Winter 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Trailbreakers: Horace “Rusty” Westmorland
by Lindsay Elms
Horace “Rusty” Westmorland was
born in Penrith, England in
1886, and educated in Blackburn,
Lancashire. He worked in the family’s
tannery and leather business until his
father died in 1909, and the estate was
divided between him, his mother and his
sister. With no professional training he
was advised by the brother of the British
Ambassador to Washington to enter the
Forestry Service in Canada.
In 1911 Westmorland travelled to
Saskatchewan but, as prospects were
poor there, he moved on to Vancouver.
There, with a letter of introduction
from Scottish Mountaineering Club
member, G.A. Solly, he met Arthur
Oliver Wheeler. A rock climber with
some alpine experience in the Engadine
and Dolomites, Westmorland asked to
spend the summer working on one of the
mountain survey parties. He spent the
next six months working with the surveyors
around Tetachuck Lake as part of the
Alberta/British Columbia Interprovincial
Boundary Commission and continued
working seasonally for the surveyors until
1914.
In 1912 Westmorland accepted a
commission in the Canadian Territorial
Highland Regiment. He qualified at
military school and was transferred to the
Canadian Army, with whom he served in
Belgium and France from 1915 to 1919. In
1943 Lieutenant-Colonel Westmorland
used his indomitable personality and connections
in Ottawa to found the Number
One Pack Horse Troop, in effort to revive
Canada’s cavalry heritage. The Troop was
called to help in several exercises, but
didn’t survive because of changing technology.
In October 1944, Westmorland
was invalided out, and returned to his
family roots at Threlkeld in the Lakes
District for his remaining years.
Westmorland’s love of the outdoors
began at an early age when his father, Tom,
introduced his family to Ullswater and
the surrounding fells. Westmorland’s real
climbing career began in 1901 at the age
of 15 when he climbed Pillar Rock in the
Wasdale region of the Lakes District with
his father and his sister. Tom Westmorland
was a keen and competent scrambler, but
he never adopted the use of a rope.
In his late teens, Rusty Westmorland
and his two cousins, Arthur North and
John Mounsey, began climbing with a
rope. They climbed some of the classics at
the time: the North Climb on The Pillar,
Scafell Pinnacle by Slingsby’s Chimney,
Moss Ghyll, Central Gully, Oblique and
Doctor’s Chimney, Kern’s Knotts, Tarn
Crag, and Needle and Napes Ridges.
One notable ascent with them was on
Dove Crag. Initially they thought they
would climb either side of the Y Gully,
but failing, they attempted and succeeded
on a buttress which is now called the
Westmorland Route.
ACC Funds and Grants Program
Through the generosity of many donors, the Alpine Club of Canada has
established funds to support mountaineering related projects and initiatives.
The deadline for submission of grant applications is January 31, 2011. Grant
recipients will be announced March 15, 2011.
The Environment Fund – provides support that contributes to the protection
and preservation of alpine flora and fauna in their natural habitat. The focus of the
Fund is wilderness conservation.
The Jen Higgins Fund – promotes creative and energetic alpine related outdoor
pursuits by young women. These projects should demonstrate initiative, creativity,
energy and resourcefulness with an emphasis on self-propelled wilderness travel,
and should provide value and interest to the community.
Jim Colpitts Fund – encourages young climbers between the ages of 17 and 24 to
participate in mountain related courses and programs such as wilderness first aid,
avalanche training, rock/crevasse rescue and mountain leadership training.
For complete info and application forms visit: www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/grants
or call the ACC National Office at 403-678-3200 ext. 108.
In the same year he first climbed
The Pillar with his father, Rusty
Westmorland met George Abraham. In
1910 he joined George and his brother
Ashley on a climbing/photographic trip
to the Bernina Alps and the Dolomites.
Ultimately, it was the Pillar Rock which
held a particular fascination for Rusty,
and he celebrated by repeating the climb
on his 65th, 75th and lastly his 85th birthdays.
Westmorland was elected into the
Fell and Rock Climbing Club in 1909,
served as president in the early 1950s and
remained a life-long member.
In Canada, Westmorland was a
member of the Alpine Club of Canada
and attended camps in 1912, 1913, 1919 and
1944. While working for the surveyors he
made the first ascent of Mount Tyrwhitt
with Conrad Kain and surveyor Alan
Campbell. In 1943 he climbed Mount
Balfour on the Waputik Icefield with Ivor
Richards and his wife Dorothy Pilley.
He visited Vancouver Island in 1922 with
the ACC Victoria Section and climbed
Mount Arrowsmith and Mount Maxwell
(Baynes Peak) on Salt Spring Island. He
served as Section chair for one year in
1923. In 1932 he made the first ski exploration
of the Yoho Valley with Alexander
McCoubrey and Roger Neave. He was
awarded the ACC’s Silver Rope for
Leadership in 1947.
In Europe, Westmorland climbed and
skied throughout the Bernese Oberland
and the Dolomites, and with Edward
Feuz Jr. climbed the Hornli Ridge on
the Matterhorn. His one unfulfilled
wish, however, was to climb Mount
Assiniboine, the “Matterhorn of the
Canadian Rockies”.
Westmorland was elected to the Lake
District Ski Club in 1938, and became
Club president in 1946. He organized
the first slalom race in 1947 and was the
first skier down. Westmorland remained
president until 1951, but continued to ski
into his 80s on the local slopes.
In 1946 Westmorland founded the
Borrowdale Mountain Rescue Team,
which was renamed Keswick Mountain
Rescue in 1951. This rescue team came
about when Wilfred Noyce, who later
became a key member of John Hunt’s
successful 1953 Everest team, fell while
climbing Shark’s Fin on Tophet Bastion,
28 Alpine Club of Canada Gazette Winter 2010