PETER LIMMER, JR.

1920–2000

While not a member of the American Alpine Club, Peter, as assistant to his late father and with the help of his late brother, Francis, shod scores of us. Born in Vachendorf, Bavaria, a small town he would describe as being “under a bridge on the Munich-Salzburg autobahn,” Peter came to this country at an early age with his shoemaker father and his mother, née Maria Bücherl, the daughter of another shoemaker.

The family set up in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, where the boys matured until wartime duty called, Peter into the U.S. Air Force and Francis into the 10th Mountain Division, while their father kept the business together at home. Many were the delightful tales the elder Limmer told of his service in the Kaiser’s army—including being taken prisoner by the Russians a generation earlier.

In 1950, the family decided to move nearer the mountains and purchased the Harmony Acres Dance Hall property in Intervale, New Hampshire, which they converted into a shop and showroom. Until the advent of more sophisticated merchandising, the Limmer family also carried a line of quality climbing equipment which they sold at minimal markup. There the family hospitality to clients and old friends became legendary.

In keeping with his parental tradition, Peter retired several years ago from active work in the business, turning it over to the second and third generation of American-born family craftsmen, whose distinctive footwear is cherished by hundreds of hikers and climbers all over North America.

William Lowell Putnam