In 1940 when Gilbert “Gil” Staender was nine years old, his uncle pulled him out of an orphanage in wartime Germany and put him on a ship for New York where he reunited with his father. Five years later, in 1945 his family was living in Portland and Gil joined the Mazamas. He remained a member for 71 years until his death on August 27, 2016.
A climb leader with the Mazamas, Gil summited Mt. Hood over fifty times as well as climbing throughout the Northwest. In the 1950s he and his wife Vivian pioneered rock climbing at Smith Rock, traveling there from their home in Lake Oswego. Many of their first ascents at Smith Rock are commemorated in the ridge named for them.
In the 1960s they traveled to the Brooks Range in Alaska above the Arctic Circle four times, staying for weeks each trip. Their purpose was more than just getting away from it all. They collected and cataloged plants and animals to be analyzed for the residue of pesticides that had permeated the atmosphere even in that remote region. The Mazamas helped support their research with grants and were rewarded with a series of evening programs featuring Gil’s photography.
In 1969 Gil and Vivian embarked on perhaps their greatest adventure. After much research they sold their house in Lake Oswego and returned to the Brooks Range to spend an entire year in a log cabin they would build there. The twelve by fourteen foot cabin was stout enough and tight enough to get them through a winter with temperatures dropping to 50 below zero. At the end of their year in the north they loaded up a rubber raft they had brought with them for just that purpose and floated downriver for eleven days to the nearest native village where they could catch a plane back to civilization.
Encroaching urbanization had been one spur behind their year in the wilderness. Before leaving they had sold their home, stored their belongings with Mazamas Nick and Kay Dodge, and purchased 160 acres north of Sisters. Upon returning they spent three years living on their property in a tent while constructing a stone house far off the electric and phone grid. From the beginning their intent was to deed that house and land, Wildhaven, to the Nature Conservancy.
Eventually Gil moved back to Portland and took a job at REI, first at the Jantzen Beach store and then at Tualatin. His career teaching in Portland and Sisters showed through as much as his unique expertise with anything related to climbing or camping. Following that period Gil returned to Central Oregon, living near Camp Sherman until moving to Hospice.
Gil was a genuine pioneer and adventurer, a wonderful storyteller, and warm host. He will be deeply missed.
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