Piro Kramar’s exquisite photographs on view at Windermere

Published 1:30 pm Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Longtime islander Piro Kramar’s photographs, now on display at Windermere Vashon, at 17429 Vashon Hwy SW, depict a deep love of the mountains, snow, vast vistas and close-up detail of nature.

This love and appreciation didn’t come out of nowhere; it grew from her childhood in Hungary, developed from different horizons in the Midwest and blossomed when she moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Kramar — who is perhaps best known on Vashon as a co-founder of Vashon Island Pet Protectors (VIPP) — grew up skiing in her native Hungary, where she loved nature and the joy of being outdoors. But that came to an abrupt stop when her family fled Hungary’s communist occupation in the mid-1940s when Kramer was about 10.

The family was relocated to Kempten, Germany, at the foot of the Alps in Bavaria. Kramar’s father, a well-known pediatrician and researcher, was called upon by the Americans to minister to fellow displaced people in the area. The family stayed there for about five years until her dad got an invitation to teach and research at Creighton University in Omaha — a far cry from the mountains where Kramar and her family began.

Kramar went on to study at the University of Iowa, returned to Creighton for medical school and earned a master’s degree in physiology. At that point, she knew she wanted to specialize in eye surgery.

She moved to Portland to attend the Casey Eye Institute, where she immediately joined a group of hikers and climbers. The University of Washington offered her a position teaching, and there, she not only continued climbing of all kinds but also tried scuba diving and skydiving.

But nothing satisfied Kramar like climbing: By 1976, she had reached the highest levels of competency and climbed Denali, in Alaska, with fellow experts. She was chosen in 1978 to be in the first group of women to climb Annapurna in Nepal, the 10th highest mountain in the world — and one extremely difficult to summit.

Before the team set out for Nepal, they went to Santa Barbara, California, for rigorous physical tests performed by a medical team directed by Barbara Drinkwater. A lifelong partnership was born.

The team went to Nepal, accompanied by Drinkwater. As they reached the final camp before summiting, Kramar was chosen to join the elite group completing the summit. But, at 3 a.m. during the morning of the summit, she discovered she was developing frostbite on her finger — a potential career-ender for an eye surgeon. She stayed in camp while three other women reached the summit.

Down from the mountain but still in Nepal, Drinkwater ran follow-up tests on all the women, and she was particularly helpful with Kramar, who was deeply despondent about the loss of two team members who had attempted a second summit.

Kramar returned to Seattle and, a year later, settled with Drinkwater on Vashon, along with Drinkwater’s mother. Kramer continued her surgical career and again began hiking, climbing and back-country skiing in mountains throughout the Pacific Northwest, often for a week at a time. She added something new to her treks: a camera.

Thus began a hobby that has grown through the years to include photos of local sites on Vashon as well as the vast snow vistas of many mountains — some of which are on display in her exhibit at Windermere.

All proceeds from this show will go to support VIPP, the animal rescue organization Drinkwater and Kramer co-founded in 1984. Proceeds will help VIPP continue their programs and services for islanders and their pets, which include spay/neutering, surrender and adoption, financial assistance with vet bills, a free pet food program for those in need, and lost and found pet reporting. Learn more at vipp.org.

A reception will be held for the exhibition at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at Windermere Vashon, located at 17429 Vashon Hwy SW. The show will continue throughout February.

Geoff Fletcher is treasurer of VIPP and has worked with the organization since 2001, when Barbara Drinkwater wrangled him and his wife Terri into the organization two months after their arrival on the island.