heil for Dee

102?
The mountains are a healthy place!

Dee will be forever in the places he loved.

A gentle humble renaissance man:  artist, author, climber, geologist, guide, ranger, skier...

Ashford Creek Pottery Gallery has most of his writings, many of his paintings, even some of his vast library.  Rick, the owner, was close to Dee for many years and is a treasure trove of local history and Dee stories.

RIP Dee

www.alpinist.com/doc/web20w/wfeature-a36...it-with-dee-molenaar

I first heard of Dee back in the 60's, many miles away from Washington, when I was a wee lad re-reading the handful of mountaineering books in our local library. Hard to forget that name. What a surprise it was when we moved to Kitsap County and I met him in the Peninsula Wilderness Club. I only said hello a few times, but he attended PWC meetings occasionally until late in his life. He was always approachable, warm, and modest. Another gentleman mountaineer passes.
One of the many things that makes climbing such a special pastime is that we get to run into our role models and the players in the sport. We'll never get to play in a pro stadium or practice with the greats, but we climb the same crags and mountains as the best climbers, so we do the same activity in the same place.
When we lift our eyes to the hills, we gaze in the same direction as our heroes!

Performance athletes seldom have an audience.

Berg Heil!

That was Dee's favorite salutation, I think.

Here's a story about his early days and relationship with mountaineering:

www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/06/061_Molenaar.html