Southern Sierran
Ellen Louise Wilts (1925-2008)

By John Ripley
Member of Angeles Chapter History Committee

Photo courtesy Charles Wilts, Ellen & Charles Wilts Collection, Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter Archives Ellen and Charles Wilts on summit of Mount Lyell, Yosemite National Park, August 1947.

Ellen Wilts, pictured above, a long-time Sierra Club member and noted climber, passed away on March 4 at the age of 82. She had been battling heart problems for a number of years.

Ellen Beaumont was born in California and grew up in the local area. She first participated in a Sierra Club outing as a teenager in 1941. After majoring in music at UCLA during World War II, she joined the Club in 1945 and soon took up skiing and rock climbing. She joined the Rock Climbing Section (RCS) in May 1946 and the Ski Mountaineers Section (SMS) in January 1947. Ellen served as RCS Secretary in 1947 and again in 1960, and in 1953 she was the first woman to chair the SMS.

Ellen met Chuck Wilts in 1945 through her Sierra Club activities. Their engagement was announced at a Harwood Lodge folk dancing party at the end of 1946, and they were married in June 1947 with many Club members in attendance. They settled in Pasadena, where their children Charles (1949), Gail (1950), and Janet (1953) were born and raised. Ellen and Chuck frequently participated in Club activities together for the next forty-some years, until his death in 1991.

Chuck and Ellen were particularly well known as two of the leading technical climbers of the post-World-War-II era. Ellenšs notable climbs included first ascents at Tahquitz Rock, Yosemite Valley, the High Sierra, and the Canadian Rockies ­ often (but not always) in partnership with Chuck. Both she and Chuck were voted honorary membership status in the RCS in 1978 in recognition of their contributions to the sport and to the section. Ellen is remembered (along with Ruth Mendenhall) as one of the first female climbers to command wide respect through commitment and accomplishments. Yet despite her achievements, Ellen was warm and down-to-earth. She welcomed and encouraged many climbers and Sierra Club members during her 63 years in the Angeles Chapter. We can only regret that future adventurers will not have the pleasure and privilege of knowing her.

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