Allen Steck
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born | 1926 Oakland, California |
| Climbing career | |
| Type of climber | Mountaineer, rock climber |
| First ascents | Southeast Face (Clyde Minaret) |
| Named routes | Steck-Salathé Route (Sentinel Rock) |
Allen Steck (born 1926) is an American mountaineer and rock climber. He is a native of Oakland, California.
Steck started climbing with his brother George. In 1940 when Allen was 14, the two completed the first ascent of the northwest ridge of Mount Maclure (12,886 feet (3,928 m)). He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Discharged in 1946, he joined the Rock Climbing Section of the Sierra Club, and began climbing on Berkeley crags such as Indian Rock and Cragmont. He enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in German. His early climbing influences included Dick Leonard and David Brower.
He began climbing in Yosemite Valley in 1947, initially learning the use of pitons by trial and error. He said that at that time, there "was no body of people who could help you learn these things." He has been a Life Member of the Sierra Club since 1947.
In 1949, he climbed in the Alps, completing the first ascent by an American of the Comici route on the north face of the Cima Grande in the Dolomites together with his Austrian friend Karl Lugmayer.
From June 30 to July 4, 1950, with John Salathé, he completed the first ascent of Steck-Salathé Route up the 1,600-foot (490 m) north face of Sentinel Rock in Yosemite Valley. Steck described the climb in an article originally published in the Sierra Club Bulletin in 1951: "The ascent of this wall was probably the toughest that either of us had ever made, or ever hoped to make again. Though John has 51 years to my 24, the climb seemed to have little effect on his endurance; only toward the end of the third day, did he seem to show signs of wear, but then both of us were ready to acknowledge the pleasures of simple back country hiking. It was just too damned hot".
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