Winter 2006 - The Alpine Club of Canada

The 

Centennial 

Alpine Club of Canada's 

Vol. 21, No. 1 ● Winter 2006 

1906 - 2006

ABSOLUTE ALPINE 

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Dedicated, in the spirit of the founders, 

to the four generations of members, 

volunteers and staff who made the 

Alpine Club of Canada what 

it was and what it is today. 

Alpine Club of Canada ● Centennial Gazette ● 2006 1

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S I G N A T U R E S E R I E S

The Alpine Club of Canada 

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40009034 

Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada 

Box 8040, Canmore, 

Alberta, Canada T1W 2T8 

Phone: (403) 678-3200 

Fax: (403) 678-3224 

info@AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

Cam Roe, 

Peter Muir, 

Gord Currie, 

Roger Laurilla 

Isabelle Daigneault, 

Carl Hannigan, 

Bob Sandford, 

David Zemrau, 

Mike Mortimer, 

David Toole, 

Glen Boles, 

Bruce Keith, 

President 

Secretary 

Treasurer 

VP Activities 

VP Access & Environment 

VP Facilities 

VP Mountain Culture 

VP Services 

Director, External Relations 

Director, Planning 

& Development 

Honorary President 

Executive Director 

Submissions to the Gazette are welcome! Th e 

deadline for the Spring issue of the Gazette 

is April 10. If possible, please save your 

submission in digital format and e-mail it to 

gazette@AlpineClubofCanada.ca Otherwise, type 

or handwrite it, making sure it is double spaced and 

legible and mail it to the address above. Please be sure 

to include complete contact information with your 

submission. 

Mike Mortimer, Centennial Chairman 

Bob Sandford, Centennial Editor 

Lynn Martel, Writer & Copy Editor 

Amy Krause, Writer 

Richard Berry, Photo Editor 

Rod Plasman, Digital Technician 

Suzan Chamney, Layout & Production 

Advertising rate sheet available upon request. 

Please direct all advertising inquiries to Bruce 

Keith, National Offi ce (403) 678-3202 or by 

e-mail to: bkeith@AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

Corporate Supporters 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada thanks the following for their support, and encourages you 

to consider them and the advertisers in this newsletter the next time you purchase goods 

or services of the type they off er. 

Advantage Travelworld 

(Canmore, AB) 

Arc’teryx 

Black Diamond Equipment 

Dunham 

Forty Below 

Printed on recycled paper 

Corporate Sponsors 

MOUNTAIN 

EQUIPMENT 

CO-OP 

Corporate Members 

G3 Genuine Guide Gear 

GearUp Sport (Canmore, AB) 

Helly Hansen 

Integral Designs 

Mammut 

What’s Inside... 

5 National Offi ce News 

6 Short Rope 

8 Our Origins are in the Alpine 

10 Building a National Alpine 

Tradition 

12 Extraordinary Leadership and 

Vision 

18 A Woman’s Place is in the 

Mountains 

20 Sharing the Rope 

22 Camps in the Clouds 

24 Th e Canadian Alpine Journal 

26 Science in the High Alpine 

28 Th e Centennial of the Canadian 

Alpine Journal 

38 Mount Robson 

What’s Outside... 

Front cover: Alpine Club of Canada members lined up on the Yoho Glacier in 1914; 

photo by Byron Harmon, courtesy of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian 

Rockies and Carole Harmon 

Phyl Munday helps climbers identify alpine wildfl owers in 1964; photo 

by Len Chatwin 

Mount Alberta’s summit ridge in August 2001; photo by Nancy Hansen 

Historic climbing photos courtesy of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian 

Rockies 

Dedication page: Skiers enroute to the Bow Hut on the Wapta Icefi eld; photo by 

Richard Berry 

Th ank you to the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation 

and its Heritage Preservation Partnership Program for 

its generous support of this ACC Centennial project. 

Ortovox Canada 

Outdoor Research 

Patagonia 

Petzl 

Yamnuska (Canmore, AB) 

40 Mount Logan 

42 Refuges Among the High Peaks 

44 Slopes and Summits 

46 National Parks and Protected Places 

48 Th e Yukon Alpine Centennial 

49 Mount Alberta 

50 Volunteering for Club and Country 

52 Th e Mountain Guides’ Ball 

53 Giving Meaning and Value to 

History 

54 Leadership Training and 

Development 

56 Reaching New Heights 

58 A Century of Leadership and 

Adventure 

60 Th e Centennial Postscript 

61 Le PostScript Centenaire 

Associate Members 


is proud to be associated with the 

following organizations that share 

our goals and objectives: 

Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks 

and Wildlife Foundation 

Association of Canadian Mountain 

Guides (ACMG) 

Canadian Avalanche Association 

(CAA) 

Federation of Mountain Clubs of 

British Columbia (FMCBC) 

Mountain Culture at the Banff 

Centre 

Whyte Museum of the Canadian 

Rockies (Banff , AB) 


Since the inception of the 

Alpine Club of Canada 

in 1906, the National 

Offi ce has been a central 

organizing force in providing 

membership benefi ts, 

maintaining facilities and 

coordinating the activities of 

sections. The National Offi ce’s 

enthusiastic and highly 

energetic staff plays a huge 

role in the continued growth 

and success of the Club. 

Crown Prince of Japan meets Cam Roe and Bruce Keith in 2005 

National Offi ce News 

It’s on the telephone answering machine 

message, it’s on the website and it’s on the tip 

of everyone’s tongue at the National Offi ce 

– it’s the Centennial! 

But even as we celebrate our 100th birthday 

with members participating in commemorative 

camps and gala dinners, the hard working National 

Offi ce staff members keep the day-to-day business 

of the Club running smoothly, with Executive 

Director Bruce Keith at the helm. 

Recognized for 10 years’ dedicated service to 

the Club last summer, Bruce embraced a oncein-a-lifetime 

opportunity to sneak away from his 

offi ce in February to cheer for his daughter Sandra, 

competing on the Canadian Biathlon Team at the 

2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. 

“For the parent of a high performance athlete, it 

doesn’t get any better,” Bruce grinned. 

Enjoying another rare and well earned escape, 

in October 2005 Bruce 

and ACC President 

Cam Roe spent three 

days in Tokyo at 

the invitation of the 

Japanese Alpine Club 

( JAC) to participate in 

that club’s Centennial. 

Th e occasion off ered 

a joyful reunion for 

Cam and Bruce and 

members of the 2000 

JAC team who visited 

the Canadian Rockies 

for the 75th anniversary 

of the fi rst ascent of 

Mount Alberta. 

In Tokyo, Bruce and Cam attended the JAC 

annual dinner, a gala aff air with about 800 guests, 

including the Crown Prince of Japan whose 

bodyguards remained at the door while he mingled 

with climbers. Guests enjoyed a Japanese cultural 

exhibition and musical entertainment courtesy 

of an Austrian Om Pah Pah Band. Bruce was 

especially delighted to be seated next to a man in 

his 90s who was the fi rst JAC member to climb in 

UPCOMING MEETINGS 

Executive Committee meeting: 

● March 24, Winnipeg 

Board of Directors meeting: 

● March 25 – 26, Winnipeg 

Annual General Meeting: 

● July 15, Wheeler Hut, Glacier National Park, 

details to follow in the Summer Gazette. 

the Himalayas circa 1930s. 

In November, our own Club hosted its annual 

Mountain Guides’ Ball, held for the fi rst time ever 

at the Banff Park Lodge, where a good dinner, good 

time and great Big Band sound were enjoyed by all. 

Celebrating the contributions of some of 

the ACC’s most devoted members, the Club 

welcomed Eric Lomas, a member since 1963, 

generous volunteer and talented hut builder, and 

Mike Mortimer, who joined in 1977 and hasn’t 

stopped volunteering since, as its newest Honorary 

Members. 

And in honour of his prolifi c climbing career, 

including reaching some 525 summits with 37 fi rst 

ascents, reaching the summits of all but six of the 

54 Canadian Rockies peaks higher than 11,000 

feet (3353 metres), and all but one of the 17 peaks 

above 3353 metres in the Columbia Mountains, the 

Club welcomed Glen Boles as Honorary President. 

A talented artist and photographer, Boles has 

amassed a library of over 34,000 slides and 25,000 

black and white negatives, many of which have 

appeared in guidebooks and climbing books – and 

some of which you’ll see in the pages of this very 

special Centennial Gazette. 

The Helmet, Berg Glacier and the North and Emperor faces of 

Mountt Robson, looking from the fl ats near Berg Lake 

PHOTO BY GLEN BOLES 


Mike Mortimer addresses the 

Japanese Alpine Club in 2000 

A Centennial is no small 

event in the history of any 

organization. In this opening 

article the Chair of the Alpine 

Club of Canada’s Centennial 

Committee, the tireless Mike 

Mortimer, refl ects on all the 

eff orts Club volunteers have 

made to make 2006 one 

of the greatest years in the 

history of the Club. 

Short Rope 

6 Alpine Club of Canada ● Centennial Gazette ● 2006 

As the Chair of the Centennial Committee 

I have known for years that I would have 

to write the foreword to the Centennial 

Gazette. Yet it was one of those articles that could 

not be written until all the other reports were in. 

So after fi ve years of waiting, here I am at last 

collecting my thoughts on what we have done to 

bring together the necessary tools to do justice 

to one of the Club’s most signifi cant events in its 

distinguished history. How did the planning for 

this event all start? 

In the spring of 2001 the Alpine Club 

of Canada formally created the Centennial 

Committee. Having just stepped down from 

serving as the Club’s president, it seemed a logical 

move for me to become the chairman of this newly 

formed committee. Th is was to become a task that 

would consume me over the course of the next fi ve 

years! 

It was decided that the Centennial Committee 

members would be the representatives of the 

Executive Committee of the Board. Th is was 

seen as the best way of keeping the senior board 

members of the ACC completely up to date on all 

the projects that were likely to be proposed over the 

course of time. 

Th e objectives were many. One of the 

hardest things about planning the Centennial 

was determining exactly what we should do to 

commemorate this auspicious occasion. Th e easiest 

thing would have been to simply catalogue the 

achievements of the past, but surely the celebration 

would have to be more than just patting ourselves 

on the backs (for the work done largely by our 

predecessors). Clearly the Centennial was an 

opportunity to look towards the future – we knew 

where we came from but what about where we are 

going? Obviously we would not have the hubris 

to plan the next century, but maybe we would be 

in a position to examine the guidelines set by our 

founding members and see if the cornerstones, that 

had been laid in Winnipeg and which had served 

us so well in the previous century, could do the 

same in the next century. Th e pages that follow in 

this Gazette attest to the fact that we have been true 

to, and to a large extent have fulfi lled, our original 

mandate. 

Obviously we were not the fi rst national 

climbing club to celebrate its centennial. Th e 

venerable Alpine Club led the way in 1957, an 

event which Eric Brooks, the ACC President at 

the time, attended. I went to the American Alpine 

Club’s Centennial Dinner in Denver in 2003 and 

our current President, Cam Roe, attended the 

Japanese Alpine Club’s Centennial in Tokyo last 

year, so there was no shortage of ideas about what 

we could do based on the activities of other clubs. 

Originally we didn’t know exactly what we 

were going to do for the Centennial but we knew 

it would more than likely cost money, so the fi rst 

point of order was to set aside the appropriate 

resources. We established the Centennial Fund, 

which became one of the Club’s most successful 

endeavours. Th e board decided that the earnings 

from our Endowment Fund would be allocated to 

this fund for the period 2001 to 2007, as were the 

proceeds generated from our annual dinner, the 

Mountain Guides’ Ball. Under the direction of the 

national Fundraising Committee, successful appeals 

were made to the members so that over $550,000 

was raised for the Centennial events. More than 

half of this amount was to be spent on facilities, in 

particular the rebuilding of the Fay Hut and the 

construction of the Pat Boswell (Toronto Section) 

Cabin at the Canmore Clubhouse, built to replace 

the old Toronto Section Cabin. In addition we 

successfully applied for grants from agencies such 

as Parks Canada, the Canadian Pacifi c Railway and 

the Alberta government. 

Th roughout this publication there is an excellent 

list of both the national and regional events that 

are planned for the Centennial. It was decided 

that the national committee, while encouraging 

regional events, through the establishment of a 

Section Centennial Committee, would limit its 

focus to national events that would complement 

the activities of the fi ve major portfolios of the 

Club. Th ese included Mountain Culture, Facilities, 

Activities, Services and Access & Environment. 

Each Vice President was asked to identify 

projects that would best represent their portfolios 

that would be included in the offi cial celebrations. 

Th ese projects would become the nucleus for the 

Centennial: 

Mountain Culture 

Th e big project would be the digitization of 

all 100 years of the Canadian Alpine Journal. Th is 

endeavour would span the life of two technologies, 

the original idea had been to use compact 

disks (CDs), but by the time the project neared 

completion we were looking at digital video disks 

(DVDs) as the medium. 

Other major projects included this 64-page 

Centennial Gazette which would refl ect on the 

history and essence of the Club; Th e Artist and the 

Mountaineer, an art exhibit at the Whyte Museum 

in Banff , a highly successful initiative that would be 

reported in Canadian Geographic magazine; and the 

Centennial edition of the Canadian Alpine Journal, 

planned for 2007.

Three climbers near the east 

face of Mount Robson, 1918 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHYTE 

MUSEUM OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 

Facilities 

In 2003 a forest fi re destroyed the Fay Hut, the 

fi rst hut built by the Club. Within two years the 

hut was replaced through the Herculean eff orts of 

our Fundraising and Facilities Committees. Th is 

was followed by the building of a new cabin at the 

Canmore Clubhouse, scheduled to open in 2006, in 

conjunction with the Clubhouse Heritage Room, 

which will tell the story of the Club's history. 

Activities 

Of course it would have been hard to celebrate 

100 years of a climbing club without actually doing 

some climbing. Our grand plan was the off ering 

of over 25 national leadership and adventure trips, 

including a camp based out of the Stanley Mitchell 

Hut in the Yoho Valley, where it all 

started in 1906 with our fi rst camp. 

Services and Access & Environment 

Our major external initiative was to 

invite the International Mountaineering 

and Climbing Federation (UIAA) to 

hold not only its General Assembly in 

Banff , but also allow its commissions to 

hold seminars that would prove to be of 

major interest to our members. 

We viewed the Centennial as an 

opportunity to celebrate the close ties 

that had been developed with our land 

managers, particularly Parks Canada 

and British Columbia Provincial Parks. 

We received permission to build a stone 

The Vaux family and friends on the Victoria 

Glacier, July 7, 1900 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VAUX FAMILY COLLECTION AND THE 

WHYTE MUSEUM OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 

monument at Yoho Pass to commemorate where 

the Club held its fi rst camp, fi rst climbing school 

and what was to become the longest continuous 

employment of professional mountain guides! 

None of these events could have taken place 

without the help of a massive army of volunteers. 

By the start of the 21st century the notion was 

raised that the Club lacked the requisite number of 

volunteers to continue to undertake the many tasks 

that it previously attended to. I disagree with this 

notion and believe that a quick tally bears me out 

on this. We have 10 major committees, 18 regional 

sections of varying size and one activity based 

section. Each section is a mini-club in itself with 

its own sub-committees that organize activities 

ranging from climbing trips to publishing section 

newsletters. If we allow that each of these activities 

requires the services of 40 volunteers then we fi nd 

that this translates into the volunteer eff ort of about 

1160 people. Th is means about 12 per cent of all 

the members of the Club volunteer their services 

in one way or another to the Club. Th is might help 

explain why over the last 100 years we have grown 

from strength to strength. As long as the Club can 

continue to inspire volunteers to serve, I believe 

that we have a strong future. 

We have come a long way from our humble 

origins in Winnipeg. Over the course of the 

century we did many things. We ran 100 General 

Mountaineering Camps, made the fi rst ascent of 

Canada’s highest mountain, published 87 volumes 

of the Canadian Alpine Journal, built or acquired 

over 30 huts, co-founded the Banff Mountain 

Film Festival, helped establish the Association of 

Canadian Mountain Guides and created 19 sections. 

But more than this, we introduced thousands of 

Canadians to the mountains and gave them a sense 

of our mountain culture. I think that our founders 

would have been very proud. 

Although it is always dangerous to single out 

a group of volunteers (because of the possibility 

of omission), it is important to mention some of 

those people who guided the national centennial 

projects through to their successful conclusion. I 

must thank the following people for being part of 

the Centennial Committee: David Toole, Bruce 

Keith, Cameron Roe, Carl Hannigan, Gord Currie, 

David Zemrau, Peter Muir, Isabelle Daignault, 

Roger Laurilla, Paul Geddes, Rod Plasman and 

Bob Sandford. 

With respect to this publication I must stress 

the work that has been done by Lynn Martel, 

Richard Berry, Suzan Chamney, Rod Plasman and 

particularly Bob Sandford. 

—Mike Mortimer 

Chair, Centennial Committee 


A century ago Canadians 

were simply too occupied 

with the creation of 

their country to become 

formally interested in 

mountaineering. The Alpine 

Club of Canada might not 

have come into existence 

were it not for a passionate 

and persistent mountaineer 

named Arthur Wheeler and a 

patriotic Winnipeg journalist 

named Elizabeth Parker. 

Together they convinced a 

young country of the value of 

its own mountains. 


Our Origins are in the Alpine 

The idea of creating the world’s fi rst alpine 

club fi rst found its way into print in a 

letter written on February 1, 1857, by 

British climber William Matthews to a fellow 

mountaineer, Fenton John Anthony Hort. Th e letter 

invited Reverend Hort to consider establishing an 

alpine organization whose members “might dine 

together, perhaps once a year in London, to give 

one another what information they might possess” 

concerning mountaineering ascents in Switzerland 

and elsewhere. Each member of this organization, 

Matthews proposed, “should be required to 

furnish, to the President, a short account of all 

the undescribed excursions he had made, with a 

view to the publication of an annual or bi-annual 

volume.” A dinner party was held in November of 

1857 where a list was drawn up of those of wealth, 

class and experience who might become founding 

members of the Club. Th e Alpine Club came into 

formal existence at a meeting held in a London 

hotel on December 22, 1857. Setting a precedent 

that would be followed by almost every other club 

created in the world, the Alpine Club’s fi rst general 

meeting was held in a tavern on St. James Street 

in January, 1858. Alpine clubs and pubs have had a 

close association ever since. 

Not to be outdone by the British, enthusiasm 

for things alpine soon burgeoned in the United 

States. Th ough the Williamstown Club formed in 

1863, the White Mountain Club formed in 1873 

and the Rocky Mountain Alpine Club formed in 

1876, none of these survived to see the dawn of 

the 20th century. Other clubs, however, did. Th e 

foremost of these was the Appalachian Mountain 

Club which was formed in 1876. With founder and 

President Charles Fay at the helm, the Appalachian 

Mountain Club made a major contribution to 

mountaineering in North America. Th e Oregon 

Alpine Club, formed in 1887, attempted to do for 

western climbers what the AMC had done in the 

east. Th e Mazamas Club was formed in 1894, by 

which time interested in climbing in America had 

grown spectacularly. 

Th e success of these organizations, and in 

particular the profi le of the Appalachian Club, 

We are, and always shall be, profoundly grateful, as we ought to be, to the 

American club for its strenuous and splendid gratuitous service to Canada and 

her mountains. And we shall give it praise and welcome it to further mountain 

tours. But we owe it to our own young nationhood in simple self-respect, to begin 

an organized system of mountaineering on an independent basis. Surely, between 

Halifax and Victoria, there can be found at least a dozen persons who are made of 

the stuff , and care enough about our mountain heritage to redeem Canadian apathy 

and indiff erence. It is simply amazing that for so long we have cared so little. 

—Elizabeth Parker, Winnipeg Free Press, 1905 

argued for the creation of a national climbing 

body in the United States. When the American 

Alpine Club was formed in 1902, Charles Fay 

became its fi rst President. Almost immediately, 

Fay proposed that a Canadian chapter of the same 

club would suit the needs of America’s northern 

neighbours. Canadians went ballistic. Th e proposal 

hit a nationalistic nerve which found its most lively 

expression in the Winnipeg Free Press where the 

idea of Canada becoming subsidiary to the United 

States in something as important as exploring the 

country’s own mountains received a fi erce “penlashing” 

from a staff writer named Elizabeth Parker. 

In an article signed “M.T.”, Parker claimed 

it was downright un-Canadian to subject local 

mountaineers to the dictates of foreign alpine 

institutions. Parker pilloried the idea’s proponent, 

Canadian surveyor-mountaineer Arthur 

Oliver Wheeler, for his “lack of patriotism and 

imperialistic zeal” in even considering the American 

proposal. “It knocks me speechless and fi lls me with 

shame for young Canada,” Parker railed in response 

to Canadian apathy. Th e wily Wheeler knew a 

good thing when he saw it. When the Alpine Club 

of Canada was formed in Winnipeg in March 

of 1906, he made sure Elizabeth Parker was its 

founding Secretary. 

Th e constitution of the Club that emerged from 

the Winnipeg meeting still powers the organization 

today. If anything, the values and objectives of the 

ACC are more important now than they were when 

the Club was formed. Th e Alpine Club of Canada 

is not just a mountaineering organization. As if 

anticipating the ecological issues that would occupy 

the politics and conscience of Canadians a century 

later, the Club set high aesthetic and environmental 

standards for its activities that went far beyond a 

mere interest in summit bagging. 

Th e objectives of the Alpine Club of Canada 

included the promotion of scientifi c study and 

the exploration of Canadian alpine and glacial 

regions; the cultivation of art in relation to 

mountain scenery; the education of Canadians to 

an appreciation of their mountain heritage; the 

encouragement of mountain craft and the opening 

of new mountain regions; the preservation of the 

natural beauties of mountain places and the fl ora 

and fauna and their habitat; and the interchange of 

ideas with other alpine organizations. 

Th e founding meeting of the Alpine Club of 

Canada also addressed the somewhat thorny issue 

of membership. Th e founders of the Club decided 

there should be a number of levels of involvement. 

Honorary Members were deigned to be those who 

had already pre-eminently distinguished themselves 

in mountaineering, exploration or research of the

The founding members of the ACC at the inaugural meeting in Winnipeg, March 27 – 28, 

1906. Back row: (left to right) Rev. T. Fraser, L.O. Armstrong, Tom Martin, W.H. Belford, Rev. 

Alex Gordon. Middle Row (left to right) Miss Jean Parker, Stanley Wills, S.H. Mitchell, Lucius Q. 

Coleman. Front row (left to right) J.W. Kelly, W.J. Taylor, Arthur Oliver Wheeler, Elizabeth Parker, 

E.A. Haggen, Rev. J.C. Herdman, Very Rev. Dean Paget, Bill Brewster. 

alpine. Th ese included such luminaries as John 

Norman Collie, who had discovered the Columbia 

Icefi eld in 1898, Edouard DeVille of the Dominion 

Land Survey and Edward Whymper, who had 

led the fi rst ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. 

Elizabeth Parker was also elected one of the Club’s 

fi rst honorary members. 

Active members were those who had made 

an ascent of a peak of not less than 10,000 feet 

(3048 m) in altitude in any recognized mountain 

range. Only active members were permitted to 

vote. A special clause, however, allowed artists 

and scientists to become active members without 

climbing a peak provided they had contributed 

signifi cantly through their work to knowledge and 

appreciation of the alpine. 

Th en the Club addressed the issue of women. 

Th e Alpine Club in England, after which most 

clubs were fashioned, did not allow women among 

its membership. Its members preferred to have a 

separate club for the ladies. Given that one of the 

two founders of the Alpine Club of Canada was a 

woman, and a powerhouse at that, the ACC would 

have had a riot on its hands had it even hinted at 

the exclusion of women from active participation in 

the Club and its activities. 

Elizabeth Parker’s visionary notion of the 

ACC went far beyond its constitution and the 

work the Club had set before itself at its founding 

meeting in March of 1906. For her, just as for 

Arthur Oliver Wheeler, the Alpine Club of 

Canada was to be a social force that would help 

shape Canadian character. Th e Club was not 

only a vehicle for promoting the highest ideals of 

alpinism, it was Canada’s fi rst guardian agency for 

the vast wilderness aesthetic that Canadians took 

for granted in what they thought was a limitless 

mountain west. 

Th e ACC boasted among its founding 

membership some of the brightest lights of 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ALPINE CLUB 

OF CANADA COLLECTION AT THE WHYTE 


exploration, outfi tting and mountaineering that 

had ever shone in Canada. But for all its luminosity, 

the ACC represented only a small and elite core of 

climbers whose hope it was to inspire Canadians 

to take a serious interest in their own peaks. Th e 

Alpine Club of Canada had a huge task before it. 

At the time it was created, Canadians were only 

barely aware of their mountain heritage. 

It wasn’t just the landscape that proved 

an obstacle to Canadian acceptance of the 

mountaineering spirit. As a result of a few highly 

publicized accidents, mountaineering had a poor 

public image in Canada. Th e general feeling among 

Canadians was that mountains were dangerous and 

the people who climbed them crazy. Th e Alpine 

Club of Canada was faced with the dual challenge 

of changing the image of Canadian mountains 

while at the same time reforming the reputation of 

those who would consider climbing them. It was a 

huge task that would take decades to accomplish. 

Th rough the eff orts of the Alpine Club of 

Canada, mountain place slowly began to penetrate 

the Canadian psyche. Canadians began having 

challenging, satisfying and memorable experiences 

in their own mountains. Canadian mountains 

transformed those who climbed among them. 

By overcoming physical and mental challenges 

inherent in mountaineering, climbers discovered 

in themselves a new identity, one shaped almost 

completely by intense experience of this new and 

extraordinary land. 

Canadians began to make their own maps of 

the mountains and create their own language and 

vocabulary of experience. Th rough the Canadian 

Alpine Journal their stories became the foundation 

of a growing literature and a new history. Th is 

developing history became an imaginative 

invitation for Canadians who would never have 

dreamed of being mountaineers to explore 

themselves through exploring their mountains. 

Canadians began making their own fi rst ascents 

in the mountain west, in the Yukon and, fi nally, 

in the high Arctic. In time, a distinctly Canadian 

mountaineering community emerged. It wasn’t 

long before Canadian climbers were establishing 

a reputation not only at home but abroad, in the 

Alps, the Andes and, fi nally, in the Himalayas. 

A national organization with sections all across 

the country, the Alpine Club of Canada continues 

today to reaffi rm our identity as a people and to 

build our international reputation as a vibrant 

alpine nation. Because of the ACC, Canada is now 

recognized worldwide, not just for its mountain 

scenery, but for our strong and uniquely Canadian 

appreciation and protection of our mountain 

landscapes. 


In relative, terms the Alpine 

Club of Canada came out of 

nowhere. It arrived on the 

country’s Winnipeg doorstep 

fully formed, fully alive, 

poised to spend a century, if 

necessary, to create a unique 

mountain culture in Canada. 

The Club’s one hundred 

year legacy is born out by 

the great devotion that 

Canadians now lavish upon 

their mountains. 


Building a National Alpine Tradition 

While some advanced climbers today 

might dismiss the Alpine Club of 

Canada as being irrelevant to their 

experience, the Club was never meant to serve only 

those at the advanced end of the mountaineering 

spectrum. Right from the beginning the Club’s 

founders recognized that there would always be 

loners, climbers who didn’t want to belong to a club 

because they didn’t need others to motivate them. 

It was never the Club’s goal to stand in the way 

of individual achievement. If anything, its larger 

objective was to create a culture in Canada that 

would make such achievement possible. Having 

done just that, the Club sometimes fi nds itself 

being lapped by its own cumulative success. But 

that does not diminish its history or its relevance in 

contemporary times. 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada was not created to 

promote mere summit bagging. It was not only the 

activities of the Alpine Club of Canada that were 

important, but their purpose. Th e Club’s motto says 

it all. Sic itur ad astra. Th is way to the stars. Th e real 

lesson of this motto is of course fi gurative. Th rough 

this literary device the high minded founders of the 

Club invited subsequent generations of members to 

seek not just physical but also spiritual heights. For 

the likes of Arthur Wheeler and Elizabeth Parker, 

the summit was not just an end, but a means to 

become a better, more complete person. Everything 

the Club did supported the creation a national 

mountaineering culture commensurate with the 

vision of making Canadians better people by 

experiencing and appreciating their mountains. 

We discover upon its Centennial that what 

the Alpine Club of Canada has accomplished 

by way of mountaineering is as important as the 

mountaineering itself. Th e accomplishments of 

the Club begin with the off ering of mountain 

adventure which, by design, led to major national 

contributions to geography and cartography, 

science, land use and conservation, mountain 

literature, art and photography, and history. Each 

of these elements gradually and cumulatively 

contributed to the establishment of a unique 

Canadian alpine identity. It is by way of this 

identity that the rest of the world now knows us. 

Mountain Adventure 

Th e foundation of the Alpine Club of Canada 

has always been mountain activity. Th at the Club 

held its fi rst annual national mountaineering camp 

barely four months after its inception off ers a 

clear idea of how committed the founders were to 

ensuring that the Club’s name was synonymous 

with adventure. Alpine Club of Canada members 

didn’t just talk about climbing, they did it. By 

design, the membership regime encouraged 

neophytes to learn the basic techniques in the 

company of mountain guides and expert leaders. 

Th e goal was to learn by doing. Th e core of the 

Club, however, was its active membership. 

In a very short time the annual General 

Mountaineering Camp became an institution. If 

climbing was the heart of the Club, then camps 

were its soul. Th e Club’s extensive huts system 

would later become its body, but by that time many 

of the preliminary goals of the Club had already 

been achieved. 

A.O. Wheeler recognized from the outset, 

however, that climbing alone was not purpose 

enough to make the fl edgling club relevant in the 

public imagination. Th e Club needed the help of 

scientists, writers and artists to create an accurate 

picture of the glory of Canadian peaks in the minds 

of Canadians. A special clause in the membership 

bylaws allowed non-climbers to become active 

members without climbing a peak provided they 

had contributed signifi cantly through their work to 

knowledge and appreciation of the alpine. 

On Geography and Mapmaking 

Th e original purpose of the Alpine Club of 

Canada, and the reason for its scientifi c focus, was 

the great uncompleted task of simply defi ning the 

Canadian alpine. When the Club was formed in 

1906 there were still 20,000 to 25,000 square miles 

of unknown mountain terrain in the southern 

Rockies of Canada alone. No one knew exactly how 

much additional terrain remained unmapped in the 

Coast Ranges or in Canada’s seemingly limitless 

north. Th e need to defi ne these blank spaces alone, 

according to surveyor and mapmaker Arthur 

Wheeler, was reason enough to create an alpine 

club in Canada. 

The Advancement of Science 

Canadian mountains should not just be a 

gymnasium, Wheeler argued, but also a classroom. 

Arthur Wheeler believed that it was the duty of all 

mountaineers to know everything they could about 

the landscapes through which they travelled. 

One of the truly remarkable elements of the 

ACC’s founding commitment to science was that 

extraordinary and enduringly signifi cant early 

research into important aspects of study such as 

glacial recession was done by ordinary people. Th ese 

included the famous Vaux family who undertook 

pioneering glacial and landscape change studies in 

the Rockies and Selkirks in the late 1890s and early 

1900s. It also includes important ongoing early 

research undertaken by Arthur Wheeler himself 

and others in the Yoho Valley and elsewhere.

Th ere is nothing quixotic about the Alpine Club of Canada: it is a sane, sober 

institution, organized by sane, sober men. As indicated, its mission is manifold. 

Th e education of Canadians to an appreciation of their alpine heritage, is of itself 

a raison d’être. Th e Canadian Rocky Mountain system, with its unnumbered and 

unknown natural sanctuaries for generations yet unborn, is a national asset. In 

time we ought to become a nation of mountaineers, loving our mountains with 

the patriot’s passion. 

—Elizabeth Parker, 1907 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ALPINE 

CLUB OF CANADA COLLECTION AT THE 

WHYTE MUSEUM OF THE CANADIAN 

ROCKIES 

Th ere was a period of almost two decades 

when the bulk of research on the natural history of 

Canada’s mountain ranges was being undertaken 

almost exclusively by the Alpine Club of Canada 

and its members. Th ough scientifi c research 

continued to be published by the ACC, its later 

focus turned more exclusively to adventure. 

Land Use and Conservation 

Right from its inception, the Alpine Club of 

Canada announced that one of its principal roles 

was to champion the expansion of the national park 

system and to promote appropriate use in mountain 

regions throughout the country. Wheeler’s role in 

the mapping of the mountain west allowed him 

huge infl uence on federal land use policies, an 

infl uence he made sure the ACC shared. As the 

Club’s membership grew and members became 

familiar with the country’s mountain regions, the 

ACC became the country’s fi rst national lobby for 

conservation. It infl uenced developing policy with 

respect to how national parks should be managed 

and was also instrumental in the formation of 

provincial parks such as the ones created around 

Mount Robson and Mount Assiniboine. Th e ACC 

later fought bitter battles to prevent inappropriate 

development inside and surrounding mountain 

national parks, a role that it continues to play, in a 

much larger fi eld, today. 

Mountain Literature 

Th e founders of the Alpine Club of Canada 

recognized the importance of both writing and 

record to the building of the foundation of alpine 

appreciation in Canada. Th e moment the Club was 

formed, it created a library so that members could 

read and learn about their mountain heritage. Th ere 

were 17 books in 

the ACC library in 

1906, all of them 

classics today. Eight 

of these treasures 

were written by 

Club members. Th e 

next task was to 

create a journal of 

record for Canadian 

mountaineering, 

mountain science, 

photography and art. 

Only a year after the Club’s formation, it 

published the fi rst volume of the Canadian 

Alpine Journal. It was Wheeler’s intent that the 

journal should immediately set a high standard 

for relevance and appearance. Using the annual 

record of Th e Alpine Club in Britain as a model, 

the ACC exploded into public consciousness with 

a publication that rivaled anything that existed 

in the country at the time. It was no small feat 

for a fl edgling club with a membership of only 

a couple of hundred climbers to publish a book 

length journal complete with photographs and map 

inserts. It did so to prove, right from the outset, 

that the Alpine Club of Canada was a serious, wellorganized 

and highly ambitious project undertaken 

in a new spirit of alpinism in Canada. Th e most 

amazing thing about this sub-culture was that 

you could belong to it even if you didn’t live in the 

mountains. Even if you lived in a distant fl atland 

city you could be part of it. All you needed to 

belong was a subscription to the Canadian Alpine 

Journal and a desire to climb the heights. 

Appreciating Art and Photography 

Another important foundation established 

at the formation of the Alpine Club of Canada 

was its strong support of mountain art, and in 

particular photography. Because of the short time 

frame for the completion of the fi rst volume of 

the Canadian Alpine Journal, Arthur Wheeler was 

approached by the Detroit Photographic Company 

which volunteered to place their series of Canadian 

Rockies views at the disposal of the Club for 

“illustrative purposes”. Th e ACC didn’t need them. 

Photographs, instead, were off ered by the Club’s 

own members. Included among the contributors 

are many of the most famous fi gures in the early 

history of Canadian mountaineering. Th rough 

these images, Canadians began to see the glory of 

the peaks and imagine the drama associated with 

climbing them. Over the last century, some of 

the best alpine photography in Canada has been 

published in the Canadian Alpine Journal. 

Creating a History 

Th rough a century of cumulative accomplishment 

in each of these domains, the Alpine Club of Canada 

has helped create an inter-generation appreciation 

for this country’s mountain regions. It has also 

built a foundation of leadership and training that 

allows Canadians to understand and appreciate our 

mountains and to share them safely with visitors 

from all over the world. By way of these achievements 

Canada is recognized around the world for its unique 

mountain places and remarkable mountain culture. 

Th e Club’s founders would be very proud. 


Volunteer organizations 

in particular depend upon 

leadership to embody 

the purpose and provide 

the energy, enthusiasm 

and vision that will 

inspire members to the 

highest levels of on-going 

commitment. Over the past 

one hundred years, many 

great Canadians have served 

as the Club’s President or as 

members of its Executive. 

Strong leadership and 

member commitment have 

allowed the Alpine Club of 

Canada to prosper in good 

times, and to endure when 

other organizations would 

have failed. 

A. O. Wheeler 

President 1906 – 1910 

A. P. Coleman 



Extraordinary Leadership and Vision 

Most organizations do not live a hundred years. Imperfections in their purpose or structure prevent 

growth, personal animosities creep into their operation or they lose sight of their reason for 

being and fail. Th e Alpine Club of Canada has had some low moments when there were doubts 

as to its viability, but strong leaders always appeared and, no matter the circumstances, the Club’s purpose 

and mandate proved an adequate foundation for a revitalized future. 

Th e precedent of strong leadership was set at the Club’s inception by its founders. Arguably, there have 

been few Canadians who have ever lived that had more passion for mountains and mountaineering than 

Arthur Wheeler. But Wheeler didn’t build the Club himself. Like all great leaders, he was able to attract 

around him people of like or similar interest and passion upon whom he could call to advance the Club’s 

noble aims. Arthur Wheeler and Elizabeth Parker may have been an unlikely duo, but they were certainly 

a complementary one. He was a surveyor and climber and a supreme organizer. She was a nationalist, a 

writer and a supporter of literature and the arts. Together they became the powerful force that ensured that 

the Alpine Club of Canada came into existence fully formed with a purpose and a constitution that would 

survive a century. 

Th e Club has had 31 diff erent Presidents over the past century and at least fi ve times as many 

volunteers who have assumed senior executive positions over that period. All deserve to be remembered. 

Th e formidable Arthur Oliver Wheeler was the 

Club’s fi rst President. He helped bring the ACC 

into existence in 1906 and remained President 

until 1910. If the Club’s constitution didn’t forbid 

Presidents to be in offi ce for more than two terms, 

A.O. Wheeler might still be President of the ACC. 

Th e custom then, as now, was that Presidents 

often assumed other duties after their terms were 

completed. Wheeler was the founding editor of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal in 1907 and remained in 

that position for the next 23 years. Wheeler was 

also the driving force behind two of the Club’s most 

successful expeditions, the 1913 Mount Robson 

camp and the legendary 1925 fi rst ascent of Mount 

Logan. A.O. Wheeler also served as Honorary 

President from 1926 to 1945. Not surprisingly, 

a mountain in Glacier National Park was named 

for Wheeler. Nor is it any wonder that one of the 

Club’s highest service awards is named for him. He 

was a giant. 

J. D. Patterson 


W. W. Foster 


Th e man who replaced A.O. Wheeler as 

President of the Alpine Club of Canada was no less 

of a legend. Born in Lower Canada (Quebec) in 

1852, Arthur Philemon Coleman became a highly 

respected geologist, and taught at the University 

of Toronto from 1891 until 1922. He made three 

famous expeditions to the Rockies between 1888 

and 1893 during which he solved the mystery of 

the exaggerated heights of Mounts Hooker and 

Brown at the summit of Athabasca Pass. In 1907 

and 1908, Coleman pioneered the exploration 

of the Mount Robson area. He recorded these 

and other adventures in his classic Th e Canadian 

Rockies, New & Old Trails which was published in 

1911. Coleman then went on to conduct pioneer 

explorations of the Torngat Mountains in 1915 

and 1916. A charter member of the ACC, he held 

the offi ces of Chairman of the Toronto Section 

and Eastern Vice President before serving as 

President between 1910 and 1914. He later served 

Dr. J. W. A. Hickson 


Dr. F. C. Bell 

President 1926 – 1928

T. B. Moff at 


as Honorary President. Mount Coleman, in the 

Canadian Rockies, is most deservedly named for 

him. 

J.D. Patterson succeeded Coleman as President 

in 1914 and, because of the hiatus in the Club’s 

activities during World War I served until 1920. 

Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, John Duncan 

Patterson made his living as a farmer. Patterson 

enjoyed climbing, but often gave up opportunities 

to do so to lead expeditions for less energetic 

members. To quote A.O. Wheeler: “He was one 

of Nature’s gentlemen whose kind and unselfi sh 

character placed him high among his fellows, he 

will be remembered as one who was most worthy.” 

World War I changed Canada. Between 1920 

and 1924, the Club came under the disciplined 

control of an extraordinarily competent military 

offi cer named W.W. Foster. Major-General 

William Wasborough Foster was born in England 

in 1875. He served at the front during the fi rst 

World War, and was decorated no less than 15 

times. Billy, as he was known, was also the Military 

Commander of western Canada during the Second 

World War. But above all else, Foster was a fi ne 

climber. He was a member of expeditions that made 

the fi rst ascent of Mount Robson in 1913, and the 

fi rst ascent of Mount Logan in 1925. In his diverse 

post-military career, Foster held many important 

positions. He was the Deputy Minister for Public 

Works in British Columbia, a member of the B.C. 

Legislature and the Chief of Vancouver City Police 

Department. At the time of his death, he was the 

Honorary President of the Alpine Club of Canada. 

Th is man is most deserving of a book on this life. 

Th e Alpine Club is nothing if not diverse in its 

membership. With a legacy of surveyors, geologists, 

farmers and soldiers as Presidents, it was time for 

an intellectual. Born in Montreal in 1873, Joseph 

H. E. Sampson 


A. A. McCoubrey 


William Andrew Hickson held a doctorate in 

philosophy and taught at McGill University from 

1901 to 1924. He climbed for fi ve seasons in the 

Alps before turning his attention to the Rockies. 

His ascents in the Alps included traverses of the 

Grepon and the Matterhorn. In 17 seasons in the 

Rockies and Selkirks, he made over 30 major fi rst 

ascents, including Pinnacle Mountain, Mount 

Chephron and Mount Moloch, and a fi ne new 

route on Castle Mountain Tower. J.W.A. Hickson 

served as President of the ACC between 1924 

and 1926. At the time of his death, he was the 

Honorary Chairman of the Montreal Section. 

J.W.A Hickson was succeeded as President in 

1926 by Dr. Fred Bell. By profession, Bell was a 

respected physician and hospital administrator. 

By avocation he was a mountaineer. Bell lived 

in Winnipeg and Vancouver and was an active 

member of these sections. He attended many 

Club camps starting as early as the 1907 General 

Mountaineering Camp in Paradise Valley. He took 

part in the fi rst ascent of Wenkchemna Peak in 

1923. He is remembered today in part, due to his 

generous donation that was used to build the Bell 

Cabin at the ACC Clubhouse in Canmore. 

Fred Bell was succeeded in 1928 by T.B. Moff at. 

Th omas Black Moff at was born in Fergus, Ontario 

in 1870. A jeweler by profession, he later became 

the chief engraver for the prestigious Henry Birks 

and Company. Tom Moff at joined the Alpine Club 

of Canada in 1911. During his climbing career, he 

made over 100 ascents including Mount Robson 

and the fi rst ascent of Wenkchemna Peak in 1923. 

In 1930, Mount Moff at, near Maligne Lake, was 

named in his honour. 

In 1930 Herbert Sampson became President. 

Sampson was born in Toronto in 1871 but later 

moved to Regina where he practiced law as Senior 

A. S. Sibbald 


C. G. Wates 



E. Brooks 



Crown Prosecutor for 35 years. During his climbing 

career, he climbed over 75 peaks, including fi rst 

ascents of Mount King Albert in 1929 and Coronet 

Mountain in 1930. Herb Sampson attended 39 

General Mountaineering Camps between 1911 and 

1956. Sampson was made the Honorary President 

of the Club in 1945. 

Herb Sampson was succeeded in 1932 by A.A. 

McCoubrey. Alexander Addison McCoubrey 

was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1885 but later 

settled in Manitoba where he began working for 

the Canadian Pacifi c Railway. Mac, as he was called 

by his friends, was instrumental in introducing 

the Club to backcountry skiing. Much of his 

explorations were in the Purcells, crowned by his 

discovery and fi rst ascents of the Leaning Towers. 

In addition to being President, he also served as the 

Manitoba Section Chairman and the Editor of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal for 10 years from 1931- 

1941. It is said that McCoubrey died at his desk 

while in the fi nal stages of editing the 1941 edition 

of the CAJ. 

Andrew Sibbald became the 10th President of 

the Alpine Club of Canada in 1934. Sibbald was 

born in Owen Sound, Ontario. He practiced law 

in Saskatchewan from 1914 to 1936. Sibbald made 

his graduating climb at the Club’s Cataract Creek 

camp in 1917, after which he seldom missed the 

General Mountaineering Camp. Sibbald also served 

as the Club’s Treasurer for many years and was a 

charter member of the Canadian National Parks 

Association, formed in 1923. He was buried near 

his old friend, A.O. Wheeler in Banff . 

Born in England in 1884, Cyril Wates moved 

to Edmonton in 1909, where he was employed 

by the local telephone company. He joined the 

Club in 1916, graduating on the Monarch at a 

camp at Simpson Pass. He attended 20 camps, 

S. R. Vallance 


E. O. Wheeler 


and climbed more than 50 peaks, including the 

fi rst ascent of Mount Geiki. Th e Club song book, 

Songs for Canadian Climbers, was entirely due to 

his initiative, as was the building of the ACC hut 

in the Tonquin Valley which now bears his name. 

Wates was President between 1938 and 1941, when 

he was succeeded by the legendary Eric Brooks. 

Born in England in 1902, Eric Brooks was a 

teacher by profession and joined the ACC in 1929. 

Brooks was President during the extended period 

between 1941 and 1947 when club activities were 

curtailed by gasoline and other forms of rationing 

put into place because of World War II. Until his 

death in 2001, Brooks devoted much of his energy 

to the Club. He was Honorary President from 

1954 to 1964 and represented the Club at Th e 

Alpine Club centenary in London, England where 

he was made an Honorary Member. He acted for 

many years as the Camp Manager of the General 

Mountaineering Camp. In 1954 Brooks was elected 

Honorary President and in 1995 he was awarded 

the A.O. Wheeler Legacy Award. 

Sydney Vallence joined the ACC in 1932 

and served in many executive capacities at both 

the section and national level before becoming 

President in 1947. Born in Warwickshire in 

England in 1890, Vallance came to Canada in 1907. 

In his professional life he was a well-known and 

highly respect lawyer who practiced in Calgary 

and Banff . Vallance made over 100 ascents during 

his climbing career, and often climbed with the 

legendary Italian, Lawrence Grassi. Syd also held 

offi ce with the National Parks Association and the 

Skyline Hikers. Th e ACC hut in the Fryatt Valley is 

named after him. 

In 1950, the ACC was once again in the 

competent hands of one of a long line of amazing 

Wheelers. Th e son of A.O. Wheeler, Sir Edward 

E. R. Gibson 


H. A. V. Green 


and 1960 – 1964

J. F. Brett 


Oliver Wheeler was born in Ottawa in 1890. He 

attended the early ACC camps as both a camp 

helper and later as a climbing leader. In 1910, he 

joined the Royal Engineers, served in the Great 

War and then joined the Survey of India. In 1921 

he surveyed Mount Everest where, along with 

Mallory, he examined the approach to the East 

Rongbuk Glacier and up the North Col which 

became the standard approach to the mountain 

before World War I. He became Surveyor General 

of India in 1941. In 1943, Brigadier Wheeler was 

knighted. Upon his retirement in 1947, he returned 

back to Canada and again became active in the 

ACC. 

E.O. Wheeler was succeeded as President in 

1954 by another military offi cer, Rex Gibson. Born 

in Essex, England in 1892, Gibson came to Canada 

in 1926 and farmed near Edmonton. He served in 

both World Wars and took part in the training of 

the Lovat Scouts in 1943 and 1944 in the Rockies. 

He pioneered many routes in the Jasper area, 

especially in the Tonquin Valley. He was an early 

pioneer of ski touring in the Rockies. In 1937, he 

became the fi rst person to climb the four 12,000 

foot (3658 m) peaks in the Canadian Rockies. He 

made over two hundred climbs, many of them were 

fi rst ascents. Tragically, Gibson died while in offi ce 

in a climbing accident on Mount Howson in 1957 

and was replaced by Harry Green. 

Born in Scotland in 1888, Harry Green 

immigrated to Winnipeg in 1912 where he worked 

for the legal department of the Canadian Pacifi c 

Railway. Harry served as Club President from 1957 

to 1958 and again from 1960 until 1964. 

John Brett was President of the ACC between 

1958 and 1960. Born in Switzerland in 1885, Brett 

spent his youth in Geneva, climbing many of the 

peaks in the greater Alps. He came to Montreal in 

R. C. Hind 


R. Neave 


1913 and worked as a Canadian Pacifi c Railway 

engineer. In 1928, John recognized the potential of 

climbing in the Laurentians and in 1932 climbed 

Arabesque, which opened up climbing in the 

Val David area. In 1942, John helped found the 

Montreal Section. 

Following the second term of Harry Green, 

the presidency of the Club fell for two years to the 

modern climbing legend Bob Hind. Born on a farm 

east of Edmonton in 1911, Robin (Bob) C. Hind 

became a successful electrical engineer. He was also 

an ambitious climber. He made over 250 climbs 

of which 26 were fi rst ascents. He climbed all the 

12,000 footers, in the Rockies, and climbed in 

Britain and the Alps. Bob Hind was involved with 

the Club for almost 70 years and served in many 

executive positions including President and fi nally 

as Honorary President. Th e climbing hut on Mount 

Assiniboine is named after him. 

By the time that Roger Neave became President 

in 1968, he had already developed a fi ne reputation 

as a climber. A civil engineer for the Imperial Oil 

Company in Sarnia, Ontario, Roger made over 35 

fi rst ascents including Molar Tower near Mount 

Hector. He climbed in all the major ranges of 

B.C. as well as in Peru. In 1933, he came within 

150 m (500') of the summit of the then unclimbed 

Mount Waddington. He was active in exploring the 

Premier Range of the Cariboo Mountains and the 

Stikine Icefi elds in Northern B.C. 

Phil Dowling was born in Ontario in 1929. He 

was a graduate student at the Imperial College of 

Technology in London before making his home 

in Edmonton, Alberta. He was a member of the 

1967 Yukon Centennial Expedition, assisting the 

coordinator, David Fisher, with equipment and 

the commissariat. He was a member of the team 

that made the fi rst ascent of Mount Alberta in the 

P. J. Dowling 


D. R. Fisher 



S. Rosenbaum 



Yukon Centennial Range. Dowling also climbed 

Mount Logan. Phil was President of the ACC 

from 1968 to 1970. In 1979, Dowling wrote Th e 

Mountaineers: Famous Climbers in Canada, which 

was published by Hurtig. 

Phil Dowling’s close friend Dave Fisher 

succeeded him as President in 1970. Before 

becoming President, Fisher was active in the rebuilding 

of the Toronto Section and served as its 

Chairman from 1959 to 1962. He climbed in the 

Alps, Alaska, Karakoram, Andes and the Rockies. 

He made a south to north traverse of Mount 

Athabasca in 1963 and in 1964, he was on the fi rst 

ascent of Mount Bastisti in the Italian Military 

Group from the Elk Lake Camp. He acted as the 

Chairman of the Club Re-organization Committee 

from 1964 to 1966 and was the Coordinator of 

the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition in 1967. 

Fisher’s wife, Marnie, edited the offi cial account of 

that monumental season which became part of the 

ACC legend. 

Stan Rosenbaum succeeded Dave Fisher as 

President in 1972. Rosenbaum arrived in Montreal 

from England in 1957. He attended the 1957 

Tonquin Valley camp, and joined the Montreal 

Section. Living in Ottawa since 1961, he served as 

Ottawa Section Chair, Eastern Vice President, and 

Safety Committee Chair. He climbed in the Tetons 

and the European Alps, and made various climbing 

and skiing visits to Baffi n Island, Ellesmere Island, 

the west coast of B.C. and the Yukon. 

Don Forest was one of the best known and 

most liked climbers of his generation. Forest 

inherited the presidency of the ACC in 1972, 

during a tempestuous period in the Club’s history. 

An engineer by profession, Don only started 

climbing at the age of 43. Th is did not stop him, 

however, from becoming the fi rst person to climb 

D. Forest 


J. Tewnion 


all the 11,000 foot (3353 m) peaks of the Rockies 

and the Selkirks. At age 71, he became the oldest 

person to climb to the west summit of Mount 

Logan. He was a member of the Calgary based 

Grizzly Group of climbers. He also served as 

President of the Calgary Mountain Club. Th e ACC 

named a service award after Don in 2002. 

John Tewnion was President of the ACC for 

the four years between 1976 and 1980. Tewnion 

emigrated from Scotland to Edmonton in 1950 

where he became a practicing civil engineer. 

He was the fi rst Chairman of the Camps and 

Expeditions Committee. After managing the 

General Mountaineering Camp for eight years 

he was awarded the Distinguished Service Badge 

in 1976. He earned his Silver Rope on the Yukon 

Centennial Expedition in 1967. 

Ted Whalley came to Canada from 

Lancashire, England in 1950. At the National 

Research Council in Ottawa he led a department 

investigating the behaviour of materials at ultra 

high pressures. Whalley’s climbing career spanned 

four decades, extending into the 1970s when he 

organized fi ve expeditions to unclimbed areas of 

Baffi n and Ellesmere Islands (Mackinson Inlet 

1976, 1978). He served as Chairman of the Ottawa 

Section, the Safety Committee and Eastern Vice 

President before becoming President between 1980 

and 1984. 

Peter Fuhrmann was born in Germany and 

came to Canada in 1955. He made fi rst ascents 

in Canada and Peru and the Himalayas. He 

served as the fi rst President of the Association 

of Canadian Mountain Guides before becoming 

Club President in 1984. Under his leadership the 

Club was revitalized and was able to move in new 

directions. He was instrumental in the development 

of the Canadian Alpine Centre at Lake Louise. 

E. Whalley 


P. Fuhrmann 

President 1984 – 1988

K. Hewitt 


Professionally he worked in the role of the 

Mountain Specialist with Parks Canada. Fuhrmann 

also served as Honorary President of the Club for 

the period 2000 until 2005. 

Ken Hewitt was born in Edmonton in 1950 and 

joined the ACC in 1974. He served as Chairman of 

the Calgary Section from 1980 and 1982, and then 

as President between 1988 and 1992. Under Ken’s 

term, the ACC was restructured to allow sectiononly 

members to become full members and was an 

active participant in the building of the Canadian 

Alpine Centre in Lake Louise. 

Born in Winnipeg in 1944, Doug Fox served as 

Treasurer of the Vancouver Section, and national 

Treasurer and Publications Committee Chair of the 

Club, before becoming President in 1992. In 1995- 

1996 he served on the Club’s Finance Committee. 

Doug climbed throughout the Coast Range of 

B.C., in the Yukon, North Cascades and Europe, 

for more than 20 years. 

Mike Mortimer was born in England and 

raised in southern Africa. He travelled and climbed 

around the world for seven years before settling in 

Canada in 1973. He was in turn Chairman of the 

Calgary Section and later the Huts Committee 

where he laid the foundations for the modern 

hut system. He organized three major mountain 

leadership conferences for the Club in the 1980s 

and organized and ran North America’s fi rst 

conference on Energy and Waste Management 

Systems in Alpine Shelters in 2001 when he 

was President. Later as the Club’s fi rst External 

Relations Director he represented North America 

at the UIAA (International Mountaineering and 

Climbing Federation). Mortimer’s enthusiasm 

brought a great deal of the vitality to the Club to 

during the period from 1994 to 2001 when he was 

President. His great passion for the Club was the 

D. Fox 


M. K. Mortimer 


foundation for its high profi le Centennial in 2006. 

He was made an Honorary Member in 2005. 

David G. Toole was born in Winnipeg. He 

joined the Montreal Section in 1984 and became 

Chairman of the section in 1989. He was elected 

as national Vice President of Services in 1993, then 

as Secretary in 1994, Treasurer in 1996, and served 

in 2000 as both Secretary and Treasurer. In 2001 

he was elected President. After his presidency he 

served as the Club’s fi rst Director of Planning and 

Development. 

Cameron Roe attended his fi rst General 

Mountaineering Camp in the Freshfi elds in 1976. 

He has served in several positions in the Calgary 

Section including Chinook editor, Vice-Chair and 

Chair of the section. He has been and remains 

active both at the section level in Calgary where 

he is currently the Section Librarian and on the 

National Board, most recently as the Vice President 

of Activities for almost 10 years. Cam has been 

awarded the Distinguished Service Award, and is 

also a second generation Silver Rope recipient, with 

his father, Dick Roe, being awarded the Silver Rope 

in 1973. Cam became President in 2005. 

Beyond Presidents and Executive, another 

strong feature of leadership in the Alpine Club of 

Canada is its long legacy of competent, committed 

and highly energetic Executive Directors. From 

Arthur Wheeler in 1908 to the remarkably diverse 

Bruce Keith a century later, the ACC has always 

benefi ted from strong leadership. 

D. G. Toole 


C. M. Roe 

President 2005 – . 


In the 19th and early 20th 

century, women were 

excluded from involvement 

in alpine clubs in many 

places in the world. This 

was not the case in Canada. 

Right from very beginning, 

women played a vital role 

in defi ning this country’s 

mountaineering culture. This 

paid big dividends over the 

past century for now some 

of the best climbers and 

most competent professional 

guides in Canada are women. 

Mary Jobe and Bess 

MacCarthy at Lake O'Hara 

in 1909 




A Woman’s Place is in the Mountains 

As a driving force behind the creation of the 

Alpine Club of Canada, Elizabeth Parker 

is an improbable fi gure. Not only was she a 

woman, but she was one who wasn’t a mountaineer. 

She did however possess a strong interest in 

the alpine. In the summer of 1904, she took her 

children to Banff so that she could benefi t from the 

recuperative powers of its hot springs and revitalize 

her health in the fresh, clean air of the Canadian 

Rockies. She remained there for 18 months and 

began writing newspaper and magazine articles 

about the mountains for Canadian publications. 

Th ough she came to love the mountains deeply, her 

frail health did not permit her to become a climber. 

She could see, however, how climbing could help 

women become stronger and more independent. 

Meeting Arthur Wheeler helped her pave the way 

for women to become mountaineers in Canada. 

With a woman as a founding member and 

fi rst elected Secretary, the ACC welcomed women 

into its executive ranks at a time when few other 

national mountaineering clubs welcomed women 

at all. At the ACC’s fi rst offi cial camp in July 1906, 

15 women were among the 44 members graduated 

into the Club. In its fi rst year, 77, or a full quarter 

of the Club’s 310 members were women. Word got 

out quickly that women 

were not only welcome 

in this club, but that 

they could fl ourish 

within it. 

Th e fi rst woman to 

climb a major mountain 

in western Canada 

was Philadelphia’s 

Mary Vaux Walcott. In 

1900, with her brother 

George Vaux Jr. and 

guides Christian Häsler 

Sr. and Edouard Feuz 

Sr., wearing knee-high 

hob-nailed boots, 

woollen stockings, a 

woollen gymnasium 

suit, felt hat, heavy 

gloves and snow glasses, 

she climbed 2643 metre 

Mount Field. Not a 

mountaineer, Vaux, 

along with brothers 

George and William, 

became a highly 

respected pioneer of 

glaciology, contributing 

scientifi c articles to the 

CAJ. While William 

was a founding member of the American Alpine 

Club, in June 1906 all three joined the fl edgling 

ACC. In 1914, Mary was made an Honorary 

Member. 

In 1916, New Jersey’s Elizabeth “Bess” 

MacCarthy was one of four, including guide 

Conrad Kain, to make the fi rst ascent of Bugaboo 

Spire. She joined the ACC in 1909 – her husband, 

Albert “Mack” McCarthy, joined in 1911. Another 

American, Caroline Hinman, fi rst visited the 

Rockies at the 1913 camp. An enterprising tour 

guide who led women’s trips to Europe, for the 

next 40 years she led month long horse assisted 

expeditions throughout the Rockies. Suffi ciently 

smitten, one client, Lillian Gest, attended her fi rst 

ACC Camp in 1931. Gest would return to the 

Rockies nearly every summer for the rest of her life. 

In 1939 Gest, Christine Reid, Kathleen Chapman 

and Jean McDonald were the fi rst women to climb 

3747 metre Mount Columbia, guided by Edward 

Feuz Jr. A noted philanthropist, Gest donated to 

the ACC and served as Vice President in 1956-57 

and 1957-58. 

American Polly Prescott joined the Club at 

the 1926 Tonquin Valley Camp, and remained 

a prominent member until her death at 100 in 

2003. She was the fi rst woman to receive the 

ACC’s Silver Rope for Leadership, in recognition 

of leading “manless” climbs of Mounts Louis and 

Edith Cavell with Marguerite Schnellbacher. 

Prescott also served as the ACC’s American Vice 

President from 1947 to 1950 and 1959 to 1960. 

Canadian Ethne Gibson started climbing in the 

mid 1930s, making a special eff ort to be on Rex 

Gibson’s rope. Continuing to climb after giving 

birth to Kathleen in 1953, Ethne supported Rex 

after he became ACC president in 1955, attending 

camps and creating handmade menu cards for the 

annual Club dinner. After Rex died in a climbing 

fall in 1957, Ethne continued to ski tour, believing 

lifts were cheating. She contributed generously to 

the construction of the Wates-Gibson Hut, which 

was named for Cyril Wates and Rex Gibson. 

Among Canada’s most famous women 

mountaineers, Phyllis Munday placed the fi rst 

female boot on Mount Robson’s summit in 1924. 

Th e following year Phyl and her husband Don 

embarked on their decade long odyssey to reach 

the Coast Mountains’ Mount Waddington. As a 

Vancouver teenager, Munday hid her skirt under 

a log while climbing, then put it back on before 

returning home. She was involved with the Red 

Cross, Women’s Volunteer Corps, Girl Guides 

and B.C. Mountaineering Club. Not willing to be 

viewed a lesser climbing partner because she was 

female, Munday insisted on carrying at least as

Nancy Hansen on Lyell 3. The fi rst woman (and sixth person 

overall) to climb all 54 of the Canadian Rockies peaks over 

11,000 feet (3353 metres) PHOTO BY COLIN JONES 

much weight as men and was often the only woman 

on trips. She climbed over 100 mountains, making 

over 30 fi rst ascents. Th e Mundays’ daughter Edith, 

born in 1921, made her fi rst climb at 11 weeks. In 

1938 Munday was made an Honorary Member and 

Silver Rope Award recipient. She served as CAJ 

editor from 1953 to 1968, and became Honorary 

President in 1971 – the only woman to hold the 

position. In 1972, Munday received the Order of 

Canada. In 1995 she received the A.O. Wheeler 

Legacy Award, and in 1998 the ACC sponsored 

Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival 

was designated the Phyllis and Don Munday 

Award. Munday died in 1990 at 95. 

Okanagan native Elfrida Pigou began 

mountaineering in 1949, joining the ACC that 

year. She made numerous fi rst ascents and put 

up new routes in the Coast Mountains, Rockies 

and Bugaboos. Pigou led Vancouver Section trips, 

contributed to the CAJ, gave slide shows and 

helped build huts. 

Still backpacking today, in the 1960s Alice 

Purdy explored the Coast Mountains, making an 

early ascent of Mount Waddington and fi rst ascents 

in the Pantheon and Hurley River region. 

As Canadians made a name for themselves on 

the international mountaineering stage through 

the 1970s and 80s, Canadian women shared the 

spotlight. Kathy Calvert and Judy Sterner organized 

the fi rst all-women’s expedition to Mount Logan 

with Lorraine Drewes, Cathy Langill, Diana Knaak 

and then 21-year-old Sharon Wood. For 24 days 

the team worked up the King’s Trench on skis 

establishing six camps, but not quite making the 

summit. In 1983 Calvert, her sister Sylvia Forest, 

Martha McCallum and Lin Heidt succeeded as 

the fi rst all women’s team to ski the 130 kilometre 

Bugaboos to Rogers Pass traverse. 

Th en in 1986, Sharon Wood became a legend 

in mountaineering worldwide by becoming the fi rst 

North American woman to climb Mount Everest. 

Diny Harrison marked another fi rst for a North 

American woman in 1992 when she became a fully 

accredited professional mountain guide. Eleven 

years later, Diny became the fi rst woman to serve as 

(acting) president of a UIAGM member federation. 

Four of Canada’s now seven female ACMG full 

From various climbs during fi ve summers I believe that any woman with fairly 

sound organs can do mountain climbing with very great benefi t to body and mind. 

I am convinced that making a fairly dangerous climb, where every sense must be 

alert and cool, makes a woman more fearless in attempting diffi cult tasks in her 

ordinary life. Th e ideas gained of the beautiful and sublime cannot be valued. 

—Mary E. Crawford 

Mountain Climbing for Women, Canadian Alpine Journal, 1909 

mountain guides, Helen Sovdat, Kirsten Knechtel, 

Sylvia Forest and Alison Andrews have led 

numerous ACC alpine adventures. 

Canadian women haven’t just made their mark 

as mountaineers. In addition to being a leading 

Squamish climber in the early 1980s and an 

energetic ACC trip leader, Tami Knight is known 

internationally for her irreverent climbing cartoons. 

Th ough not an ACC member, in the ice and 

mixed climbing game, Kim Csizmazia was the 2000 

women’s Ice Climbing World Cup champion and 

the fi rst woman to consistently onsight WI6 and 

fi rst woman to climb M10. 

In recognition for her immeasurable 

contributions to the Club, and particularly for her 

eff orts to keeping the GMC alive in waning years 

Louise Guy received the A.O. Wheeler Legacy 

Award in 1998. Th at same year, Bev Bendell, having 

been awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 

1985, was also awarded the A.O. Wheeler Legacy 

Award for her tireless contributions to all aspects of 

the Club’s activities. 

Women continue to make important 

contributions to Canadian mountaineering. 

Kicking off the 21st century in style, in 2003 

Nancy Hansen, ACC National Offi ce director 

and prolifi c trip leader, became the fi rst woman 

and only the sixth person to climb all 54 of the 

Canadian Rockies Peaks over 11,000 feet (3353 m). 

Completing her quest in less than half as many 

years as her predecessors, she climbed in high style 

on sometimes very technical routes. 

While women have consistently comprised 

between 26 and 40 per cent of the Club’s 

membership over the past century and have won 

over two-dozen Silver Rope or Distinguished 

Service Awards, as well as Honorary Membership 

and Special Awards, the Canadian mountaineering 

club that started out so progressively has yet to 

welcome a woman President. Th ere are women in 

the Club that think it is time to change that. 


Everyone knew in 1906 

that mountaineering was 

dangerous. One of the 

primary goals of the Alpine 

Club of Canada was to 

accelerate the development 

of local climbing skills 

so that Canadians could 

become competent at 

travelling in their own 

mountains. Through annual 

mountaineering camps, 

the ACC created the fi rst 

courses in mountaincraft in 

the country and in so doing 

established a century-long 

relationship with professional 

mountain guides. 

Th ere were ascents and descents which no one 

but an expert or a fool would attempt alone. Th anks 

to the guides, however, these were made without 

diffi culty. 

—Reverend A.M. Gordon 

Th e Ascents of Mts. Marpole and Ambadamo 

Canadian Alpine Journal, 1907 


Sharing the Rope: Guiding and the ACC 

As the Canadian Pacifi c Railway opened up 

the Canadian west in 1885, British and 

European mountaineers began arriving 

to claim Canada’s plentiful unclimbed summits 

– none of which remained in Europe’s Alps. 

Mountaineering in those times was almost solely 

the pursuit of the educated upper class, many of 

whom had climbed with professional European 

guides. After American Philip Stanley Abbot fell to 

his death on an unguided attempt of Mount Lefroy 

in 1896, a campaign was begun to encourage the 

CPR to hire Swiss guides to work at its resort hotel 

properties at Glacier House, Field, Lake Louise 

and Banff . Returning to Lake Louise in 1897 to 

avenge the death of Abbot, one of the climbers 

hired Swiss guide Peter Sarbach to guide the party 

up Mount Lefroy and to prove that climbing could 

be enjoyed safely. In 1897 Sarbach became the fi rst 

professional mountain guide to lead a party to a 

Canadian summit and a national mountaineering 

tradition was born. 

In organizing its fi rst camp in 1906, the Alpine 

Club of Canada decided the services of professional 

mountains guides should be included. Th e CPR 

had employed Swiss guides at Glacier House since 

1899, when Edouard Feuz and Christian Häsler 

appeared outfi tted in tweed jackets with waistcoats 

and ties, knickers and nailed boots with long wool 

socks, climbing ropes slung over their shoulders and 

ice axes in their hands. By 1902, Swiss guides were 

also permanently stationed at Lake Louise. 

For the ACC’s inaugural camp, the CPR 

“loaned” the Club two 

of their guides, Edouard 

and Gottfried Feuz. 

With the camp hosting 

over 100 members, 

experienced volunteers 

led numerous climbs. 

But for many, having 

the profi ciency of 

professional Swiss guides made diff erence between 

summitting or not. 

For the next 23 consecutive years, the railway 

Swiss guides worked at the annual Club camps, 

the only exception occurring in 1926, when two 

of the Canadian National Railroad’s guides, Hans 

and Heinrich Fuhrer, worked at Jasper’s Tonquin 

Valley camp. In so doing, the world’s fi rst national 

mountaineering club to welcome women into 

its ranks also provided its average, middle class 

members the opportunity to explore the high alpine 

in the company of professional guides. At the time, 

this was normally an extravagance reserved only for 

the wealthy. 

European guides didn’t just leave their mark on 

Canadian summits, but also on our ski heritage. 

When Austrian Conrad Kain decided to seek 

adventure in Canada’s unspoiled mountains in 

1908, well-known Viennese climber Erich Pistor 

recommended Kain’s guiding talents to the CPR. 

Responding it had already hired its guides for the 

upcoming summer, the CPR suggested the ACC 

might be interested. Pistor wrote A.O. Wheeler, 

who promptly promised Kain a summer job. Not 

only did Kain make a great impression at the 1909 

Lake O’Hara camp, come winter he made an 

equally great impression on the children of Banff , 

Alberta by introducing them to the sport of skiing. 

As inspiration for Banff ’s fi rst ski club, Kain helped 

instill a Canadian love for skiing. 

After building the fi rst alpine hut in 1902 fi ve 

kilometres from Glacier House, Swiss guides went 

on to build Abbot Pass Hut in 1922. Th ese alpine 

refuges became the foundation for what later would 

become today’s expansive system of Alpine Club of 

Canada huts. 

It was only a matter of time before Canadians 

would qualify as professional guides in their own 

mountains. Born in Golden British Columbia, as 

a young man Ken Jones worked as a porter for the 

Swiss guides in Lake Louise. Under the diligent 

tutelage of Edward Feuz – son of Edouard – Jones 

served his mountain apprenticeship and by the mid 

1930s became the fi rst Canadian-born professional 

mountain guide. 

In 1941, 18 ski camp participants arrived 

at Stanley Mitchell Hut in Little Yoho Valley 

under the capable direction of A.A. McCoubrey. 

A recently arrived mountaineer and experienced 

Swiss ski instructor, Bruno Engler, was hired 

as guide, while Jones was hired as cook. On the 

fi rst morning of the camp, novice skier Douglas 

Adcock broke his leg on a patch of breakable crust. 

Realizing he should be evacuated to Field as soon 

as possible, Jones, Engler and McCoubrey built a 

sturdy toboggan using only a few nails, cord, two 

stout spruce spars and parts of the hut’s only chair. 

Heading out on the hard 2 a.m. snow, Engler towed 

while Jones steered, and the patient was delivered 

safely to Field. 

For more than a decade, Jones’s contributions 

became integral to the camps’ success, prompting 

Winnipeg Section member Roger Neave to write, 

“Th e hard-working member of the party was Ken 

Jones in his triple capacity of cook, guide and 

instructor. However, he seemed to thrive on it and 

after a morning or afternoon of ski-ing he would 

dash back to the hut ahead of us and have the meal 

practically on the table by the time the rest of us 

arrived.” 

By 1950, only two Swiss guides were working in

Christian Häsler and 

Edouard Feuz 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VAUX 

FAMILY COLLECTION AND THE WHYTE 


Canada, Ernst and Edward Feuz, who were guiding 

privately. To stimulate interest in mountaineering 

and its guide services, CP brought Edmund 

Petrig and Walter Perren from Switzerland to 

the Chateau Lake Louise. When their contracts 

expired in 1955, mountaineering interest was so 

low that CP released them and Petrig returned 

to Switzerland. Th en in the wake of two separate 

accidents that claimed four lives on Mount 

Victoria and the lives of seven teenage boys on 

Mount Temple, Perren accepted a National Parks 

Service off er to organize mountain travel and 

rescue training for park wardens and aspiring 

guides. Th roughout the late 1950s, Perren taught 

basic mountaineering skills to dozens of park 

wardens who were more comfortable on horseback 

than on glaciers and steep cliff s, and Canada’s 

fi rst generation of skilled mountain rescuers was 

born. When Perren became too busy to examine 

guide candidates, he suggested those who he had 

already passed, including Austrian Hans Gmoser, 

form their own association under the auspices of 

Parks Canada and the ACC. Established in 1963, 

the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides’ 

founding members included Peter Fuhrmann, 

Hans Gmoser, Brian Greenwood, Heinz Kahl, Leo 

Grillmair, Dick Lofthouse, Eric Lomas, Willie 

Pfi sterer, Hans Schwarz and Frank Stark. 43 years 

later, there are now more than 100 fully accredited 

ACMG guides in Canada. 

Th roughout the 20th century, dozens of 

Roger Laurilla 

ACMG mountain guide and 

ACC Vice President, Activities 

European guides 

who explored 

the Canadian 

mountain 

wilderness chose 

to settle here. 

From the CP 

employed Swiss 

guides of the 

early 1900s, to 

those recruited 

to work in the 

burgeoning 

helicopter skiing industry during the 1970s and 

80s, European guides didn’t just hold the rope, chop 

steps on steep icy slopes or warn novices away from 

hanging cornices. Coming from countries where 

roads and villages and ski resorts and gondolas were 

as numerous as the peaks themselves, those guides 

shared their love and enthusiasm for exploring the 

Canadian wilderness with their Canadian clients, 

who in turn developed an enriched appreciation of 

their own mountains. 

Many of these professional mountain guides 

took a direct interest in the Club’s direction, as 

Peter Fuhrmann did in establishing the Wapta 

Icefi eld huts, and serving as the Club’s President 

from 1984 to 1988. Similarly in 2005, Canadian 

born ACMG guide Roger Laurilla was named the 

ACC’s Vice President of Activities. 

Mountain guides have been in the employ of 

the Alpine Club of Canada for a hundred years. 

During this time, they exerted a quiet but formative 

infl uence on Canada’s developing mountaineering 

tradition. By exhibiting excellent route-fi nding 

skills, leading edge climbing ability and cool 

judgment in trying or dangerous situations, they 

demonstrated to North Americans the physical and 

mental toughness that were the hallmark of Swiss 

mountaineering competence. With them they 

brought signifi cant evolutions in mountaineering 

technique garnered from long experience in the 

Alps. But, more importantly perhaps, they brought 

an attitude about mountains and a disposition 

toward climbing that would gradually change the 

way many Canadians would think about their 

own summits. Th e Swiss had a reverence for the 

alpine which would gradually permeate the fabric 

of Canadian culture. Th rough the Swiss guides, 

Canadians would gradually learn the real value 

of the overwhelming nature that was their alpine 

birthright. It was this guiding community that 

made manifest the meaning of having so many 

mountains. Th at community is no longer Swiss, 

but Canadian, and one of the central vehicles for it 

becoming so was the Alpine Club of Canada. 


From the moment of its 

inception, one of the main 

goals of the Alpine Club of 

Canada was to make it easy 

for Canadians to experience 

their own mountains. By 

providing comfortable, 

safe climbing experiences, 

it was held that over time 

we would become a nation 

of competent mountain 

travellers with a deep 

sense of what the Canadian 

alpine means to us and to 

the world. For a hundred 

years, Alpine Club of Canada 

mountaineering camps have 

done just that. 

Th anks to Mr. Wheeler, the “meet,” which began 

as an experiment, ended as an institution. 

—Elizabeth Parker 

Report of the Secretary 

Canadian Alpine Journal 1907 

The fi rst Alpine Club camp at 

Yoho Pass in 1906 

PHOTO FROM THE CANADIAN ALPINE 

JOURNAL 1907 


Camps in the Clouds 

That a four-month-old Canadian alpine 

club should decide to host a national 

mountaineering camp was – to say the very 

least – an ambitious undertaking. Travelling in style 

aboard the Canadian Pacifi c Railway, eager campers 

arrived at Field, B.C. in Yoho National Park on 

July 8, 1906. Th e next morning most travelled 10 

kilometres to Emerald Lake on foot, while some 

rode in carriages or perched aboard commissariat 

wagons. Th e procession was made up of dozens 

of horses and wagons carrying food, cooking 

equipment, 40 unwieldy canvas tents, bedding, 

climbing ropes and personal luggage – including 

proper dining attire. A camp on this scale had never 

before been undertaken in the Canadian west, and 

certainly not by such a young organization. 

Over 100 ACC members paid a dollar a day 

each to congregate in a temporary tent village 

at Yoho Pass. Th ey rose before the sun to climb 

routes on eight mountains, gathered for meals and 

companionship in the dining pavilion and shared 

jokes, stories and songs around a giant evening 

bonfi re. By the end of 

the week, participants 

declared the event a 

resounding success. 

Th e enterprise had 

been made possible by 

generous donations 

from the Dominion government, who in the “spirit 

of patriotism” had donated $500, the Alberta 

government who contributed $250, the CPR who 

loaned tents, canopies, cooks and the services of 

two of their Swiss guides, Eduoard and Gottfried 

Feuz, the North West Mounted Police who also 

loaned tents, and the generosity of four outfi tters 

who volunteered their services – Bob Campbell, 

Tom Martin, Jack Otto, Elliot Barnes and Syd 

Baker. 

Th e camp was divided into Residence Park, 

Offi cial Square and the 

horse paddock, with 

tenting areas subdivided 

into male, female and 

married quarters. Th e 

massive dining tent 

accommodated all 100, 

with meals served from 

early morning to late 

at night. A bulletin 

board announced the 

daily programs. In the 

Square, a robust fi re 

burned unceasingly, 

brightening up for the 

evening hours. From 

the main camp, participants embarked on overnight 

trips to climb distant peaks, and to explore Yoho 

Glacier where a row of metal plates placed across 

the ice tongue marked its rate of fl ow, and rocks 

marked its advance or retreat. 

Th e camp’s chief mountaineer, Morrison 

Bridgland chose the varied rock, snow and ice 

route up 3066 metre Vice President as the offi cial 

climb, and on July 10 nine climbers graduated to 

the standing of active members – including two 

women. By camp’s end, 44 had graduated, 15 of 

them women. Th e average ascent time had been 

seven hours, the average descent three hours. 

Th at the camp unfolded as it did was no 

accident. Th e Club’s constitution provided for an 

annual summer camp where graduating members 

could qualify for active membership and where 

all members (except subscribing members) were 

welcome to gather for climbing or mountain study. 

Th e camp was also the site of the Club’s annual 

general meeting, which followed the Sunday church 

service. At the AGM, the camp was declared a 

fi nancial success, with money left over disbursed 

among the outfi tters, with a small balance going to 

the Club. 

Although hosted in remote corners of the 

magnifi cent mountains of western Canada, from 

the beginning, the camps could not operate outside 

of the realm of world events. Th e 1920 Assiniboine 

Camp was billed as Coming Home Camp for Club 

members who had served in WWI. Running in 

conjunction with A.O. Wheeler’s Walking Tour, it 

attracted over 300 people, with Rudolph Aemmer 

and Edward Feuz serving as guides. 

Th e bustling camp scene would be repeated 

every summer for the next 100 years, and would 

provide Canadians numerous opportunities for 

fi rst ascents of Canadian mountains. Preparations 

for the annual gatherings involved cutting trails, 

swimming horses across turbulent rivers, building 

rafts and hauling three or four tonnes of food, 

canvas, stoves, wooden boxes and even hay. Th e 

Club’s camps were the highlight of virtually every 

member’s year, off ering opportunities to share the 

lessons, the joys and the laughs generated by a 

week’s mountaineering exploits. 

In 1946, Bill Harrison was hired to manage 

the camp in the Bugaboos, an undertaking 

involving three hard days’ pack train travel from 

Spillimacheen. An experienced outfi tter, Harrison 

was awarded the contract for the 1947 Glacier 

Station camp in Rogers Pass and again for the 1954 

camp in the Goodsirs, thus beginning a family 

legacy that continues to this day. 

Th rough the 1950 and 60s, every member of 

the Harrison family, including Bill’s wife Isabel

Bill Harrison, outfi tter and 

guide in the early ACC camp 

tradition 

PHOTO COURTESY OF R.W. SANDFORD 

Brad Harrison leads a rope 

team, 2004 Icefall Brook 

General Mountaineering 

Camp 

PHOTO BY JACQUELINE HUTCHISON 

and their six children worked at the camps 

as horse wranglers, packers or cooks – their 

dinners becoming the meals of legends. 

Th ough not a climber, Bill Harrison was a 

scrambler who appreciated climbers’ exploits. 

He spent a lot of time hunting above 

treeline, walking his horse as much as he 

rode it. 

Over the decades, technology brought 

changes to the camps. In 1962, guests rode a bus 

on a road still under construction from Jasper 

to Medicine Lake for the Maligne Lake camp, 

fi nishing their journey by boat. 

Th en for the 1967 Centennial Steele Glacier 

camp in the Yukon, helicopters were used for the 

very fi rst time to ferry guests and supplies. Bill 

Harrison, his son Brad recalls, didn’t much like 

using helicopters, preferring to trust his horses. 

In 1967, the Canadian government awarded Bill 

Harrison the Centennial Medal, and in 1976 he 

became the only non-climber to be named an 

Honorary Member. Bill died in 1993, at the 

age of 88. 

With three decades of family history 

invested in the Club’s annual camps, Brad 

Harrison gradually took over the ACC camp 

tradition from his father. Brad had ridden 

into his fi rst camp at Jasper’s Fryatt Creek 

at the age of three aboard his brother’s 

horse. Nearly 25 years later, when the 

economic downturn of the 1980s negatively 

aff ected registrations for the GMC, Brad 

put together a proposal for the 1985 camp. 

He drew up a budget, arranged logistics, 

Campfi re during the 1965 Glacier Lake General Mountaineering Camp PHOTO BY LEN CHATWIN 

secured requisite permits and hired staff , all under 

the agreement that if he lost money that would be 

the end of the camps. He managed his fi rst camp, 

a two week event at Wates-Gibson Hut in Jasper’s 

Tonquin Valley with about 20 guests sleeping in the 

hut, with a cook tent erected outside. Th at year the 

camps made a profi t and Louise Guy became Chair 

of the Camps Committee. In an eff ort to encourage 

interest in the camps, Louise mailed out hand 

written invitations to the following year’s camp. 

Since then, the General Mountain Camp has 

fl ourished. In addition to overseeing all the tents, 

kitchen supplies, helicopter fl ights, guides and 

cooks, Brad also leads guests on climbs. Flowing 

with the times, Camp Committee organizers have 

worked hard to minimize the impact of the annual 

camps. Th e historically popular evening bonfi res 

are now contained in giant drums. Trees are no 

longer cut down for tent poles – those needed to 

hold up the large canvas cook tents are fl own in by 

helicopter. In the mid 1960s, meals stopped being 

cooked over open fi res, and are now prepared on 

large propane fuelled ranges. 

Camp participants have changed too. In the 

earlier decades, guests sometimes climbed on their 

own without guides. Today nearly all guests expect 

to be led by experienced professionals or amateur 

leaders. Th e 2005 camp provided hot and cold 

running water and a double shower. 

While today’s camps provide more physical 

comforts for guests, the atmosphere has changed 

little over the last 100 years. Th e focus remains on 

learning to climb safely and joyfully sharing the 

experience of Canadian mountains with others. 

Th e 2005 GMC at Moby Dick in the Battle 

Range boasted six sold out weeks, each hosting 33 

guests and 11 staff , and members look forward to 

celebrating the Centennial GMC in B.C.’s Premier 

Range in 2006. 

2004 General Mountaineering Camp at Icefall Brook in the 

Rocky Mountains PHOTO BY PATRICIA DAUM 


Alpine Club members had 

life changing experiences 

on mountains in Canada 

and abroad. They formed 

relationships that lasted 

a lifetime and told stories 

about climbing that made 

others want to become 

mountaineers. Many of these 

stories and accounts found 

their way into the Canadian 

Alpine Journal. As the offi cial 

and permanent record of 

Canadian mountaineering, 

the CAJ is the DNA of 

Canadian mountain culture. 

I’ve had few honours in my life as rich as 

the opportunity to helm the CAJ. Spanning 

one hundred years, it’s not only one of the oldest 

publications in the country, but also one of the most 

consistently compelling and insightful. Th e arc of 

the Journal traces not only the evolution of climbing 

in Canada, but off ers a fascinating glimpse of the 

eras that gave birth to those climbers. Th e CAJ is the 

place where everything gets remembered, including 

the history of our country itself. 

—Geoff Powter 

Editor, Canadian Alpine Journal 


The Canadian Alpine Journal 

The fi rst volume of the Canadian Alpine 

Journal is a true testament to the energy 

and enthusiasm of the Club’s founders. 

Only a year after the Club was formed, it published 

– essentially as its newsletter – a 196 page book 

which not only carefully recorded all the details 

of the Club’s formation but set the stage for all of 

the organization’s future accomplishments. From 

the hint of later ascents of Mounts Robson and 

Logan, to the widespread popularity of climbing 

today, everything the ACC needed to make 

mountaineering mainstream in Canadian culture 

was already all there in the 1907 journal. 

Published in 1907, the fi rst volume of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal was essentially a mountain 

primer. A great number were printed so that they 

could be distributed both as promotion of the 

new club and an embodiment of the Club’s goals 

and ideals. Th e vision was ambitious. Th e CAJ 

announced the birth of a Canadian subculture 

associated with the exploration of mountains 

landscapes. In time this subculture would abide 

by its own customs and create its own traditions, 

history, legend and heroes. In order to accomplish 

these goals, it was 

important to establish 

a permanent record 

of the Club’s many 

achievements which 

embraced not just 

mountaineering, but all 

things alpine. 

We take the 

legitimacy and 

popularity of 

mountaineering for 

granted today. It is 

easy to forget that in 

1906 only a handful 

of Canadians could even imagine climbing a 

mountain let alone setting out to do. While 

familiar to climbers, mountaineering accounts 

and photographs must have made the average 

Canadian question if these early mountaineers 

had all their mental faculties. Th e CAJ set out to 

completely change that perception. Th e CAJ was 

born fully formed complete with climbing accounts, 

maps, articles on history, philosophy and science, 

all accompanied by astounding photographs. Th e 

fi rst volume of the CAJ gave the solid appearance 

of mountaineering as sane and progressive. It 

suggested that mountaineering was the sport of 

intellectuals who were not afraid of adventure. Th e 

wide range of articles was meant to appeal to the 

broadest range of educated people, for it was held 

that it would be these who were most likely have 

the interest and the means to take up this new 

sport. Th e Club’s founders, however, were right up 

front about the hazards. Some photographs, such 

as those published with P.D. McTavish’s article 

on the ascent of Crowsnest Mountain, must have 

caused quite a stir among those unused to pictures 

of people clinging to seemingly impossible walls 

foreshortened in their steepness no doubt by early 

telephoto eff ects. Th ese never-before-seen in 

Canada images were undoubtedly as startling to 

readers in 1907 as the photographs we see today 

on the cover of Climbing magazine of Alex Lowe 

soloing the overhanging wall of an Antarctic 

iceberg. Th ey were so diff erent and eye-catching 

they could not fail to have the desired eff ect. Th ey 

made people want to climb. 

Th e 1907 CAJ established a number of formal 

Alpine Club of Canada traditions, the fi rst being 

that of marking fi rst ascents. In so doing, the 

journal of record established the foundation that 

permitted later generations of climbers to quickly 

fi nd out what had been done in the past and 

plan attempts on new routes on both climbed 

and unclimbed peaks. As a result, Canadian 

understanding of the geography of the country’s 

mountains established itself fi rmly in the Rockies 

and interior ranges of British Columbia and then 

radiated outward to every other range of mountains 

on the continent. Th e earliest volumes of the CAJ 

also established the reputation of classic routes on 

famous peaks and, by virtue of reports on annual 

camps, identifi ed climbing areas where the most 

intense alpine experiences could be had in the 

shortest period of time. 

Th e 1907 Canadian Alpine Journal laid the 

foundation for inter-generational knowledge 

of mountain place. It provided a baseline for 

continuing exploration of our mountains. A person 

discovers that his or her mother or grandmother 

did some amazing things that were reported in 

the Canadian Alpine Journal. What were they? If 

she did that, what might I do? A classic example 

begins with Mary, George and William Vaux and 

their groundbreaking early research into glacial 

recession in the Rockies and the Selkirks in 1890s 

and the fi rst decade of the 20th century. A century 

later, the Canadian Alpine Journal account of this 

work inspired a grandson, Henry Vaux Jr., to visit 

the same locations to record landscape change since 

his time of his grand-siblings. Record becomes 

inspiration which become record and the whole 

process iterates itself again and again through time. 

Th e founding purpose of the CAJ was to ensure 

that the future could be inspired by stories from 

the past. In this purpose, it has been successful for a 

hundred years.

1907 Canadian Alpine Journal 

The Canadian Alpine Journal has a 

long history of highly respect editors: 

1907 – 1930 Arthur Wheeler 

1931 – 1940 Alex McCoubrey 

1941 – 1952 M.D. Fleming 

1953 – 1968 Phyllis Munday 

1969 Pat Boswell 

1970 – 1973 Andrew Gruft 

1974 – 1984 Moira Irvine 

1985 – 1992 David Harris 

1993 – . Geoff Powter 

Beyond the capturing of historical record, 

the CAJ has also played a huge role in the 

advancement of mountain literature in Canada. 

Th at the Canadian Alpine Journal aimed right from 

its inception at a literary audience is undeniable. 

Among the articles in the inaugural edition 

was one written by Ralph Connor, who 

in 1907 was easily the Canadian literary 

equivalent of Margaret Atwood today. 

Connor’s books were translated abroad and 

sold in the millions. His tongue in cheek 

article entitled “How We Climbed Cascade” 

is not only the fi rst published work of 

Canadian mountaineering humour, it was 

also the fi rst work on mountaineering by a 

renowned Canadian novelist. 

Even in the fi rst volume we are introduced 

to the range in mountaineering ability and 

literary skill that would be refl ected in the 

CAJ over the next century. Th e articles in the 

1907 Canadian Alpine Journal range from 

an hilarious account of a scramble up Cascade 

Mountain by poorly equipped amateurs, to solo 

ascents without ropes on big peaks by highly 

motivated mountaineers like George Kinney. Th e 

writing ranges from the sublime to the pompous. It 

is all there in the fi rst volume. 

By 1908, it was clear that the energy that burst 

forth in 1907 would be sustained. Th e CAJ would 

be marked by good writing, strong imagery and a 

marvellous capacity to bring mountain adventure 

in previously unknown ranges in Canada and 

abroad into the pubic ken. As the decades passed, 

the CAJ mirrored the literary style of the day and 

the style of each successive cultural period over the 

next century. It begins with the classical literary 

style borrowed from the educated classes of Britain 

complete with colonial euphemisms and clearly 

defi ned class politics typical of the intellectual 

milieu of the time. A century later, membership 

in the climbing community is no longer confi ned 

to highly literate upper classes. Literary pretence 

has almost vanished in society as a whole. Many 

climbers write almost in the manner 

in which they speak, which does not 

always respect traditional grammar 

and syntax. Words that would never 

come to the lips of a gentlemen 

climber a century ago are, for better 

or worse, now in common use, both 

in climbing and in popular culture. 

But while language may have evolved, 

one essential element still connects 

the four generations of contributors 

to the Canadian Alpine Journal. At 

the heart of each article is the love of 

mountains and a passion for climbing. 

As one might expect, the actual climbing 

section in the 1907 Canadian Alpine Journal was 

very small compared to the science and club news 

sections. Th is was because not much climbing had 

yet been done by the Club’s new members. Th is 

would change dramatically over the next few years 

and over the century that followed. Th e Club’s 

members would become very active during an early 

golden age that ended with the beginning of World 

War II and the passing of the fi rst generation 

of membership. A diff erent but still very active 

period followed the war when a new generation of 

climbers took to the peaks. Th is period came to an 

end with the near collapse of the Alpine Club of 

Canada in the early 1970s when mountaineering 

became so popular and widespread an activity that 

many experienced climbers no longer felt they 

needed the support of a club to help them advance 

their skills or fi nd partners. While the ACC reestablished 

itself through the development of 

leadership programming and the expansion of its 

huts system, the Canadian Alpine Journal continued 

to record the history of mountaineering and the 

rise of new forms of climbing interest both inside 

and outside the Club. Because of its longstanding 

history of diverse contributors and contents, solid 

editing and elegant design, the CAJ remains 

today the longest standing and most infl uential 

publication on mountaineering in Canada today. 

1980 CAJ: featuring a photo of Don Forest on a rock 

spire in the Opal Range in Kananaskis Country, AB 



Firmly embedded in the 

original mandate of the 

Alpine Club of Canada is 

a strong commitment to 

leading edge scientifi c 

understanding of the 

Canadian alpine. Though 

pursued ambitiously by 

Arthur Wheeler, the Club’s 

interest in science declined 

as the research become more 

complex and was taken up 

by institutions that didn’t 

exist when the Club was 

formed. As the mountains 

became crowded, however, 

the ACC took the lead in 

the introduction of new 

waste, water and energy 

management technology. As 

climate change threatens the 

alpine worldwide, the Club’s 

scientifi c research mandate 

may have to be revived. 

1902 Vaux family 

photograph of the 

Illecillewaet Glacier 


Science in the High Alpine 

At the time the Alpine Club of Canada 

was formed in 1906, mountaineering was 

still in its infancy in Canada. Th ough our 

history focuses mostly on climbers of independent 

means and ambitions, most of the climbing at that 

time was done as part of formal scientifi c research 

performed in service of nationhood. Th ough 

largely unsung, the real heroes of this period were 

Dominion Land Surveyors who, not uncommonly, 

would climb up to 200 mountains in their careers 

in order to complete the maps that would later 

open Canada’s mountain ranges to climbers. It is 

not surprising that the Club’s principal founder, 

A.O. Wheeler, was a prominent surveyor before 

becoming famous as a mountaineer. Other 

founding members, including Wheeler’s son, E.O. 

Wheeler, Edouard Deville, Col Aime Laussedat, 

Morrison Parsons Bridgland, P.A. Carson and the 

legendary J.J. McArthur, were, or would become, 

well-known and historically respected surveyors. 

Complementing the scientifi c bent of the 

surveying community of the day, was a popular 

sense created in Europe that mountaineering, 

even at the amateur level, ought to be tied directly 

to scientifi c inquiry. Mountaineering should be 

exercise for the mind as well as for the body. 

Arthur Wheeler personally knew many of the 

most accomplished amateur as well as professional 

scientists of his time and made sure there was a 

prominent place for them in the newly formed club. 

While A.O. Wheeler applauded and supported 

the research of serious amateurs like the members 

of the Vaux family, he also recognized the value of 

work being done by professional scientists of the 

caliber of the American glaciologist William Hittell 

Sherzer. In turning the pages of Sherzer’s classic 

1902 Smithsonian monograph on the glaciers of 

the Canadians Rockies and Selkirk Mountains, 

one glimpses where Wheeler might have found 

his inspiration for the design and content of the 

fi rst edition of the Canadian Alpine Journal. Th at 

Wheeler bested even the Smithsonian in the design 

and quality of Canada’s fi rst mountaineering journal 

says a great deal about his passion for both science 

and mountaineering. Science would become an 

integral part of this country’s emerging mountain 

culture if only because Arthur Wheeler would have 

it no other way. 

Th ough not a banner year for reports on bold 

new ascents, the 1908 CAJ had a very strong 

scientifi c section which again featured articles by 

world renowned experts such as Arthur Philomen 

Coleman on geomorphology and Charles Doolittle 

Walcott on the fossils of the Burgess Shale. Just as 

they do today when scientifi c articles are published 

in the CAJ, some members at the time complained 

that the Walcott paper, in particular, was beyond 

their understanding. Today, however, the Walcott 

article on the fossils preserved in the Burgess Shale 

is considered a classic, fully understandable by 

anyone with an interest the evolutionary explosion 

that took place in the Cambrian seas 543 million 

years ago. 

Works of advanced academic nature were from 

the outset part of Canada’s mountain culture as 

defi ned by A.O. Wheeler and the Alpine Club of 

Canada. Th rough persistence in recognizing equally 

accomplishments in mountaineering and mountain 

science, Wheeler ensured that the ACC would 

transcend “club” status to become the country’s 

foremost alpine institution; the repository for all 

knowledge and expertise related to the mountains 

of Canada. For a time Wheeler made the ACC that 

kind of institution. But, just as climbers eventually 

transcended the Club’s founding role of establishing 

and advancing climbing techniques and style, 

universities and government research programs 

gradually superseded the ACC’s scientifi c role. 

While the Club moved away from its scientifi c 

research mandate, a surprising range of articles 

related to mountain science continued to appear 

sporadically in the Canadian Alpine Journal. Th ese 

ranged from articles on the long term impact 

of glacial recession to the eff ect of adventure on 

mental health. Meanwhile the Club was forced, by 

the realities associated with growing development 

in Canada’s mountain regions to focus practically 

on applied rather than pure research in order to 

confront growing human impact issues connected 

to its expanded hut operations. In the 1980s, it 

became clear that new techniques of supplying safe 

water, managing human waste and minimizing 

backcountry impacts were essential to the Club’s 

future. Under the direction of Mike Mortimer, 

conferences were sponsored by the Alpine

First named among the reasons for the Club’s 

existence is the claim of science: “the promotion of 

scientifi c study and the exploration of Canadian 

alpine and glacial regions.” 




2002 Vaux family 

photograph of the 

Illecillewaet Glacier 

Club of Canada resulted in the introduction of 

innovative new technology and techniques that 

reduced the human footprint of backcountry 

huts. Vice Presidents responsible for facilities 

and a strong cadre of ACC maintenance staff 

have worked with volunteers ever since to put 

the ACC at the forefront of environmentally 

responsible backcountry hut management. With 

the completion of the new Fay Hut in August 

of 2005, the Alpine Club of Canada became a 

internationally recognized leader in the application 

of technology and sound practices in service of 

minimization of human impact in the alpine. 

Another area in which science has greatly served 

the mountaineering community is in the areas of 

avalanche research and 

Global Positioning 

and communications 

systems. Because of 

research, much more is 

known now about the 

dynamics of avalanche 

conditions than ever 

before and, with the 

advent of helicopters, portable GPS systems and 

cellular and satellite telephones, a climber is seldom 

out of range of rescue. But all of these technological 

innovations have come at a cost. Th e greatest 

uncertainty we face at the centennial of the Club’s 

formation are the potential impacts of climate 

change on Canadian mountains. 

When we think of climate change as we know it 

today, it is important to think of where the dawn’s 

light fi rst strikes at the beginning of the day. It 

strikes the tops of mountains. When we think of 

climate change, we think also of where the sunlight 

touches the Earth most persistently and that is 

where 24 hour light falls on the poles. Because they 

are glaciated, both of these regions are within the 

domain of the Club’s mandate and interests. We are 

already seeing dramatic impacts of change in both 

the arctic and the alpine. 

At present a temperature increase of between 

one and six degrees Celsius is expected to occur in 

both these regions. Mountain vegetation zones are 

expected to shift upwards by approximately 500 

to 600 metres (approximately 1600 to 2000 feet), 

the equivalent of one vegetative zone in any given 

mountainous region. Alpine species are predicted 

to be driven upward and northward into oblivion. 

We are already seeing this with species like the pika 

along the southern spine of the Rockies. 

One quarter of the glacial mass in the Canadian 

cordillera has disappeared in the last century. 

Climbing routes on Rocky Mountain glaciers are 

now changing faster than guidebooks can keep up. 

Many climbers are also observing dramatic changes 

in the amount of rockfall on many routes as higher 

temperatures melt the ice that holds broken rock to 

the mountainsides. 

Even more troubling are reports of the 

unexpected extent of glacial recession that took 

place over much of the northern hemisphere during 

the unusually hot summer of 2003. What we learn 

from this is that it is entirely within the domain 

of possibility that glacial recession could accelerate 

beyond current rates. It may be that ours will be 

the generation that says adios to the mountain 

cryosphere. We can only begin to imagine attendant 

impacts. Climate change is not something we can 

aff ord to ignore, it is not something that is going 

to happen somewhere else to someone else. It is 

happening here, now, to us. 

Th is brings up a spectre that is almost too 

overwhelming to imagine. It has been predicted 

by a study commissioned by Parks Canada itself 

that many of our most treasured national parks 

and reserves may no longer remain within the 

biogeographical regions they were created to 

represent. Such a change is not, at present, expected 

to occur naturally over geological time but over the 

much shorter duration of a few human generations. 

Unless feedback mechanisms that slow this process 

kick in soon, impacts on the Canadian alpine could 

be catastrophic. It will diffi cult to have an alpine 

club if we don’t have any alpine. It may well be 

time for the Alpine Club of Canada to revitalize 

its science mandate, and to become active in the 

climate change debate. 


There is only one offi cial 

record of mountaineering 

in Canada and that is the 

Canadian Alpine Journal. 

In 2007, in an event as 

important as the Centennial 

of the Club itself, the 

ACC will celebrate the 

100th anniversary of the 

publication of its fi rst CAJ. 

With a digital version of 

all 100 years of this offi cial 

record soon to be made 

available, Canadians will 

at last be able to fully 

comprehend the full range of 

cumulative achievement that 

is the Alpine Club of Canada’s 

lasting contribution to our 

nation’s identity. 


The Centennial of the Canadian Alpine 

Journal 

Even in an expanded edition of the Gazette 

dedicated completely to the Centennial, it 

is only possible to hint at the rich history 

of the Alpine Club of Canada. Th e expanded story 

of the Club’s evolution – and a remarkable year 

by year account of the history of mountaineering 

achievement in Canada – has entered posterity 

through the pages of the Canadian Alpine Journal. 

It is unlikely there are more than a few dozen 

people alive however, who have read every edition 

of the Canadian Alpine Journal. Because many 

numbers are hard to fi nd, and complete sets now 

very expensive to buy even if one can be found for 

sale, all but the most committed are denied access 

to the rich history of mountain culture in this 

country. Th is is about to change. 

In 2007, the Alpine Club of Canada will 

celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication 

of the fi rst Canadian Alpine Journal with a stunning 

special edition. Th e Club will also off er members 

a boxed set of every volume, digitized and fully 

indexed for easy reference. Th is landmark work will 

allow climbers and historians full and easy access 

to a century of mountaineering and exploration 

achievement in Canada. It will also ensure that the 

climbers and writers who did so much to contribute 

to the development of our unique mountain culture 

in Canada are not forgotten. 

With the complete literary works of the 

Alpine Club of Canada available digitally, it will 

become possible for anyone to observe the fl ow 

Partial page 174 of the 1907 Canadian Alpine Journal digitized for DVD 

of mountaineering experience and ethic through 

time. Th e Canadian Alpine Journal is a record of 

all things alpine. Th e early numbers of the Journal 

constitute a record of the Club’s constitution and 

organization. Th ey provide form offi cial “Hansard” 

of the Club’s business. 

As a record of adventure the Canadian Alpine 

Journal is an unparalleled source of access and 

route descriptions, observations on conditions, 

circumstances, challenges and triumphs built up 

over a century of mountaineering in all the ranges 

in the country. It is the one place in which a 

climber can fi nd information on most of the fi rst 

ascents ever done in Canada and all of the major 

fi rst ascents done by Canadians abroad. 

Th e Canadian Alpine Journal is also an archive 

preserving the history of mountain photography in 

Canada as well as a repository of geographical and 

natural science observations. Interspersed within 

the nearly 10,000 pages of documented climbing 

history are poems and songs, articles of philosophy, 

and refl ections about risk and beauty in the high 

places of the world. Th ere is also mountain humour, 

cartoons and advertisements that tell us what it was 

like to live in world in which people did not travel 

and think as we do now. Finally, there are obituaries 

remembering Club members, not for what they 

were in their professional lives, but for who they 

were in the mountains. We should all be so lucky to 

be remembered in this way. 

Th ere have only ever been nine editors of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal. Each has left a diff erent 

mark on history. Th eir choice and ordering 

of articles, their acceptance of contemporary 

description and vernacular and their determination 

of what was really important about what was 

happening in mountaineering in their time has 

shaped what climbing is today. 

Th e great joy of being able to read leisurely 

through 100 years of Canadian Alpine Journals will 

be that every reader will be able to determine for 

themselves the direction that history has taken us in 

our search to understand ourselves by experiencing 

our mountains. Th ey will be able to determine 

for themselves how the fl ow of time through the 

Canadian alpine has shaped our perceptions about 

what is important about where and how we live 

in our mountains. Th at, in its own right, should be 

inspiration for expeditions and projects enough 

to keep Alpine Club of Canada going strong for 

another century and more. 

See the next issue of the Gazette for full details 

on how you can order your complete digital set of 

the Canadian Alpine Journal.

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Living the astounding is Chic. Imagine the Choc of living it, at an altitude of over 615 m. 

Congratulations 

to the Alpine Club 

of Canada on your 

centennial. 

A Mountain Culture production of 

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Steve Deschênes 

Be among the first to experience the astounding adventure 

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mountains. Relax in the outdoor spa. Savour the exquisite 

mountain cuisine of the renowned chef Alain Laflamme. 

Our package, including lodging, 3 meals per day, a guide, 

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You too can experience the choc of this astoundingly chic 

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The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides 

Congratulates you on your first 100 years 

Proud Partners Since 1963 

• Professional Leadership 

• High Standards 

• Great Experiences 

For Mountain Conditions Reports www.acmg.ca/mcr

Join Us for a Mountain 

Rockies Classic Peaks & Ski Tours 

Date: March 11-18 Cost: $1350 + GST 

Staff: Geoff Ruttan, Mike Stuart 

Ski some of the best classic peaks and tours in the 

Canadian Rockies – Mts. Hector, Field and Jimmy Simpson, 

Surprise Pass, Dolomite Circuit, Purple Bowl and more. 

Based out of the CAC at Lake Louise, this action packed 

week will not disappoint! 

Fairy Meadow Ski Extravaganza 

Date: March 18-25 Cost: $1895 + GST 

Staff: T. Styles, S. King, B. Critchley, M. Carpenter 

Join us on our annual journey to one of the greatest 

backcountry ski destinations in North America – the Bill 

Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadow. Great food, great people, 

peak bagging and bottomless powder are to be expected. 

Moberly Pass Ski Camps 

Week 1 Date: March 24-April 1 

Staff: L. Andrews, T. & L. Palechuk, R. Andrews 

Week 2 Date: March 31 (eve) – April 8 

Staff: H. Sovdat, T. Styles, D. Dornian, P. 

Roozendaal Cost: $1995 + GST 

Our 2006 tent-based ski camp will be held in this littlevisited 

area which boasts a deep snowpack, varied terrain, 

& mild weather. With access by helicopter, we will sleep in 

mountain tents, but will have the convenience of big tents 

in which to dry gear, warm up, & eat sumptuous meals. 

Bugaboos Ski Mountaineering 

Date: April 14-22 Cost: $1795 + GST 

Staff: Pat Baird, Felix Camire 

Join us in Bugaboo Provincial Park for phenomenal ski 

touring and peak bagging. “The Bugs are probably the 

single best spot for ski mountaineering in Canada – the 

position and views are truly amazing.” (Pat Baird, 2005) 

Bugaboos to Silent Pass Traverse 

Date: April 21-29 Cost: $1895 + GST 

Staff: Conrad Janzen, Ray Norman 

The week will involve hard physical effort & unforgettable 

rewards as we travel through some of the most 

outstanding glaciated geography in the Purcell 

Mountains. Ascents of Mt. Conrad & Malloy are possible. 

Yukon ACC Centennial Camp 

Dates: June 2-18 Cost: $4300 + GST 

Staff: Helen Sovdat, Paul Geddes 

From camp, ski mountaineering ascents of numerous 

snow and ice covered peaks are possible, including 

opportunities for fi rst ascents. Mts 

Badham (3670 m) and Donjek 

(3560 m) are a short distance from 

camp. A high camp is planned 

for the Mt. Walsh/Steele col. 

Views of Canada’s highest 

mountains: Logan, 

Lucania, Steele and 

Walsh, will fi ll the 

horizons. 

photo by Nancy Hansen 

Bow Valley Rock Review 

Date: June 29–July 3 Cost: $995 + GST 

Staff: Grant Meekins, Brett Lawrence, D. Nelson 

Kick your summer off by learning or reviewing all of the 

basics for multi-pitch climbing & rappelling, short roping 

& basic rock rescue. We will spend 4 days climbing & 

learning on 5.5 to 5.7 limestone & quartzite. 

First Summits – Summer 

Mountaineering 

Date: June 29–July 3 Cost: $850 + GST 

Staff: Peter Amann, Gabrielle Savard 

This hut-based camp on the Wapta Icefi eld will cater 

to members looking to learn or refresh skills in: terrain 

evaluation, route selection, glacier travel and navigation, 

crevasse rescue systems and more. 

The Full Wapta Traverse 

Date: July 8-15 Cost: $1350 + GST 

Staff: Murray Toft, Pattie Roozendaal 

Learn about glacier travel and summer mountaineering 

on this incredible journey across the Wapta Icefi eld. We 

will stay in four different ACC huts, and ascents will be 

attempted on several peaks. 

Women’s Camp 


Staff: A. Andrews, J. Olson, J. Clarke 

The intent of this mountaineering camp is to provide 

opportunities for women to work on leading skills & gain 

mountaineering experience. The camp will be based out 

of the Bow & Peyto Huts on the stunning Wapta Icefi eld. 

Rockies Panorama 


Staff: Marco Delesalle, Jeff Bullock 

This camp is aimed at aspiring mountaineers & those 

who want to explore the heart of the Canadian Rockies. 

The week involves traversing through 3 national parks & 

staying at 4 classic ACC huts, including the new Fay Hut. 

Yoho Valley Centennial Camp 


Staff: Cyril Shokoples Peter Amann, Cam Roe, 

Dave McCormick, Bev Bendell 

This week of hiking, scrambling and mountaineering 

will be in celebration of the ACC’s fi rst General 

Mountaineering Camp at Yoho Pass in 1906. Based out 

of the Stanley Mitchell Hut, most evenings will feature a 

special guest speaker. 

Mts. Tsar & Clemenceau Climbing 


Staff: D. Smith, D. Glowacki, T. Haggarty 

With its huge relief, grand views & terrifi c mountaineering, 

it will be a very lucky group of members who get to 

venture into this remote country. Climbing objectives 

include Mts. Tsar, Somervell, Clemenceau, Tusk & others. 

photo by Daniel Dufresne 

Lake O’Hara Clim 

Date: July 29–Aug 5 C 

Staff: J. Gudjonson, G. Ru 

Join us at the incomparable L 

exploration & peak bagging. B 

Elizabeth Parker & Abbot Huts 

Mts. Odaray, Schaffer, Wiwaxy, 

Peak Weekend – A 

Andromeda 

Date: August 3-7 C 

Staff: Ken Wylie, Andrew 

Mts. Athabasca and Androme 

should be on every mountain 

Both over 11,000 feet, these p 

and ice climbs of moderate di 

Fryatt Valley Clim 

Date: August 5-12 

Staff: Aaron Beardmore, M 

The Fryatt Valley in Jasper offe 

objectives from the comforts 

be on rock, snow & ice, and th 

opportunities with lakes, glac 

explore. 

Jumbo Glacier Cl 


Staff: Roger Laurilla, Ma 

The Jumbo Glacier area is the 

interior ranges of B.C. Mts. Far 

Karnak and Commander, all o 

our campsite. 

Sorcerer Lodge C 


Staff: J. Gudjonson, C. Ja 

Sorcerer Lodge in the Selkirks 

mountaineering objectives lik 

Matterhorn and Mt. Pearce. Th 

wilderness experience – it is r 

the weak-hearted. 

55+ Trekking and 


Staff: F. Taxbock, P. Duffy 

This camp is aimed at those o 

for easy-to-moderate mounta 

spectacular hiking opportunit 

Gibson Hut in Jasper, horses a 

loads in and out of the hut. 

Mountain Photog 

Date: Sept. 22 – 24 C 

Instructor: Richard Berr 

This weekend workshop, duri 

concentrates on improving co 

skills through lectures, fi eld tr 

photographs taken during th

Adventure 

bing Adventure 

ost: $1750 + GST 

ttan, D. Dornian 

ake O’Hara for a week of 

ased out of the historic 

, climbing objectives include 

Victoria, Lefroy & others. 

thabasca & 

ost: $895 + GST 

Langsford, Deryl Kelly 

da at the Columbia Icefi eld 

eer’s list of peaks to climb. 

eaks provide superb snow 

ffi culty. 

bing Camp 

Cost: $1795 + GST 

ike Stuart, Matt Mueller 

rs excellent mountaineering 

of the Fryatt Hut. Climbs will 

ere are also abundant hiking 

iers, caves & meadows to 

imbing Camp 

ost: $1695 + GST 

t Peter, Cam Roe 

“Columbia Icefi eld” of the 

nham, Delphine, Jumbo, 

er 11,000’, will tower around 

limbing Camp 

ost: $2095 + GST 

zen, Z. Robinson 

is surrounded by stunning 

e Mt. Iconoclast, Little 

e area is very much a 

ugged, remote, and not for 

Climbing Camp 

ost: $1495 + GST 

, D. Toole, T. Cooper 

ver 55 who are looking 

ineering routes and/or 

ies. Based out of the Watesnd 

porters will ease our 

raphy Workshop 

ost: $325 + GST 

y 

ng the peak of fall colours, 

mposition and technical 

ips and by reviewing 

e course. 

2006 Centennial General Mountaineering Camp 

Dates: July 1 to August 12, 2006 (six one-week camps) 

Cost: $1295 (one week) + GST $1195 (additional weeks) + GST an ACC tradition since 1906. 

The Centennial GMC will be held in the Premier Range of the Cariboo Mountains in BC. At an elevation of 2215 m (7400’) 

we will have a spectacular campsite situated in a small basin that is graced by the beauty of the Kiwa Glacier. We will have 

access to over 15 peaks with varying degrees of diffi culty, ranging in height from 2910 m (9550’) to 3520 m (11,550’). 

Possible ascents include Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir John Abbott, Richard Bennett, Mackenzie King, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, 

Goodell, Twin Towers, Bivouac and Black Martin. The area has great diversity and offers up a variety of climbing from 

scrambles to technical rock climbing, as well as the snow and ice of the Kiwa, Laurier, Tete and Black Martin Glaciers. The 

camp operates on a seven day, Saturday to Saturday basis. Camp fees cover tent accommodation, guiding 

and instruction, sumptuous meals, helicopter fl ight in and out and group climbing equipment (not 

personal gear). This camp is aimed at all mountaineers – from novices to the very experienced. 

You Won’t Forget! 

photo by Jackie Clark 

Find Out More 

For more information on each camp, 

including their levels of diffi culty, 

please visit our website at 

www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

and follow the links to Mountain Adventures. 

Alternatively, call Jon Rollins 

at the ACC’s National Offi ce 

(403) 678-3200, ext. 112 

or email him at: 

adventures@AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

Ecuador’s Volcanoes 

Dates: Nov 6-23, 2006 Cost: $4800 (no GST) 

Staff: Helen Sovdat, Tim Haggarty 

Ecuador is a beautiful country that is home to some of 

the world’s highest volcanoes. The climbing objectives on 

this expedition will include Cayambe (5791 m/18,996’), 

Cotapaxi (5895 m/19,335’) and Chimborazo 

(6311 m/20,700’). This trip is an excellent choice for 

anyone wanting to gain some high altitude experience 

with relatively non-technical summits. 

Aconcagua Expedition 

Dates: Jan 14-Feb 6, 2007 Cost: TBA 

Staff: TBA 

Aconcagua is the highest peak in the western hemisphere 

at 6962 m/22,841’. We 

will ascend the normal 

route – mostly rocky 

terrain with one snow 

and ice slope near the 

summit. The route is 

non-technical, however 

the high altitude must 

not be taken lightly. 

Come and share this 

amazing opportunity 

to experience other 

cultures, austral beauty, 

and a challenging 

adventure. 

photo by Pat Morrow 

The North Face Centennial Summer Leadership Course 

Date: July 29-August 5 Cost: $650 + GST Apply by: May 1, 2006 

Staff: Cyril Shokoples, Kirsten Knechtel, Masten Brolsma 

Held at the 2006 Premier Range GMC, this course is aimed at current ACC trip leaders and will deal 

with the following leadership skills: rope handling (specifi cally in general mountaineering situations); 

glacier travel; route planning and selection; navigation; multi-pitch climbing; rescue systems; group 

dynamics, interaction and management; and emergency-situation response.

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OFFICIAL CLOTHING SPONSOR

2007 SKI WEEK LOTTERIES 

● Th e Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow) Hut lottery 

will take place on May 1, 2006 for the 2007 

ski season at Fairy Meadow. 

● Th e Kokanee Glacier Cabin lottery will take 

place on May 22, 2006 for the 2007 ski season 

at Kokanee. 

Lottery forms are available on the ACC website. 

For more info, visit: www.alpinehuts.ca and click 

on the Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow) Hut or 

Kokanee Glacier Cabin. 

Summer Job Opportunities 

The ACC is looking for four responsible individuals to work as full time Custodians 

at the Kokanee Glacier Cabin (early June to late October) and at the Conrad 

Kain Hut in Bugaboo Provincial Park (mid June to mid September). 

In order to qualify, you must be: 

✔ Honest and reliable 

✔ Customer service oriented 

✔ Mechanically minded and handy with tools 

✔ Experienced in backcountry travel 

✔ Physically fi t and healthy 

Applicants must also have valid standard 

fi rst aid and CPR prior to beginning work. 

The jobs are loosely scheduled on a weekon 

week-off basis. During the week-off , 

subsidized staff accommodation is 

available at the Clubhouse property in 

Canmore. Custodians will be paid $90/ 

day based on a 7.5 hour workday, plus a 

car allowance, plus a bonus, if earned. The 

deadline for applications is April 15, 2006. 

Please submit your resume to: 

PHOTO BY JOHN DERICK 

Carole Perkins, Facilities Administration Manager 

cperkins@AlpineClubofCanada.ca 

Box 8040, Canmore, Alberta T1W 2T8 

OR fax: (403) 678-3224 


In order to establish the 

Alpine Club of Canada as 

an organization of true 

international stature, Arthur 

Wheeler recognized that its 

activities had to embrace the 

great remaining climbing 

challenges of the day. 

Foremost, but not alone 

among these, was the ascent 

of the highest peak in the 

Canadian Rockies. Though 

a bold ascent had already 

been claimed, there were 

doubts about whether the 

true summit had in fact 

been reached. In 1913, the 

Alpine Club of Canada set 

out to make sure there was 

no doubt whatsoever about 

whether Canadians could 

climb this giant. 


Mount Robson 

At 3954 metres, Mount Robson reaches 3000 

metres above Kinney Lake which lies at its 

base. It is not only its height however, that 

gives Robson its formidable character, but its sheer 

mass. It dominates not just the skyline, but the very 

atmosphere of every valley, pass, river, waterfall and 

lake in its vicinity. 

Viewed from Highway 16, Mount Robson is a 

massive layer cake of dark and light rock, stacked 

with the fi ne gradation of a carefully constructed 

café latte. Its South Face is split by a glacier and 

smeared with snow patches. On its north side, the 

mountain harbours one of the most impressive 

glacier systems in all the Rockies, via which 

most mountaineers attempt to climb the peak. 

With Robson towering so high above any of its 

neighbours, the prevailing westerly winds struggle 

to pass over it, more often than not leaving the 

summit enshrouded in clouds, no matter how 

pleasant the day at valley bottom. Th e ensuing 

high precipitation levels have created a cedar forest 

at Robson’s base that is unique to the Rockies. 

Moisture-laden air also causes the formation of 

teeth-like pinnacles across the summit crest. Th ere 

is no easy route up the mountain, made all the more 

challenging by frequently poor weather. 

As the Rockies highest, Robson was a highly 

sought after prize. At the Club’s 1906 camp, Arthur 

Oliver Wheeler encouraged Arthur Philomen 

Coleman, a veteran explorer and geologist to 

organize an attempt. Th e following summer 

Coleman, his brother Lucius, Jack Boker and an 

intrepid reverend from New Brunswick named 

George Kinney spent 39 days plotting a course to 

the mountain. Th ey returned in 1908, when Kinney 

climbed alone through snow clogged chimneys 

and across ledges to the lower spine of what is now 

known as the Emperor Ridge, turning back at 3200 

metres as a storm threatened. 

After two attempts, Kinney became obsessed 

with making the fi rst ascent of the mountain. In 

1909 he embarked on a solo expedition, en route 

teaming up with a fi t and energetic horse wrangler 

named Donald “Curly” Phillips who agreed to 

attempt Robson as his very fi rst climb. On their 

fi fth try at the summit, and in poor weather 

believing they were a few hundred feet below the 

peak from where masses of snow prevented further 

progress, they left a Canadian fl ag and an ascent 

record in the rocks proclaiming they had climbed 

the mountain for God, Country and the Alpine 

Club of Canada. 

While their climb was heralded a great 

accomplishment, and the CAJ published the article 

Kinney and Phillips co-authored, speculation 

brewed as to the veracity of their claim. 

Decades later the matter was considered settled 

after a team from the Harvard Mountaineering 

Club, while descending Robson’s steep northwest 

bowl in 1959, found Kinney’s summit register in a 

rusty tin can, a few hundred metres below and west 

of the summit. To this day, however, no one has 

ever doubted the courage the committed Kinney 

brought to his many attempts on the mountain. 

Wheeler however, had his own plans for 

the mountain all along. In 1911 he led a major 

scientifi c expedition to the area with guide Conrad 

Kain, photographer Byron Harmon, Curly Phillips 

as outfi tter and George Kinney as general assistant, 

A.H. MacCarthy, Elizabeth MacCarthy, Caroline Hinman, 

Conrad Kain and unidentifi ed boy with Hinman party on 

Resplendent Mountain. ACC camp at Mount Robson 1913. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHYTE MUSEUM OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES AND 

CAROLE HARMON

Conrad Kain during the 1913 

ACC Robson camp 



AND CAROLE HARMON 

plus four biologists from 

Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian 

Institute. Bored and restless 

one day, Kain soloed Mount 

Whitehorn. He also made a fi rst 

ascent of Mount Resplendent 

with Byron Harmon. From 

the summit they admired a 

stupendous view – including 

Robson’s eastern side. 

Th e 1911 expedition served a 

greater purpose than collecting 

plant and animal specimens. It 

was the basis of a plan to make 

sure the mountain was climbed. 

In 1913, Wheeler organized a 

special Alpine Club of Canada 

camp at Mount Robson. 

Attendance at the camp 

was limited to active members 

who rode special luxury cars 

on the newly completed Grand 

Trunk Northern Railway to an 

unoffi cial stop near Yellowhead 

Pass. Kinney was not there, but Curly Phillips 

was in charge of packing. For the summit team, 

Wheeler chose W.W. “Billy” Foster B.C. Deputy 

Minister of Public Works, and Albert “Mack” 

MacCarthy, a New Jersey banker, retired U.S. navy 

captain and prominent 

American Alpine Club 

member. Th e ascent 

was to be guided by 

Conrad Kain. Of the 

event, Foster wrote 

the ACC had come 

to climb Robson, “… 

the monarch of the 

Canadian Rockies, a 

peak which the Club’s Executive had determined to 

make its own.” 

On July 30, the three men bivied on the 

moraine and began climbing at fi rst light. Th ey 

ascended Robson Glacier, climbed the icefall to the 

Dome and negotiated the tricky bergschrund. With 

a thin layer of melting snow on the ice face, Kain 

cut 105 steps in a zigzag fashion to a rock ledge 

then led up a 60 metre ice slope. After more rock 

walls, more snow and ice slopes and lots more steps, 

they reached what is now known as Th e Roof – a 

maze of ice walls. 

“Never before on all my climbs have I seen such 

snow formations,” Kain wrote, “Th e snow walls 

were terraced. Th e ledges between the walls were of 

diff erent widths, and all were covered in loose snow. 

I often sank to my hips… Some of the walls were 

In all my mountaineering in various countries, 

I have climbed only a few mountains that were 

hemmed in with more diffi culties. Mount Robson 

is one of the most dangerous expeditions I have 

made. Th e dangers consist in snow and ice, stone 

avalanches, and treacherous weather. 

fi fteen to twenty metres high. It was diffi cult to fi nd 

a way up from one terrace to another.” 

Not too long afterward, Kain spoke his now 

famous line, “Gentlemen, that’s as far as I can take 

you.” 

Just then the clouds rolled away to reveal the 

spectacular panorama of peaks and glaciers. Kain 

wrote they spent 15 minutes on the summit, 10 

pleasurable, fi ve teeth chattering. Retracing their 

steps to the shoulder and knowing steep ground 

and afternoon avalanches would prevent them from 

returning the way they’d ascended, Kain led them 

down the west side. Working their way down the 

south glacier, retreating at dead ends and climbing 

beneath dangerous overhanging ice, they fi nally 

moved off the glacier and onto the rocks, where 

they spent a cold night with seracs calving off and 

thundering nearby. In the morning they worked 

their way down chimneys and cracks, crossed under 

the glacier’s snout, which exposed them to big 

icefall danger, and fi nally made it to camp at Berg 

Lake. 

It had been by far among the most diffi cult 

ascents to date in North America and the Kain 

route was not repeated for 40 years. Wheeler 

had his perfect climb, and it was not without its 

sensation, as over the campfi re, Phillips announced 

that four years earlier he and Kinney hadn’t climbed 

the last 60 or 70 feet to the summit. Wheeler 

—Conrad Kain 

Canadian Alpine Journal, 1914-15 

offi cially declared the 

1913 climb to be the 

fi rst. 

In 1924, the Club 

returned to Robson for 

its annual camp, once 

more setting the stage 

for a notable ascent, 

when with Conrad 

Kain in the lead, Phyllis 

Munday became the fi rst woman to set foot on 

the mountain’s summit via its South Face route, 

followed shortly afterward by four male climbers 

and Miss Annette Buck. During the 35-hour 

outing, Munday showed her exceptional leadership 

skills when the group was forced to spend the night 

out at 3200 metres. 

Since Kain led the fi rst Alpine Club of Canada 

ascent in 1913, determined mountaineers have 

pioneered nearly a dozen routes on the mountain. 

But none have been more satisfying than those 

made when the ACC was young, and great climbers 

were making fi rst ascents of great Canadian peaks. 


With the highest mountain 

in the Rockies climbed, the 

next major prize was the 

highest mountain in the 

country – Mount Logan. The 

peak’s great remoteness and 

almost Himalayan height, 

however, would ensure it 

would not fall easily. This was 

not a mountain that could 

be climbed in a day or even 

a week. The fi rst ascent of 

Mount Logan was a major 

expedition that demanded 

all the resources of both 

Canadian and American 

Alpine Clubs. It remains a 

diffi cult climb to this day. 

Hauling supplies by sled 



# V014/AC 0P/808(17) 

Mount Logan 


While virtually the entire mountaineering 

world was absorbed in the British 

attempts on Mount Everest, the Alpine 

Club of Canada focused its sights on another of the 

world’s great mountaineering challenges – Mount 

Logan. 

Soaring into the Yukon sky at 5959 metres, 

Logan measures 100 kilometres around its base. 

Th e massive, complex mountain supports a 20 km 

long upper plateau, most of it above 5000 metres, 

surrounded by numerous peaks approaching 6000 

metres. At 60 degrees latitude, the region is home 

to some of the planet’s coldest weather. Ferocious 

storms barge in from the Pacifi c depositing 

monstrous snowfalls that create glaciers of a 

magnitude of size exceeded only in Greenland and 

Antarctica. 

Mount Logan is one of the planet’s greatest 

mountains and as such presents mountaineers 

with an irresistible challenge. Even today, with 

planes and far better and lighter equipment, many 

more set out than succeed in reaching its dizzying 

summit. 

Th e idea of sending an expedition to Logan 

germinated in ACC circles after A.O. Wheeler 

brought it up at the 1913 Mount Robson camp. Th e 

idea, however, took a back seat to World War I. Ten 

years later the Mount Logan Executive Committee 

appointed Albert “Mack” MacCarthy expedition 

leader. At that time, just getting to the mountain 

promised a huge adventure. Standing 240 km 

from the nearest human habitation, not only was a 

potential route to the summit unclear; the route to 

its base was largely unknown. 

Th rough June and July 1924, MacCarthy, Andy 

Taylor and Miles “Scotty” Atkinson explored nearly 

160 km over 45 days up the Chitina River valley, 

then travelled another 80 km over the Chitina 

Glacier, Logan Glacier and Ogilvie Glacier to 

fi nally reach the mountain’s base. With its upper 

section shrouded in clouds, the climbing route was 

still in doubt. Th e severity of the approach however, 

was clear – establishing a base camp on the Ogilvie 

Glacier would involve ferrying a mountain of 

supplies. 

In the dark of the Arctic winter, on February 

17, 1925 MacCarthy, Taylor, Atkinson, assisted by 

Henry Olsen, Austin Trim, William Meyers, six 

horses pulling two big bobsleds and 21 dogs left 

McCarthy Alaska with nearly 9000 kilograms of 

supplies and equipment. Enduring open water, 

ice jams and minus 45 degree temperatures, they 

travelled up the Chitina Valley. After 10 days they 

reached an abandoned prospector’s cabin and 

sent the horses back to McCarthy. Following the 

Chitina Glacier’s south fl ank, they negotiated a 

constantly fl uctuating gorge carved by a glacial 

stream where they had to lead the dogs along a thin 

ice shelf frozen to the rock wall hanging above the 

raging torrent. Th ey made it through just before 

the shelf collapsed. By March 31 they established 

camp on the Logan Glacier, from where travel was 

relatively smooth onto the Ogilvie Glacier. Fifteen 

kilometres further they cached 2150 kg of food, 

supplies and equipment for the climb, leaving a 

second 450 kg cache not much further above it. 

On May 12 the team left McCarthy Alaska 

– led by MacCarthy, a retired U.S. navy captain 

and veteran of fi rst ascent of Mount Robson, with 

deputy leader Howard Frederick John Lambart, a 

Dominion government surveyor who worked for 

seven years along the Alaska-Yukon border, Major 

General William Wasborough Foster, also on the 

Robson fi rst ascent, and Andrew Morrison Taylor, 

adventurer, prospector, miner and hunting guide, 

plus four Americans – Allen Carpe, representing 

the American Alpine Club, Henry Hall Jr., R.M. 

Morgan and Norman H. Read. MacCarthy, Foster 

and Taylor were all 49 years old; Lambart was 45. 

In fi ne weather, they made steady progress to 

the Ogilvie Glacier, then moved loads 13 kilometres 

further to Cascade Camp, 30 km from the summit. 

Working their way up a huge icefall to the top of 

Quartz Hill, they ferried another 680 kilograms 

of supplies to Observation Camp at 3120 metres, 

then on to King Trench, a narrow glacial corridor 

beneath the north face of King Peak leading to 

King Col on the mountain’s west shoulder.

With some of our party snow-blind, others near 

the limit of exhaustion, and all with either feet or 

hands or both touched with frost, I am sure that 

terrible ordeal on Hurricane Hill will long remain 

in the recollection of every member of the party as 

the most dangerous menace to life and limb the 

expedition off ered. 

—A.H. MacCarthy 


Th en the good weather came to an end. Th e 

climbers would battle storms for the rest of the 

expedition. Feeling their way up to King Col in fog 

and driving sleet, they planted willow wands every 

30 metres to mark their route in case of a whiteout 

on their return. By June 10 they’d brought 

ten loads to King Col Camp at 4100 metres, then 

sat out a snowstorm until the morning of the 13. 

Th e next day the entire team broke trail through 

metre-deep fresh snow. 

Wearily working their 

way through a labyrinth 

of crevasses and ice 

blocks, they camped 

at 4815 metres. Th e 

storm returned the next 

day. On the 16th they 

reached Windy Camp 

at 5180 metres, where 

the night temperatures 

dropped to minus 38°C. 

Th e next day everyone climbed to a high saddle 

between two peaks but through breaking clouds 

realized the summit was still a long way away. 

Circling north they reached a pass at 5500 metres 

leading to the summit plateau. After two more 

stormy days, they stumbled back to Windy Camp 

in a blizzard, collapsing in their eiderdown sleeping 

bags. 

On a cold and blustery June 20 they carried 

loads to Prospector’s Pass at 5500 metres, where 

it stormed through the night. With frozen feet, 

Morgan, joined by Henry Hall, descended. Th e six 

others set off at 3 p.m. under clear skies on the 21st, 

camping in the pass by 10 p.m. Altitude took its 

toll, their actions were slow, painful and ineffi cient. 

Fingers frozen, they packed up the next day and 

descended 200 metres to what they would later call 

Hurricane Hill. With food and fuel for eight days 

stashed at Plateau Camp at 5325 metres, they knew 

their strength wouldn’t last that long. 

Th e night of the 22nd, a violent storm nearly 

The 1925 Mount Logan Expedition 

leaving Cascade Camp 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHYTE MUSEUM OF 

THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 

# V014/AC 0P/808(17) 

destroyed their small tents. But the next day the 

wind subsided and the clouds broke. Foster led, 

then Carpe and MacCarthy, with Lambart, Read 

and Taylor following on a second rope. Walking 

on windpacked snow to the base of a double peak, 

they donned crampons to reach the summit – and 

realized they must travel another three kilometres 

– with a 300 m drop between the peaks. 

Placing their last willow wand in the dip, fi nally 

at 8 p.m. MacCarthy led the group along a knife 

edge ridge to the summit, where “…we all shook 

hands and were foolishly happy in the success of 

our venture and the thoughts that our troubles were 

at and end.” 

Starting down after 20 minutes, dense fog 

rolled in and the wind increased. With no wands 

and footprints soon erased, they wandered lost for 

four hours in the Arctic half-light, stopping at 1:30 

a.m. Using ice axes and snowshoes, they excavated 

meagre shelters against the storm that raged into 

the morning. It took two hours after MacCarthy 

ordered them to move to get going; the long hours 

of shivering and nightmares having “seriously 

drained the small reserves strength of our party.” 

Taylor led carefully through the whiteout and 

fi nally they spotted a wand, but soon afterward as 

one stopped to adjust a crampon strap, the teams 

became separated. Lambart, Taylor and Read 

returned to Plateau Camp, while MacCarthy, 

Foster and Carpe wandered in fog. Hopelessly lost 

they trudged through the night fi ghting a storm. 

Exhausted and hallucinating, they stopped twice to 

nap restlessly in snow holes. When the fog lifted in 

the morning, they struggled down Plateau Camp 

and spent the next 24 hours eating and sleeping. 

But the nightmare wasn’t over. Under clear skies 

they left behind tents and sleeping pads to climb 

Hurricane Hill. Stopping to put on crampons, a 

bitter wind tore into them. 

Spent and fearful of holding the others back, 

Lambart urged them to continue without him, 

but MacCarthy would have none of it. Finally 

they reached the pass at 5500 metres, took a break 

behind some rocks and then continued downhill. 

Retrieving their boots at Windy Camp, they 

descended to Col Camp where they ate, drank and 

slept for 36 hours. Foster was treated for frozen 

fi ngers and toes – some of which were turning 

black. From the top of Quartz Hill, the normally 

15 minute descent to Cascade Camp took three 

painful hours. Th eir fi nal two-week journey back to 

civilization was an arduous and dangerous struggle. 

No summit, in the history of the Alpine Club of 

Canada was ever more hard-won. 


In the early years of Canadian 

mountaineering access was 

one of the central challenges 

facing climbers. With the 

gradual development of its 

expanded hut system, the 

Alpine Club of Canada was 

able to off er safe, if rustic, 

refuge in some of the best 

climbing areas in the country. 

Well maintained and well 

run, the Alpine Club of 

Canada’s huts off er an open 

invitation to explore this 

country’s mountains. 

Elizabeth Parker Hut, Yoho 

National Park, B.C. 

PHOTO BY MELODY GROSS 

Refuges Among the High Peaks 

Motoring through Kootenay National Park 

in a Studebaker on what is now called 

Highway 93 South was an exotic thing 

to do in 1928, especially if you wanted to visit Fay 

Hut. Full of adventure, Alpine Club of Canada 

members would drive as far as Marble Canyon 

and continue up the Tokumm Creek trail on 

horseback – a means of travel many consider exotic 

today – to a cozy, dim, but utterly charming single 

room log cabin reserved for the exclusive use of 

mountaineers. Th e hut was named for Charles Fay, 

the fi rst President of the American Alpine Club 

and a great friend of Canadian mountaineering. 

Th ough Fay Hut was not the ACC’s fi rst hut, it 

was the fi rst to be built entirely under the aegis of 

the Club rather than in association with Canadian 

Pacifi c Railway. 

Th ree generations of hikers and climbers 

enjoyed the hospitality provided under Fay Hut’s 

peaked roof before it was consumed by a wildfi re 

that burned much of Kootenay National Park in 

August of 2003. Th e rebuilding of the Fay Hut in 

2005 was one of the most positively energizing 

events in ACC history and a perfect prelude to the 

Club’s Centennial. 

At the time of its 100th birthday, the Alpine 

Club of Canada is proud to operate 24 huts in some 

of the most spectacular mountain landscapes in 

the Rocky Mountains and the Selkirk and Purcell 

ranges. Th e ACC also operates fi ve section huts in 

Ontario, New York State and British Columbia’s 

Coast Mountains. 

Over the more than 75 years since Fay Hut 

hosted its fi rst guests, Alpine Club of Canada 

backcountry huts have continued to provide not 

only physical shelter from the caprices of high 

mountain weather, but welcome refuge for those 

who seek spiritual fulfi llment among the rocky 

peaks and ancient glaciers of our mountains. Log 

cabin, stone house or sturdy metal Quonset, ACC 

backcountry huts are not merely buildings, they are 

mountain homes to which visitors return again and 

again with longing and aff ection. 

When the Alpine 

Club of Canada was 

formed in 1906, attention 

was focussed almost 

immediately on the need 

to build a permanent 

facility to accommodate 

Club activities and visiting 

mountaineers. In 1909, 

the ACC’s fi rst Clubhouse 

opened its doors on the 

slopes of Banff ’s Sulphur 

Mountain, close to Middle 

Springs. For more than 60 years it remained one 

of the grandest heritage buildings in the Canadian 

Rockies. When Parks Canada insisted on it being 

demolished in 1971, Canada lost one of its greatest 

historic treasures. A new Clubhouse did, however, 

open later at the present Indian Flats location in 

Canmore. Th rough the commitment of a generation 

of committed staff and volunteers, the Canmore 

Clubhouse has become a centre for mountaineers 

in the Rockies. In 2004 it welcomed guests from 

around the world and recorded a whopping 10,778 

visitor-nights in its hostel facilities. 

While consolidating its operations in Canmore, 

the ACC also dramatically expanded its role in 

providing refuge among the high mountains by 

building new alpine huts and taking over and 

restoring huts that had been built by others. In 

1919, the Canadian Pacifi c Railway built a log 

cabin at O’Hara Meadows. In 1923, it built a 

sturdy stone house at Abbot Pass, on a col between 

Mount Victoria and Mount Lefroy above Lake 

Louise. Th e same Swiss guides who hauled supplies 

up the “Death Trap” to build Abbot Hut, had also 

recommended the location for Fay Hut. In time, 

Fay Hut and the huts at Abbot Pass and Lake 

O’Hara would become the core of a developing 

system of backcountry facilities that would change 

how Canadians experienced their mountains. It was 

not just the national organization that was involved 

in this evolution. Individual Club sections did a 

great deal in their own interest, and in the interest 

of Canadians. 

Eager to promote the Rockies’ regions recently 

made accessible by the Canadian National Railway 

line, the 20-strong Edmonton Section raised 

funds to build a cabin in the Tonquin Valley in 

Jasper National Park. Combining its resources 

with the Soldiers and Slark-Rutis Memorial 

Funds, the Edmonton Section made the cabin 

a joint memorial to climbers who lost their lives 

in the Canadian mountains and Club members 

who gave their lives in the Great War. Clearing 

snow to lay the foundation in late June of 1929, 

section volunteers battled mosquitoes and steady 

rain to fi nish the hut later that summer. Memorial 

Cabin was offi cially dedicated in mid August, 

the day before Capt. E.R. Gibson, W.E. Streng 

and “Bunny” Cautley made Outpost Peak’s fi rst 

ascent. With no set charge for the general public, 

50 cents per night toward maintenance was 

suggested. A completely new and much expanded 

Wates-Gibson Memorial Hut was built in 1959. 

Th e hut commemorates the contributions to 

mountaineering and backcountry skiing by two of 

the Club’s former Presidents, Cyril Wates and Rex 

Gibson.

Opening the newly 

constructed Fay Hut, August 

2005 

PHOTO BY RICHARD BERRY 

… her memory is preserved by the very popular 

tribute inscribed with her name, the ‘Elizabeth 

Parker Hut’, maintained in one of the most 

charming centres of the Canadian Rockies, close by 

beautiful Lake O’Hara. 

Malcolm “Tabs” Talbot fi rst 

joined the Huts Committee 

in 1986. Twenty years and 

some 50 work parties later, 

Tabs, now Chairman of the 

Committee, continues to 

plan and lead work parties. 

In 2006 the intent is to go 

to the Bill Putnam (Fairy 

Meadow) Hut to replace 

the roof, amongst other 

things. I once asked Tabs 

why he devoted so much 

time to the huts. He told 

me that he felt that when 

he retired he would always 

have a place to visit and 

stay in the mountains. 

As such l believe that we 

should nominate Tabs as 

one of the best volunteers 

of the century. 

—Mike Mortimer 

Two years after the fi rst 

Memorial Hut in Jasper, the 

CPR donated its O’Hara 

Meadows cabin to the Club, 

and members promptly spent 

$518 on improvements. Th ey 

also paid tribute to the Club’s 

formation by renaming it for Elizabeth Parker. It 

was not until 1985 that Parks Canada turned over 

Abbot Pass Hut – which it acquired in a run-down 

state from the CPR in the 1960s – to the ACC. 

In the meantime, additional huts were being 

constructed throughout the mountain west 

with other aims besides meeting the needs of 

summer mountaineers. In 1937, Montreal’s Helen 

Trenholme donated 

$1500 toward a hut 

to be named after 

Stanley Mitchell, in 

recognition of his huge 

volunteer contribution 

to the Club and his 

great popularity among 

beginner climbers. 

Despite October snowstorms and the necessity of 

using unseasoned logs, Stanley Mitchell Hut was 

handed over to the Club in mid-October 1939 and 

promptly hosted the Club’s annual ski camp the 

following March. Six years later, a two-storey log 

cabin located at Rogers Pass in Glacier National 

Park and named for Arthur Oliver Wheeler would 

become another enormously popular winter Club 

destination. 

Until the 1960s, the ACC’s mountain huts were 

constructed on site, below tree line and, with the 

exception of Abbot Hut, built of logs. Helicopter 

technology however, facilitated construction of 

shelters in less accessible high alpine locations 

where fi rst ascents were still possible. In August 

1964 a dozen volunteers climbed up to Glacier 

National Park’s Sapphire Col to assemble the 

country’s fi rst prefabricated high altitude bivouac 

shelter. Designed by architect Philippe Delesalle, 

this structure marked the beginning of a new era 

in alpine hut construction and operation. Th at 

same year, Bill Putnam and Ben Ferris began 

constructing the Great Cairn Hut using stones 

from a six metre cairn erected in 1953 by Harvard 

Mountaineering Club members sitting out a rainy 

day. It was completed in 1965, the same year as 

Fairy Meadow Hut. In honour of their lifelong 

support for Canadian mountaineering, Great Cairn 

Hut was renamed Great Cairn Ben Ferris Hut in 

1996, and Fairy Meadow Hut was renamed Bill 

Putnam (Fairy Meadow) Hut in 2003. 

While Putnam focused his attention on the 

—Arthur Oliver Wheeler 

Th e Canadian Alpine Journal 1944-45 

Selkirk’s remote peaks and glaciers, ACMG guide 

Peter Fuhrmann looked to the Rockies’ Wapta 

Icefi eld to facilitate European style traverses. 

Starting with Balfour in 1965, the fi breglass 

Wapta igloos were predicted to serve a few hardy 

ski mountaineers willing to carry packs and 

endure stormy nights in the rudimentary shelters. 

Conceived by Fuhrmann and funded by Vici and 

Lucho Mondolfo and built by Calgary Ski Club 

and ACC volunteers, Balfour Hut endured terrifi c 

storms, dismantling and reconstruction with Swiss 

Army knives, and plundering by wolverines until 

being replaced by a cedar log successor. Located on 

Mount Olive’s south side, the refuge served skiers 

well for 18 years, until the current hut at the toe of 

Vulture Glacier was built in 1989. 

Part of the Wapta system, the Peter and 

Catharine Whyte Hut is also known as the Peyto 

Hut because of its location. Th e hut started out in 

1967 as a 12-person fi breglass igloo. Soon after 

construction, it was taken over by Parks Canada 

who replaced it with a white wolverine-proof 

fi breglass bubble. In 1983 a large Whyte family 

donation facilitated construction of the current 

building, which was further improved by Huts 

Committee volunteers in 2000. 

Another generous Whyte donation supported 

Bow Hut’s construction in 1968. Easy access 

however, attracted unappreciative crowds, so in 

1989 Huts Committee Chair Mike Mortimer 

spearheaded construction of a new, modern Bow 

Hut half a kilometre from the original site. Last 

renovated in 2003, Bow Hut features open sleeping 

areas, two woodstoves, indoor toilets, propane 

cooking, lights and a custodian’s room. Th is hut also 

sets a new high standard for waste, water and energy 

management for alpine huts in North America. 

In order to complete Canada’s “Haute Route,” 

Rocky Mountain Section members built the Scott 

Duncan Hut in 1988. Its construction was funded 

largely by Calgary’s Duncan family in memory 

of their son. Scott Duncan is the only Wapta hut 

never run by Parks Canada which, after recognizing 

its competence in managing and maintaining 

backcountry refuges in sensitive environments, 

turned over Balfour, Bow and Peyto Huts to the 

Alpine Club of Canada in 1989. 

Today, many hikers and climbers are fi rst 

introduced to the ACC by staying in a backcountry 

hut. By way of this experience thousands of Canadians 

have come to appreciate our long tradition of shared 

alpine experience, a heritage that would not exist 

today were it not for the century-long commitment 

of Alpine Club of Canada maintenance staff and 

volunteers who have worked so diligently to maintain 

and cherish their alpine huts. 


There is one branch of 

mountaineering which has 

so far received but scant 

attention from those to 

whom the Rocky Mountains 

are a happy hunting 

ground, and that is winter 

mountaineering by the use 

of ski. It is quite easy to see 

how this fascinating means 

of carrying out mountain 

trips in winter has not so far 

come into prominence, for 

winter sports in the Rockies 

are at present in the pioneer 

stage only. 

—E.R. Gibson 


Ice River ice school, led by 

Rex Gibson in 1954 

PHOTO BY LEN CHATWIN 


Slopes and Summits 

In recognizing the potential of skimountaineering, 

Rex Gibson was just a little 

ahead of his time. By the end of the century, the 

mountains of western Canada would be heralded 

internationally for off ering some of the world’s 

greatest backcountry and ski mountaineering 

opportunities. Alpine Club of Canada members, 

including Gibson, were among those who broke 

trail pioneering several long distance wilderness 

ski traverses and making the fi rst ski ascents of 

prominent Canadian mountains. 

Th e Club’s contributions toward the 

development of ski mountaineering weren’t limited 

to the members’ exploratory ventures, however. Its 

over two-dozen backcountry huts continue to this 

day to make backcountry skiing more accessible to 

growing numbers of enthusiasts. While ACC huts 

provide comfort in the rugged alpine environment 

in summertime, their value increases greatly 

during the harsh, frosty winter months. Huts, 

particularly Yoho National Park’s Stanley Mitchell 

and Elizabeth Parker Huts, A.O. Wheeler Hut at 

Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, and those 

on the Rockies’ Wapta Icefi eld are popular winter 

destinations that make outings not only more 

comfortable, but also safer, allowing more and more 

people to enjoy the magic of the mountains in 

winter. 

Skiing came to North America in the later 

19th century, imported mainly by Norwegian 

immigrants who settled in communities across 

Canada. Carving skis by hand from hickory and 

other hard woods, they formed ski clubs in virtually 

every community in which they settled. Th ey also 

exhibited impressive athletic feats at competitions 

in ski running, downhill racing and long distance 

ski jumping. 

But while the majority of early North 

American skiers stuck to slopes near – or in – their 

hometowns, a few 

intrepid adventurers 

explored the wilderness. 

In 1929, Jasper’s Joe 

Weiss skied solo from 

Jasper to near the 

Columbia Icefi eld. Th e 

following winter he set 

out with four others, 

skiing all the way 

from Jasper to Banff 

following the route that 

would later become 

the Icefi elds Parkway. 

Hooking up with Weiss 

over New Year’s in 

1931, Rex Gibson skied 

into the Tonquin Valley for three days. He wrote 

about the trip in the one of the more than a dozen 

articles he wrote on skiing and winter travel for the 

Canadian Alpine Journal. 

Th e following winter Gibson and Weiss 

cranked their turns up a notch, skiing up 3426 

metre Resplendent Mountain, neighbour to Mount 

Robson. Strapping on crampons for the hard, 

windswept upper slopes, they reached the summit 

where the winds were so fi erce they couldn’t stand. 

Retreating quickly to their skis, Gibson later wrote, 

“… off came our crampons and on went our skis for 

the glorious thrill of the descent of nearly 5000 feet 

of glacier under perfect snow conditions.” 

Th at same year, Winnipeg Section members 

Campbell Secord and brothers Roger and Ferris 

Neave were the fi rst to ski onto the Wapta Icefi eld. 

Starting from Yoho Valley’s Twin Falls Chalet, 

they skied up the Yoho Glacier, continuing to the 

summit of Mount Gordon. Descending the east 

side of the mountain to just below Vulture Col, 

they skied up Mount Olive’s fl ank and scrambled to 

the summit. Back on the glacier, they rounded the 

north end of Mount Gordon and skied back down 

the Yoho Glacier just as the sun set. 

In 1937 Gibson explored new ground again, 

setting up camp for fi ve nights on the Columbia 

Icefi eld with Sterling Hendricks and Ken and 

Hugh Boucher. Using skis, they reached the 

summits of Snow Dome, North Twin and 

Columbia – Gibson and Hendricks making 

mountaineering history as the fi rst to climb the 

four Canadian Rockies peaks over 3636 metres 

(12,000 feet). 

With the fi rst of its annual ski camps in 1937, 

the ACC began opening up backcountry skiing 

to its general membership – and the public. A 20 

year veteran of backcountry skiing in the Rockies, 

Selkirks and Purcells, Alexander Addison ‘Mac’ 

McCoubrey was elected editor of the CAJ in 1930. 

He devoted an entire section to ski mountaineering. 

In April 1937, McCoubrey hosted the fi rst ACC 

ski camp at Lake O’Hara – an excellent venue for 

the majority of participants who were likely to be 

novices. Despite stormy weather, the camp was 

a success. While most practiced their technique 

near the hut, fi ve people climbed Mount Schaeff er 

and another group made a three-day excursion 

to Fay Hut via Opabin Pass. Some participants, 

including McCoubrey, Rex Gibson, Ethne Gibson, 

Norman Brewster and Dorothy Hartley, would 

return year after year to the ski camps. Even though 

McCoubrey died just a few weeks before the 1942 

camp in Little Yoho Valley, the camps endured 

through World War II – although at the 1945 

camp women outnumbered men ten to six.

Skiers at the Stanley Mitchell Hut 

during an ACC camp in 1947 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ESTATE OF KEN JONES 

I feel that this expedition has demonstrated the 

feasibility of winter ascents in the Rockies by means 

of ski and I trust it will be but a forerunner of 

many trips of a like nature. 

—Rex Gibson 


Th rough subsequent 

decades, ski camps – attracting 

as many as 30 people – were 

held at the Tonquin Valley’s 

Memorial Hut, Stanley 

Mitchell Hut and A.O. 

Wheeler Hut, in a garage 

building at the Columbia 

Icefi elds Chalet in 1947, 

and at privately run cabins 

at Assiniboine and Mount Robson’s Berg Lake. 

Experimenting with new technology, snowmobiles 

were used to haul skiers to the Bald Hills above 

Brewster’s Lodge at Maligne Lake in 1957 and to 

tow skiers uphill at Little Yoho in 1966. 

After the formation of the Association of 

Canadian Mountain Guides in 1963, the Club 

began hiring certifi ed guides to lead camp 

participants on ski tours, including Leo Grillmair, 

Lloyd “Kiwi” Gallagher, Sepp Renner and Kobi 

Wyss. Th rough the 1970s the camps grew in 

popularity, with two camps in 1974 – one for three 

weeks at Little Yoho 

and one week at Fairy 

Meadow. Four years 

later the Club ran 

fi ve backcountry ski 

camps. In 1981 there 

were six. Although 

interest waned during 

the 1980s, in 1991 the Club successfully ran a ski 

ascent of Mount Logan and the southern half of 

the Great Divide Traverse, from the Columbia 

Icefi eld to Lake Louise. By the 21st century, 

numerous Alpine Club of Canada ski camps ran 

through the winter, ranging from weekend section 

trips to full weeks at fl y-in huts, commercial lodges 

and tent based camps in the remote Columbia 

Mountains, and multi-day wilderness traverses – all 

led by professional guides. 

While most Canadians are aware of their 

countrymen’s stellar talents on the hockey rink, 

few are aware of our impressive accomplishments 

in the domain of wilderness ski traverses. In May 

1967 a young team comprised of Chic Scott, Neil 

Liske, Don Gardner and Charlie Locke skied 

300 kilometres over 21 days across glaciers and 

high alpine passes from Jasper to Lake Louise, 

establishing the Great Divide Traverse. Still a 

formidable challenge, it went unrepeated for 20 

years. Since 1967, numerous high altitude short and 

long distance traverses have been pioneered, many 

of them by Canadians, including the Southern and 

Northern and Cariboos traverses in 1976 and 1982, 

the Northern Selkirks in 1976 and the Southern 

Purcells in 1982, by some of the country’s most 

intrepid ski explorers, including Steve Smith, Don 

Gardner and Dave Smith. In 1991 Don Gardner 

accomplished his most impressive journey, skiing 

900 kilometres in 28 days in March and April from 

his Calgary home to the Pacifi c without tent or 

stove, cooking over brush fi res and camping in tree 

wells. 

Kicking off the exploits of a younger generation, 

in 1998 Dan Clark and Chris Gooliaff traversed 

the Columbia Mountains from McBride to 

Kimberley B.C., skiing 700 kilometres over 61 

days, but unfortunately they were unable to link 

the Northern Selkirks with the Southern Cariboos 

through the Monashees. However, in April 2004, 

Greg Hill, Ian Bissonette and Aaron Chance 

completed the Northern Monashees traverse, skiing 

over 200 kilometres across complicated terrain from 

Lempriere railway siding to Kirkup Creek near 

Revelstoke in 21 days, bagging 21 summits along 

the way. 

Looking north, in April 2002, Lena Rowat, 

Jacqui Hudson, Merrie Beth Board and Kari 

Medig, left Chilkat Inlet near Haines, Alaska. For 

54 days they skied 700 kilometres across the Saint 

Elias Range, spending 18 days climbing 5959 

metre Mount Logan along the way. A year earlier, 

Canadians Guy Edwards and John Millar, joined 

by several friends for various sections, skied the fi rst 

complete Coast traverse – 2015 kilometres over 

fi ve and a half months from Vancouver to Skagway 

Alaska. 

While ski resorts experienced declines in 

business during the 1990s and into the 21st 

century, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering 

among the peaks and glaciers of western Canada 

have grown steadily. Although modern skis are 

constructed of lightweight wood and synthetic 

combinations, the feeling of fl oating on powder 

snow hasn’t changed at all. Perhaps, in the superconnected 

world of 2006, people – with the ACC 

providing a myriad of opportunities – are still 

fi nding what Norman Brewster wrote about after 

the 1939 Tonquin Valley camp: “All will retain 

happy memories, of climbs, of thrilling schusses, of 

a sunlit world which contained no newspapers and 

no radios…” 


Because of the fi erce 

intensity of the 

mountaineering experience, 

climbers often develop a 

strong desire to protect the 

landscapes they love so that 

others might in the future 

have the opportunity to be 

similarly aff ected by them. 

Right from its inception, the 

goals of the Club were made 

wholly consistent with the 

national park ideal. In 1906, 

the ACC began vigorously 

volunteering support for the 

development and expansion 

of our country’s now worldrenowned 

protected places 

system. This important work 

continues today in close 

association with the Club’s 

National and Provincial Parks 

partners. 

Entrance to Mount Robson 

Provincial Park 

PHOTO BY R.W. SANDFORD 


National Parks and Protected Places 

At the turn of the 20th century, most of the 

country’s mountain ranges were still remote 

and relatively wild. As the country was 

immense and most of its landscapes still largely 

pristine, the idea of creating national parks to 

protect the best and most representative landscapes 

was indeed a visionary ideal. Just as today, however, 

the notion of protecting public lands from 

economically productive private ownership had 

its opponents. Western politicians, in particular, 

held that newly created national parks such as 

Banff , Yoho and Glacier ought not to be a drain 

on the public purse. In order to pay for their own 

formation and operation, the managers of these 

new reserves had to accept some compromises. 

When the Alpine Club of Canada came into 

existence in 1906, logging, mining and extensive 

development were reluctantly being permitted in 

the western mountain national parks. Th e Club’s 

founders could see the direction this was going 

and set out to argue eloquently on behalf of the 

preservation of these parks through changes in 

public policy. With science on its side, the Alpine 

Club of Canada became a nationally recognized 

champion for protection of spectacular mountain 

landscapes and for access to good climbing areas, 

not just in the Rockies, but all over the country. As 

with so many things associated with the Alpine 

Club of Canada, the man behind this was Arthur 

Oliver Wheeler. 

As one of the country’s most important 

surveyors and mapmakers, Wheeler knew the 

geography of the mountain west as well as any 

living Canadian. He was also very well connected 

in both federal and provincial political circles. 

With outstanding maps at hand, Wheeler was 

able to translate what were once blank spaces 

on the map into 

concrete geographical 

coordinates that 

politicians utilized in 

land use decisions. For 

a time it seemed that 

wherever Wheeler 

went in the mountain 

west, landscapes were 

somehow transformed 

into national or 

provincial parks. 

Th e most productive 

period of ACC-inspired 

park creation began 

in 1911, following 

Wheeler’s second and 

fi nal term as President. 

In that year Wheeler 

was given a contract by the B.C. government 

to survey a road between Port Alberni to Long 

Beach on Vancouver Island. It turned out that the 

Deputy Minister of Public Works for the Province 

of British Columbia, W.W. Foster, was a climber 

and he and Wheeler became fast friends. William 

Foster had huge political sway and when Alpine 

Club of Canada members on Vancouver Island 

put forward the idea of creating a reserve in the 

spectacular mountains that form the backbone 

of the island, the idea was readily embraced by 

government. In 1911, Strathcona Park became the 

fi rst provincial park in British Columbia. 

It was with similar purpose that Arthur 

Wheeler made William Foster a member of the 

fi rst summit team at the Club’s now famous Mount 

Robson Camp in 1913. In that year, Deputy 

Minister Foster crafted a special act in the British 

Columbia legislature that created Mount Robson 

Provincial Park. With this park as the second jewel 

in the foundation of a new parks system, other 

reserves came quickly into existence. Th e agents 

once again were Wheeler and Foster, but the 

vehicle was the Alpine Club of Canada. 

In 1913, a survey to delineate the boundary 

between Alberta and British Columbia was 

initiated by the Surveyor General in Ottawa. Th is 

landmark survey was undertaken by Robert Cautley 

of the Alberta Land Survey and Arthur Wheeler, 

who was now in charge of the British Columbia 

Land Survey. During the fi rst three years, the 

survey concentrated on the southern Rockies, from 

Akamina Pass to Mount Assiniboine. On February 

6, 1922, British Columbia, at the urging of the 

Alpine Club of Canada, set aside 5,120 hectares as 

Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. 

It wasn’t until the Interprovincial Boundary 

Survey was completed in 1924 that enough was 

known about the geography of the Columbia 

Icefi eld area that proposals could be put forward 

to include it in Jasper National Park. As principal 

author of the survey, Wheeler immediately 

understood the extraordinary dimensions of this ice 

age feature and began pressing for recognition of its 

signifi cance. Th rough his careful lobby, an order-incouncil 

was passed in 1927 that placed some 2500 

square kilometres south of Sunwapta Pass under 

national protection. 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada lobby did not 

stop at park creation. It was also a principal agent 

in the creation of the Canadian National Parks 

Association in 1923. Th e Alpine Club of Canada 

and the Canadian National Parks Association then 

joined forces to fi ght hydro-power development 

in the country’s national parks. Since then, Club 

members have continued under the expanded

This ‘Gateway to Rocky Mountains Park’ 

was located in Kananaskis until 1930 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHYTE MUSEUM OF THE 

CANADIAN ROCKIES 

By virtue of its constitution, the Alpine Club 

is a national trust for the defence of our mountain 

solitudes against the intrusion of steam and 

electricity and all the vandalisms of this luxurious, 

utilitarian age; for the keeping free from the grind 

of commerce, the wooded passes and valleys and 

alplands of the wilderness. It is the people’s right to 

have primitive access to the remote places of safest 

retreat from the fever and the fret of the market 

place and the beaten tracts of life. 




umbrella of a growing 

conservation movement 

to press hard for the 

clarifi cation of national 

park policy in support 

of fi rmer guidelines 

for protection of the 

country’s mountain 

heritage. 

Th e signifi cance 

of this lobby over 

time should not be 

underestimated. While 

it would be easy to 

view the history of the 

mountain west as the 

serial decline of the natural character of the region 

through exploitation, that is not a true picture of 

what has happened. Something very diff erent, in 

fact, may be in play. 

Th ere is a new history emerging, which 

defi nes human activity in this region based, not 

in the context of how we have divided it up and 

fragmented it, but in the remarkable steps we took, 

once we knew what we had, to restore the Rocky 

Mountains both as an ecosystem and as a place. 

Among the key 

dates in this new 

history are 1885, the 

year the country’s fi rst 

national park came 

into existence at Banff ; 

1886 when Yoho was 

created; 1906 the year 

the ACC was formed; 

1907 when Jasper was 

formed; 1913 when 

Mount Robson became 

a provincial park; 

1922 when Mount 

Assiniboine park was 

set aside; 1923 when Kootenay National Park 

was formed; 1930 when the National Parks Act 

was passed; 1941 when Hamber was made into a 

B.C. Provincial Park; 1984 when the four national 

parks together were granted UNESCO World 

Heritage Site designation; and 1990 when the three 

provincial parks were added to the national parks 

under that designation to create one of the most 

remarkable and signifi cant large scale ecological 

and cultural reserves in the world. Th is great whole 

is much more than the sum of its parts and will 

continue to be so long into the future. 

Th e fact that, in a very tangible way, we are 

moving in the direction of restoring a landscape 

of this magnitude and importance to our country’s 

future is something in which the Alpine Club 

of Canada should take great pride. Th rough 

individual and collective attention to minimizing 

our own impacts, Alpine Club of Canada members 

contribute to the sustainable future of our mountain 

regions. By striving continuously for ever higher 

standards for waste, water and energy management 

in the maintenance and operation the Club’s front 

and backcountry huts, and by embodying the ideals 

of our country’s expansive protected places system 

in all that it undertakes, the Club is achieving a 

century old goal of sharing meaningfully in the 

stewardship of places that mean a great deal to 

mountaineers, and to Canadians. 

Individual sections, such as the ones in 

Edmonton and Calgary, still continue the tradition 

of lobbying in strict defence of the national park 

ideal. But it is no longer just in the west, or in 

national and provincial parks, that Alpine Club 

of Canada members continue, individually and 

collectively, to press for protection of natural 

landscapes and for sustainable land use policy. At 

a time of rapid growth and change in our society, 

human use issues are becoming complex and more 

highly contested. In many climbing areas in the 

country, access is becoming a greater and greater 

issue. It is perhaps ironic that, a century after its 

inception, the Club is now having to defend the 

right of access in some of the natural places it 

helped save. 

As Arthur Wheeler understood a hundred years 

ago, we cannot live on our landscapes as we do and 

not expect them to change. In the next century, the 

Alpine Club of Canada will be faced, along with 

its national and provincial parks partners, with big 

challenges related to how we should manage and 

use our ever more precious mountain landscapes. 

Fortunately, we have the founding values of the 

Club to direct and inspire us. Sic itur ad astra. Let 

our mountains show us the way. 


Throughout the Alpine Club 

of Canada’s history there 

have always existed those 

who, through hard work and 

sacrifi ce, have been able to 

bring the Club’s complete 

membership together in 

pursuit of a larger common 

vision. The Yukon Alpine 

Centennial was one of the 

most exciting and inspiring 

events in the history of the 

ACC. 

But more important than the achievement was 

the manner of its doing – the spirit of the enterprise 

which enabled so many unknown peaks to be climbed 

and, at the same time, so much enjoyment to be had by 

so many. 

—Lord John Hunt 

Foreword, Expedition Yukon 

Base camp of the joint 

Canadian-Alaskan 

Expedition party that 

climbed Good Neighbour 

Peak, (upper left) during 

Canada and Alaska’s 

Centennial in 1967 



The Yukon Alpine Centennial 

In 1967, Canadians from coast to coast 

celebrated their country’s 100th birthday, and 

fi ttingly, Alpine Club of Canada members 

planned their own memorable event. For two 

months during the 1967 summer, 250 people, 

including the nation’s best climbers, gathered for 

the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition. Quite 

likely the largest mountaineering expedition ever 

undertaken, it resulted in 26 fi rst ascents. 

An appropriate location for the extravaganza 

was selected in the Centennial Range, a cluster 

of unclimbed peaks above 3050 metres wedged 

between the St. Elias Mountain’s Chitina and 

Walsh Glaciers. Th e plan boasted three impressive 

components. First, since 1967 also marked the 

centenary of the purchase of Alaska, a joint 

Canadian-American team would attempt the 

unclimbed south summit of 4789 metre Mount 

Vancouver, also called 

Good Neighbour 

Peak, which straddles 

the Alaska-Canada 

border. Second, 13 fourperson 

teams would 

attempt fi rst ascents 

of Centennial Range 

peaks from three base 

camps on T-Bone, Prairie and Fundy Glaciers 

– the peaks named for the ten provinces and two 

territories, with the highest christened Centennial 

Peak. Mount Saskatchewan’s team would be all 

women. 

And third, the Club’s annual General 

Mountaineering Camp would host 100 climbers 

from around the world. Coordinating the 

celebration, ACC Vice President David Fisher was 

assisted by Don Lyon, Phil Dowling, Eric Brooks, 

Bob Hind, Hans Gmoser, Frank Smith, Vera 

Norman, Joan Greenwood and Cam Ledingham, 

with Bill Harrison as outfi tter. Th e YACE 

organizers received $77,000 through grants from 

the Federal Centennial Commission, 

the Department of Health and Welfare 

and the Yukon government. 

With the only available maps 

showing 152 metre contours, teams 

had to make reconnaissance climbs to 

determine feasible routes, then conduct 

second reconnaissance climbs to fi nd 

routes to the summits, after which they 

could plan and execute an attempt. 

All of this had to be done within two 

week periods of erratic mountain 

weather. As an additional challenge, 

the Centennial Range received two 

and half times its normal precipitation 

in July 1967. 

Nevertheless, on June 25 all eight Good 

Neighbour Peak Expedition members, including 

Canadians Monty Alford, Glen Boles, Dr. Alan 

Bruce-Robertson and Leslie McDonald reached 

the south summit of Mount Vancouver via a fi rst 

ascent of the southeast buttress. Phase one was a 

success. 

Th rough the following weeks, climbers endured 

stormy weather and uncomfortable bivouacs, 

negotiating fog, cloud and rock ridges not visible 

from aerial photos. From T-Bone Camp, the 

Mount Baffi n team endured 500 metres of the 

worst scree they’d ever encountered, avalanches, 

rock that disintegrated without being touched, 

cornices that threatened to collapse and snow 

bridges that did. On Mount Prince Edward Island, 

climbers were forced to move au cheval along a 

narrow ridge. Th e Mount Saskatchewan women’s 

team spent 32 hours out, 22 of them on the descent. 

Climbing for 27 hours, Fips Broda pursued an 

unknown, diffi cult and exposed route on Centennial 

Peak. 

Phase three succeeded brilliantly. Participants 

boarded a bus from the Kluane Lake staging area 

then rode by four-wheel drive truck to board a 

helicopter that dropped them at the glacier’s snout. 

From there they walked seven kilometres to camp, 

planted in a moist meadow of grassy hummocks 

beneath 5073 m Mount Steele and jumbled Steele 

Glacier. Guests included Bob Hind, Sterling 

Hendricks, ACC President Roger Neave, Fritz 

Wiessner and Lord and Lady Hunt, with guides 

Hans Gmoser, Hans Schwarz and Peter Fuhrmann 

leading jubilant climbers. Participants witnessed 

a once in a lifetime surge of the Steele Glacier, 

which created a mass of teetering ice pinnacles. 

Fortunately, the only serious injury occurred when 

Rollie Reader fell and broke both legs. While two 

teammates stayed with him, three spent three days 

climbing Mount Steele’s west ridge to a high camp 

to summon a helicopter rescue. 

After several years of organizing, 33 peaks were 

climbed, 27 of which were fi rst ascents, with a 

dozen fi rst ascent peaks named for deceased ACC 

presidents. Th e biggest peaks, Mounts Walsh, Steele 

and Wood were all climbed, some several times. 

Th e massive mountain celebration generated books, 

fi lms, maps and articles. In 1968, Th omas Nelson & 

Sons published Expedition Yukon, edited by Marni 

Fisher, which has since become a rare and sought 

after classic of Canadian mountaineering history. 

Not since its fi rst camp in 1906 had the ACC so 

spectacularly celebrated its talent for exceptional 

organization, wholehearted commitment and 

unabashed national pride.

Over a period of a hundred 

years, the Alpine Club of 

Canada has made many 

friends abroad. In 2000, the 

Club celebrated the history 

and heritage it shares with 

the Japanese Alpine Club 

with a special international 

commemoration of the fi rst 

ascent of Mount Alberta 

which was made by a team 

of Japanese climbers in 1925. 

Neither club will forget the 

generosity or the kindness of 

the other. 

Mount Alberta 

As I said goodbye to my Japanese friends, I felt a 

sense of kinship, happiness and sadness at the same 

time. Would I ever see these wonderful people again? 

I had been blessed by their friendship over the past 

week. We would be friends for life. 

—Glen Boles 

Mount Alberta Report 

There are few mountains in North America 

that are surrounded by as many legends as 

Mount Alberta. Its remoteness, its diffi culty 

of access, the bleak and forbidding character of its 

fabled peak and the remarkable stories of its fi rst 

and subsequent ascents have entered history as 

legends that celebrate mountaineering courage and 

the shared heritage of nations. 

On July 21, 1925, Japanese climber Yuko Maki 

and his exhausted party stood triumphantly on the 

summit of Mount Alberta. On their descent they 

plunged an ice axe into the broken rock below the 

peak to commemorate their fi rst ascent. Th at ice 

axe assumed mythical status in Jasper where locals 

came to believe it had been made of pure silver 

and had been presented to the Japanese party by 

the Emperor himself. Less well known were the 

events that followed. Intrigued by the rumour 

that the ice axe was made of solid silver, American 

climbers Fred Ayers and John Oberlin made the 

second ascent of Mount Alberta in 1948. Th ey 

wrenched from the summit ice the head and upper 

shaft of a very ordinary ice axe and presented it to 

the American Alpine Club in New York. Nearly 

50 years later, Canadian Greg Horne negotiated 

its return to Jasper and its permanent exhibition at 

the Jasper-Yellowhead 

Museum. Horne’s 

success in repatriating 

the famous ice axe 

was the inspiration 

for a 75th anniversary 

commemoration of the 

climb. 

In 1994, ACC Vice 

President of Publications, Bob Sandford decided 

to write the Japanese Alpine Club to see if they 

had an interest in pursuing a joint celebration. 

More than a year went by without any response. 

Th en, fi nally, Kazuhiro Kumasaki who at the time 

was a member of the Foreign Aff airs 

Committee of the Japanese Alpine 

Club answered. In the spring of 

1997, Kumasaki was able to organize 

a meeting of all the members of 

the Japanese Alpine Club who had 

an interest in Mount Alberta. Th ey 

brought all of the artifacts they had 

collected relating to the mountain to 

a meeting. Among the relics was the 

broken base of a wooden ice axe. A 

balsa wood copy was made and sent 

to Satch Masuda in Canada. A trip to 

Jasper was made to see if it might fi t 

into the top of the original ice axe that 

was now on display in the heritage 

gallery of the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum. When 

it was realized that both parts of the broken axe 

from the 1925 expedition still existed, a Canadian 

delegation was invited to a special ceremony in 

Tokyo. Canadian Airlines International sponsored 

the visit. In front of Prime Minister Ryutaro 

Hashimoto, Crown Prince Naruhito and an 

audience of nearly 800 Japanese mountaineers, 

ACC President Mike Mortimer fi nally restored 

the Emperor’s famous ice axe. Even after nearly 

50 years, the pieces fi t together so perfectly, it was 

diffi cult to pull them apart. Th e ice axe was restored 

once more in July of 1999 in Nagano at a ceremony 

marking the centennial of the Nagano High School 

Mountaineering Club. 

Seventy-fi ve years after the fi rst ascent, the 

Alpine Club of Canada, Parks Canada and 

Canadian Pacifi c Hotels partnered with the 

Japanese Alpine Club to mount an ambitious 

celebration of the climb and to retell the story. 

In July of 2000, the town of Jasper turned out to 

welcome a joint Japanese-Canadian climbing team 

and 75 Japanese trekkers who came to the Rockies 

for the event. 

Th e 75th anniversary celebration of the fi rst 

ascent of Mount Alberta accomplished all of its 

most cherished goals. Th ough extreme conditions 

did not permit ascent of the mountain, the famous 

ice axe was restored in Canada by the joint 

Japanese-Canadian mountaineering team; a lasting 

relationship was established between the Alpine 

Club of Canada and the Japanese Alpine Club; and 

Canadians all over the country were made aware of 

the shared heritage that makes our national parks 

so special to the world. Th e restored ice axe was put 

on exhibition at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum 

where it can still be seen today. 

Mount Alberta: a peak with a lot of history 

PHOTO BY R.W. SANDFORD 


More than anything else, 

the Centennial of the Alpine 

Club of Canada is a tribute 

to a proud tradition of 

Canadian volunteerism. 

When Canadians off er 

their time and support, 

they deliver. Though the 

Alpine Club of Canada does 

have a small core of highly 

committed staff , the great 

bulk of its activities rely on 

the energy and enthusiasm 

of volunteers. From the 

section activities to the 

agenda of the national board, 

volunteers are the heart of 

the Club. 

Skiers at the Stanley Mitchell 

Hut in 1947 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ESTATE OF 

KEN JONES 


Volunteering for Club and Country 

Creating a national, volunteer run 

organization in a country as physically large 

as Canada is no small challenge. Today 

the Alpine Club of Canada’s 10,000 members are 

sharing ideas and adventures more actively than 

ever. With 19 sections comprised of dedicated 

mountain enthusiasts ranging from 5.6 rock 

climbers to high altitude alpinists, from hikers to 

urban boulderers, members willingly and generously 

share their skills and their time to help introduce 

others to the camaraderie and spirit of discovery 

that for a century has been the essence of Canadian 

mountaineering. 

It is at the section level that the many colours 

and textures of the Canadian mountaineering 

mosaic come to life. Proudly expressing their 

heritage, Manitoba’s St. Boniface and Quebec’s 

Outaouais Sections greet visitors to their web pages 

with French language introductions. It’s at the 

section level that ACC members are visible and 

active within their communities as repositories of 

local route information, and as hosts of potluck 

dinners, slide shows, climbing gym nights and 

photo competitions, as well as organized mountain 

outings. Also, it’s at the section level that volunteer 

trip leaders are nurtured and trained, sharing their 

skills and experience with continuing generations of 

ACC members. 

Formed in 1907, the Winnipeg Section was 

the Club’s fi rst regional chapter, and like the Club’s 

other early sections, Winnipeg Section members 

actively and enthusiastically participated in the 

exploration of western Canadian mountains, 

and in the creation and improvement of the 

backcountry huts. Th e tradition continues. In 1990, 

the recently renamed Manitoba Section raised the 

profi le of the Club and the activity of climbing 

by creating Winnipeg’s fi rst indoor climbing wall. 

By establishing Winnipeg as a regular stop for the 

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, the 

Section has introduced mountaineering to 1000 

people annually since 1992. 

Also formed in 1907, the Calgary Section 

is currently the Club’s largest, with over 750 

members. Although always active in construction 

and maintenance of ACC backcountry facilities, 

Calgary Section members made particularly 

signifi cant contributions through the 1960s, 70s 

and 80s toward the creation of the Wapta Icefi eld 

huts. With varied trip schedules off ering rock and 

ice climbing weekends to weeklong ski traverses, 

section members monitor regional access issues 

in the Ghost River, mountain national parks and 

Kananaskis Country. 

Based amidst the concrete of the country’s 

largest city, Toronto Section members continue to 

be among the Club’s most involved. Th e Section 

was created by Arthur Coleman in 1907, after he 

chaired the 1906 Winnipeg meetings and was 

elected national Vice President. After dissolving in 

1933, the Section reformed in 1957, after the fi rst 

ascent of the Bon Echo cliff s at Mazinaw Lake. 

Since then the Section has provided hut and boat 

custodians to facilitate climbing in the area, while 

also organizing section camps in the mountains of 

western Canada. 

On the west coast, the Vancouver Island Section 

was founded in 1912 by A.O. Wheeler, who along 

with 16 Section members played an integral role 

in establishing Strathcona Park. After Wheeler led 

an expedition to explore and report on the park’s 

alpine attractions for the provincial government, 

the park was made much larger than originally 

planned. After a lull during World War II, the 

Section enjoyed a slow recovery through the 1950s 

and 60s and has been growing steadily ever since. 

Continuing its legacy of preserving environmentally 

valuable places, Vancouver Island Section members 

are working toward making Mount Arrowsmith a 

protected park. 

Across the Strait of Georgia, the Vancouver 

Section was formed in 1918. In the manner of their 

Vancouver Island Section counterparts, Vancouver 

Section members undertook pioneering exploratory 

trips into the remote corners of the Coast 

Mountains. By far the most prolifi c and dedicated 

were Phyl and Don Munday who spent countless 

days walking, canoeing and climbing in the coast 

wilderness in search of Mount Waddington. 

Formed in 1921, Edmonton Section members 

showed great enthusiasm even in their earliest days. 

While numbering fewer than 20 they raised funds 

to build Jasper National Park’s Memorial – now 

Wates-Gibson Hut. Current Edmonton Section

Peter Taylor and Joe Baker 

erect the first wall of the Jim 

Haberl Hut in 2005 

PHOTO BY SUE OAKEY-BAKER 

1907 – Winnipeg Section, renamed 

Manitoba Section circa 1990 

1907 – Calgary Section 

1907 – Toronto Section 

1912 – Vancouver Island Section 

1918 – Vancouver Section 

1921 – Edmonton Section 

1933 – Toronto Section folds 

1921 – Saskatchewan Section 

1943 – Montreal Section 

1946 – Saskatchewan Section folds 

1949 – Ottawa Section 

1957 – Toronto Section reforms 

1972 – Banff Section formed, renamed 

Rocky Mountain Section in 1989 

1983 – Thunder Bay Section 

1992 – Jasper/Hinton Section 

1993 – Central Alberta Section 

1994 – Saskatchewan Section reforms 

1994 – St. Boniface Section 

1995 – Prince George Section 

1997 – Whistler Section 

1997 – Okanagan Section 

2002 – Outaouais Section 

2005 – Competition Climbing Section 

members continue to lovingly 

maintain the stately log building, 

while also maintaining the invaluable 

Alpine Accidents in Canada website. 

In truly Canadian style, the 

ACC’s Saskatchewan Section thrives 

despite being based among fl at 

wheat fi elds. Keen organizers of expeditions to 

Canadian and international high altitude peaks, 

Saskatchewan Section members also organize 

events close to home. Each year members organize 

a popular annual “Th rasher’s” weekend, introducing 

beginners to rock and ice climbing outside of the 

gym. Th rough two fundraising events – the Banff 

Mountain Film Festival World Tour and the Prairie 

Pitch Adventure Race, the Section raises money 

for mountaineering related organizations such as 

the Canadian Avalanche Association and Canadian 

Parks and Wilderness Society. 

Further east, the Montreal Section welcomes 

both English and French speaking members who 

organize regular outings not only in their own 

province, but also in nearby New York, Vermont 

and New Hampshire mountains. Formed in 1943 

as an essentially English speaking organization, the 

Montreal Section has fl ourished and evolved. It 

has been introducing French-speaking Quebecers 

to alpine activities since the 1950s and is a truly 

bilingual group. Nearby, members of the Ottawa 

Section – formed in 1949 – run local trips to 

the Eardley Escarpment in the Gatineau 

Mountains, where they are also committed 

access advocates. 

First formed in 1972 as the Banff Section, 

the Rocky Mountain Section was renamed 

in 1989. Led by Bernie Schiesser and Eric 

Lomas who built several huts in their 

backyards during the 1980s and 90s, this 

section has always been committed builders 

and stewards of ACC backcountry facilities. 

Occasionally, one section’s initiative 

benefi ts many others over time, as is the case 

with the Banff Mountain Film Festival. In 

the mid 1970s, Section members gathered 

in a Banff basement where Chic Scott 

suggested creating a mountain fi lm festival 

in the style of Italy’s Trento festival. It has 

since morphed into the world-class event 

it is today. From Saskatoon to Winnipeg 

to Th under Bay, ACC members sponsor 

organized screenings of the festival’s best 

fi lms, raising resources for local Club 

initiatives. 

In the last two decades of the 20th 

century, the Club welcomed eight more 

regional sections – including Th under Bay, 

Jasper/Hinton, Central Alberta, St. Boniface, Prince 

George, Whistler, Okanagan and Outaouais. 

Th rough the past quarter century, across the 

country section members continually coordinate 

events and projects, ranging from new route 

development and anchor upgrading to the 

publication of guidebooks and participation in 

initiatives such as Project Peregrine. In 2000, 

Jasper Section member Greg Horne inspired one 

of the Club’s fi nest accomplishments, the joint 

ACC/Japanese Alpine Club celebration of the 75th 

anniversary of the fi rst ascent of Mount Alberta. 

Although the Club’s smallest section with 

31 members, Central Alberta contributes to hut 

maintenance and trail building eff orts in the 

Rockies, and attracts new members through its 

winter ice climbing program. Like the Okanagan 

Section, the Central Alberta Section serves as 

a hub for residents of numerous small, remote 

communities in its region. Serving its region, in 

2005, B.C.’s Prince George Section welcomed the 

Smithers Chapter. Further west, Whistler Section 

members pitched in thousands of volunteer hours 

making the Wendy Th ompson Hut in the Cayoosh 

Range’s Marriott Basin a reality – obtaining 

permits, drawing plans, building and transporting 

the hut and rebuilding it in its alpine location. 

Formed in 1993, St. Boniface became the Club’s 

fi rst French speaking section. It was followed by 

Outaouais in 2002. While St. Boniface has become 

well known throughout North America for its 

Festiglace ice climbing festival and competition and 

all winter ice tower, Outaouais Section members 

are passionately involved in regional access issues. 

Joining forces with other groups – including 

the ACC Ottawa Section – they’ve formed the 

Gatineau Park Climber’s Coalition in response to 

the 2004 National Capital Commission’s 10-year 

master plan for Gatineau Park, which proposed 

prohibiting climbing in the park. Working out an 

agreement with the NCC to preserve access to 

key sites, the group also created a climbers’ code of 

ethics to help respect and conserve the endangered 

species. 

From telemark clinics to backcountry 

orienteering, watercolour painting workshops 

to writing contests, from adventure races to ice 

climbing festivals, members across the country 

embrace and promote the Club’s founding 

objectives – the encouragement and practice 

of mountaineering and mountain crafts, the 

education of Canadians in appreciation of their 

mountaineering heritage, the exploration of alpine 

and glacial regions and the preservation of their 

natural beauties. And it’s all accomplished by 

volunteers. 


Since its inception in 1990, 

the Mountain Guides’ Ball 

has become the premiere 

social event in the mountain 

calendar. It is the one party in 

the year at which the entire 

Canadian mountaineering 

community gathers. Thanks 

to the unfl agging eff orts 

of volunteer organizers, it 

is now an established ACC 

tradition. 

Mountain Guides’ Ball Patrons 

1990 – Bruno Engler 

1991 – Andy Russell 

1992 – Bill Putnam 

1993 – Glen Boles 

1994 – Peter Fuhrmann 

1995 – Bob Hind 

1996 – UIAGM 

1997 – David Fisher 

1998 – Louise and Richard Guy 

1999 – Sydney Feuz 

2000 – Don Forest 

2001 – Hans Schwarz 

2002 – Canadian Mountain Rescue Services 

2003 – ACMG founding members 

2004 – Sharon Wood 

2005 – Don Vockeroth 


The Mountain Guides’ Ball 

No organization as esteemed as the Alpine 

Club of Canada would be complete 

without a signature annual party. Every 

autumn since 1990, the Mountain Guides’ Ball has 

off ered Alpine Club of Canada members and their 

friends an opportunity to gather in a social setting 

with other members of the Canadian mountain 

community – including mountain guides, Parks 

Canada representatives, local business owners and 

Club supporters. 

Dressed in formal evening attire – or kilts and 

lederhosen – guests sip cocktails, savour a multicourse 

dinner, dance to a live band and bid on 

auction items, including fi ne works of mountain 

art, backcountry lodge weeks and outdoor gear. Th e 

proceeds benefi t various Club related initiatives and 

programs. 

Like so many great traditions, the Guides’ 

Ball evolved from a single event. In celebration of 

its 25th anniversary in 1988, the Association of 

Canadian Mountain Guides staged a lavish party at 

the Banff Springs Hotel, honouring Hans Gmoser 

as special guest. Th e evening was so successful many 

felt it should become an annual event. To ensure 

solid organization and longevity, Gmoser suggested 

inviting the Alpine Club of Canada to become 

involved. 

As a senior Vice President of Canadian Pacifi c 

Hotels and General Manager of the Banff Springs 

Hotel, Ivor Petrak had a deep appreciation for CP’s 

role in establishing the Swiss guiding tradition 

in the mountains of western Canada. He also 

appreciated the ACC’s role through the 20th 

century in introducing many Canadians to the joys 

and challenges of mountaineering and high alpine 

wonders. 

Seizing the opportunity to 

recognize and celebrate the Canadian 

mountaineering tradition, the 

ACC’s Peter Fuhrmann, along with 

Ken Hewitt and Mike Mortimer 

collaborated with Petrak to create the 

Mountain Guides’ Ball. Th e Chateau 

Lake Louise was selected as venue, in 

recognition of its role as the base from 

which professional guides worked 

for half a century. With legendary 

mountain guide, photographer, 

fi lmmaker and storyteller extraordinaire 

Bruno Engler as patron, the 1990 

Mountain Guides’ Ball was a great 

success. 

More than a celebration however, 

Guides’ Ball Committee members 

decided the event provided an 

outstanding opportunity to raise 

funds to help further the Club’s objectives, so 

they incorporated a live auction into the evening. 

Proceeds from the 1990 event went toward the 

Canadian Alpine Centre. 

Over the past 16 years, the Guides’ Ball has 

evolved and changed. Th e original live auction 

became a silent one – allowing guests to socialize 

more while surveying the items and recording 

their bids. Over the years, attendees have been 

introduced to an interesting and talented variety 

of mountain artists who donated their works. 

Continuing a format initiated with an ACC 

Publications/Mountain Culture Committee 

booklet on esteemed member Bob Hind in 1996, 

in 2000 the committee published a biography of 

Don Forest, offi cially launching the Summit Series 

of mountain biographies, which annually recognize 

individual and group contributions that strengthen 

the appreciation of Canada’s mountain heritage. 

Facing several challenges, including increasing 

ticket prices, in 2005 the Mountain Guides’ Ball 

moved to the Banff Park Lodge. On average, the 

evening attracts 300 guests, most from the Bow 

Valley between Golden B.C. and Calgary, with 

others from as far away as Vancouver, Montreal, 

Toronto and even the U.S., including ACC board 

members attending the annual fall meetings. Th e 

new Banff venue alleviated the need for local guests 

to add the cost of overnight accommodations in 

Lake Louise. For those who would stay overnight, 

Banff off ered a wider range of accommodation 

options. As well, since the gala has always been 

open to all – not just Club members – the Banff 

venue made the Ball more accessible to the general 

public, providing an excellent opportunity for 

everyone to learn more about the ACC. 

Th e Centennial also contributed to the 

move. With the ACC hosting the annual UIAA 

(International Mountaineering and Climbing 

Federation) meetings, for which delegates and 

their spouses would travel from around the world, 

Banff provided a wider range of activities for family 

members. 

Th e 2005 Ball at the BPL provided an excellent 

dry run for the 2006 gala. Guests enjoyed a fi ne 

meal, danced to an excellent band and the silent 

auction raised $16,000. Many fi ne traditions were 

continued, as several recently graduated ACMG 

full guides were presented their pins, Glen Boles 

was named ACC Honorary President, and the 

Club toasted its ongoing role in the evolution of 

Canada’s unique mountain culture.

Because of the remarkable 

and complete nature of the 

early records, the focus of 

the Alpine Club of Canada’s 

legend has largely been 

on the mountaineering 

history that took place 

at and around the time 

of the Club’s founding. A 

century later, however, we 

see that each era in the 

Club’s history represents a 

formative contribution to 

mountaineering culture in 

Canada. The ACC’s Mountain 

Culture Committee is 

committed to ensuring 

that the important fi gures 

and events associated with 

mountaineering in our time 

are not forgotten. 

A developing culture often passes through a 

number of stages on its way to maturation. People 

share unique experiences that transform them. Th ese 

experiences are told to others through story. When 

recorded, stories become history; history becomes 

legend and legend becomes tradition. To keep the 

original inspiration alive through time, tradition 

must be experienced and then transcended by each 

successive generation. By becoming the embodiment 

of this process over the last century, I believe the 

ACC has been the central vehicle for development of 

mountain culture in Canada. 

—R.W. Sandford 

Vice President, Mountain Culture 

Giving Meaning and Value to History 

While producing a book length annual 

journal of record and a regular 

newsletter in the form of the Gazette 

would, for most alpine organizations, suffi ce to 

meet all publications objectives, it is not enough for 

the Alpine Club of Canada. From its inception, the 

ACC began publishing Annual General Meeting 

reports, Canadian Alpine Journal off -prints and 

song sheets. Beginning in 1920, it also published, in 

association with the American Alpine Club, a series 

of classic mountaineering guides that, within the 

climbing community, achieved almost biblical status 

by virtue of the information they contained and 

the desires that information inspired. Th e tradition 

of joint-publication of climbing, hut and access 

guides has continued to this day but has expanded 

to include climbing areas in almost every part of 

the country. 

Th e Mountain Culture Committee has also 

been active in the preservation of the Club’s history 

through support for books that celebrate Canada’s 

mountaineering heritage. A new and highly active 

era of ACC publication 

began with the 

appearance of Canadian 

Summits in 1994. 

Edited by Geoff Powter 

and Bob Sandford, this 

very well received book 

chronicled the most 

infl uential articles to 

appear in the Canadian 

Alpine Journal over 

the fi rst 77 volumes 

of publication. Th is 

book was followed 

by a series of elegant 

replica reprints of 

mountaineering classics created in partnership 

with Aquila Books in Calgary. Th is series included 

popularly priced reprints of works such as Climbs 

and Explorations in the Canadian Rockies by 

Norman Collie and Hugh Stutfi eld, Among the 

Selkirk Glaciers by William Spotswood Green 

and Th e Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails by 

A.P. Coleman. Th e Mountain Culture Committee 

also published a landmark biography of mountain 

photographer and guide Bruno Engler in 1996 

and an account of 75th anniversary celebration of 

the fi rst ascent of Mount Alberta, in association 

with the Japanese Alpine Club of Canada in 2000. 

Th e Mountain Culture Committee went on to 

publish the fi rst ever account of the remarkable 

Rocky Mountain climbs and explorations of 

Alfred Ostheimer in 2002. In addition, the 

Committee also published tributes to prominent 

mountaineering fi gures honoured at the annual 

Mountain Guides’ Ball such as Don Forest, the 

Grizzly Group, Hans Schwarz, Sharon Wood and 

Don Vockeroth. Th e Mountain Culture Committee 

has also published monographs on historical 

themes such as the discovery of the Columbia 

Icefi eld, the contribution of Swiss mountain 

guides to the development of a unique Canadian 

alpine tradition, the creation of the Association of 

Canadian Mountain Guides and the birth of Parks 

Canada’s elite mountain rescue function. 

As well, the Mountain Culture Committee 

has worked hard to honour the Alpine Club of 

Canada’s art and culture mandate. Building on 

an artistic tradition within the Club established 

by early artists of the reputation of Fred Brigden 

and others beginning in the late 1930s, the Alpine 

Club of Canada has published two contemporary 

books related to art and the Canadian alpine. 

Published with the support of the estate of longtime 

member Nel Whellams, Donna Jo Massie’s A 

Rocky Mountain Sketchbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to 

Watercolour Painting in the Mountain Landscape has 

now achieved the status of a national bestseller in 

Canada. In 2003 with the support of Lois Currie, 

the Alpine Club of Canada also published Dr. Jane 

Gooch’s stunningly beautiful Artists of the Rockies 

on art and inspiration at Lake O’Hara. 

In addition to publishing materials, the ACC 

has a library collection of approximately 3,500 

Canadian and international titles, as well as many 

archival documents containing information on 

the history of the Club. Th e Club’s Library and 

Archives are currently housed in the Whyte 

Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff . 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada’s Centennial has 

presented the Mountain Culture Committee an 

opportunity to expand its partnership possibilities 

with the sections and with other areas of Club such 

as Facilities and Activities. It will also allow the 

Committee to return to the original Club mandate 

relating to understanding of science as it relates to 

mountain places. It is the aim of this Committee 

to honour the Club’s history and culture and to use 

the Centennial to build a strong foundation for the 

Mountain Culture Committee that will hopefully 

last well into the next century. 


It was never the central 

purpose of the Alpine Club 

of Canada to represent the 

pinnacle of mountaineering 

achievement, though many 

of its members over the last 

century certainly did. The 

Club’s principal goal was to 

popularize mountaineering 

by establishing a reliable 

vehicle for Canadians to learn 

to climb safely and skillfully 

and to lead others toward 

self-fulfi llment through 

accomplishment. The main 

vehicle for the creation 

of a unique and enduring 

mountain culture in Canada 

was the Club’s leadership 

and training development 

program. 

Lorraine Harrison and 

Susanna Oreskovic 

decending Mount Jupiter, 

Marmot Women's Camp in 

2002 

PHOTO BY MARG SAUL 

Leadership Training and Development 

From its day of inception, the Alpine Club of 

Canada sought among its main purposes to 

open the minds and hearts of Canadians to 

the mountains of their very own country through 

the mountaineering experience. 

As an organization dedicated to providing 

that experience to all interested Canadians, and 

not just those who were already competent in 

the art of alpine exploration, glacier travel and 

technical climbing, the Club made sure to invite 

two professional mountain guides to its inaugural 

1906 camp. Under the guidance of Eduoard and 

Gottfried Feuz, camp organizers included in the 

week’s program the very fi rst ACC mountaineering 

school, thus beginning a tradition in mountain craft 

that is now a century old. 

With over 100 people attending the camp and 

so many eager to climb their fi rst real mountains, 

there were not enough guides. To make up for 

this, the Club arranged for experienced amateurs 

to render “good service to climbing and exploring 

parties.” 

As such, the Club established itself as an 

inclusive organization where members could learn 

by doing under the care and attention of those 

eager to share their skills and experience. Th rough 

the following decades, the tradition continued, 

as many who climbed their fi rst mountains and 

crossed their fi rst glaciers under the leadership of 

enthusiastic ACC volunteer leaders graduated to 

lead their own rope parties. In recognition of the 

invaluable contributions made by volunteer trip 

leaders – both at their local section and national 

camp levels, in 1933 the Club created the Silver 

Rope for Leadership Award. Since then the award 

has been presented annually to Club members who 

“have demonstrated technical skills and leadership 

abilities of a high caliber in mountaineering or ski 

mountaineering over a number of years.” 

During the 1980s, in the interest of attracting 

and encouraging qualifi ed, experienced trip 

leaders, the Club organized a series of leadership 

conferences. Th e fi rst, titled Th e Mountain 

Leadership Conference, took place at the Banff 

Centre in May 1982. Chaired by John Tewnion, 

it was hosted by the Alberta Mountain Council 

– an autonomous group formed under the auspices 

of the ACC to promote all aspects of safety and 

awareness in mountain oriented recreation. 

With 120 people taking advantage of the 

valuable opportunity, delegates participated in small 

seminars designed to follow the conference theme: 

“If you are leading a group in the mountains, 

have you fully considered all the implications 

of the responsibilities involved?” Speakers 

included guides, educators, alpine specialists and 

emergency physicians. Topics discussed included 

the psychological aspects of accident prevention, 

organization and leadership in a group, mountain 

weather, outdoor equipment and basic search 

procedures. 

Hailed a success, the conference was followed 

by a second titled Winter Mountain Leadership 

in December 1985. Over two days 200 delegates 

gathered at the Chateau Lake Louise to discuss 

topics including snow stability evaluation, 

avalanche hazard forecasting techniques, planning 

for extended ski tours, emergency situation 

management, snow shelters and ice climbing 

hazards. 

Suffi ciently encouraged, the organizers 

coordinated a third Mountain Leadership 

Conference in 1989. Th e event took place at the 

Kananaskis Lodge over two days and attracted 

250 delegates. Furthering the ongoing theme of 

accepting the implications of the responsibilities 

involved in volunteer trip leading situations, session 

topics included helicopter safety and fl ight rescue 

systems, expedition goal setting, group dynamics 

from a leadership perspective and effi cient and 

eff ective route fi nding. 

Th e purpose of the conferences was to off er 

those interested in leading trips – plus many 

already doing so – an opportunity to seriously 

consider a myriad of issues and factors other than 

straightforward technical mountain skills. All three 

conferences produced publications designed to 

serve as valuable resources for backcountry users 

by providing knowledge that would enhance safety 

and enjoyment in the mountains. 

In 1990, those publications culminated in Th e 

Mountaineering Course Syllabus, prepared by Brian 

Spear for the ACC Education Committee. It 

aimed at establishing a system of courses to provide 

students with the skills required to develop as 

mountaineers and leaders. With the understanding 

that mountaineering is the art of traveling safely 

in dangerous places employing learned skills, 

those behind the syllabus also understood that 

mountaineering is a dynamic fi eld that can’t be 

regimented, and that safe and effi cient leaders must 

develop judgment and experience to be used within 

a key framework. 

Th e syllabus grew out of an expressed need to 

standardize mountaineering courses within the 

province of Alberta. Th e ACC’s Alberta Sections 

collaborated with the ACMG, University of 

Calgary, Mount Royal College and several other 

outdoor agencies, aiming to ultimately establish 

common practices for mountaineering training 

courses run by the ACC and through other 

organizations throughout Canada.

For the Alpine Club of Canada will, more 

than any national sport in the Dominion, weld 

together the provinces in the bonds of brotherhood; 

and furnish training in the more Spartan virtues 

of times of peace. It will not be many years before it 

will have entrenched itself deep in every province 

between the two oceans, when its membership will 

be in the thousands, and each and every Canadian 

mountaineer make the Club’s motto his own – “sic 

itur ad astra.” 




Below: The North Face 

Leadership training course 

participants Zac Robinson 

and Diane Schon short rope 

on the west ridge of Waikibi 

Peak (2,625 m) 

Right: Guide Peter Amann 

demonstrates analysis 

techniques in one of many 

snow pits dug during the 

week 

PHOTOS BY RICK HUDSON 

Before the century 

was out, the stage 

was set for the birth 

of formalized, annual 

leadership courses. In 

1997, the Club’s Board 

of Directors established 

the Leadership 

Development Fund 

to subsidize training 

programs for volunteer 

leaders. In addition to being generously supported 

by Th e North Face gear manufacturer, a portion of 

each national camp fee is placed in the fund. 

Benefi ting from the eff orts of Mike Mortimer, 

Th e North Face – ACC Leadership Courses 

were created that year. Th e week-long courses 

are designed to provide advanced training for 

the Club’s active section trip leaders, General 

Mountaineering Camp amateur rope leaders and 

national camp managers. A ratio of ten students 

per three instructors provides an intense, focused 

– yet fun – learning environment. In December 

2000 ACMG guide Cyril Shokoples created a 

formal curriculum with course objectives and goals. 

In 2001 he created the objectives for the summer 

course. 

Since 1997, over 100 active amateur trip leaders 

have participated in the program. Running from 

Golden Alpine Holidays’ lodges in winter, and in 

conjunction with the GMC in the summer, Th e 

North Face courses off er experienced amateur 

leaders a valuable opportunity to learn skills and 

techniques from experienced professional guides, 

which they in turn share with Club members on 

section trips. 

Following the success of Th e North Face course, 

Mike Mortimer and Bruce Keith negotiated 

another leadership course – specifi cally for 

women. Despite great increases in female interest 

and participation in mountain activities, women 

continue to be in the minority most of the time 

in the climbing environment. While some feel 

perfectly comfortable learning from male partners 

who by nature tend to be more aggressive, 

physically stronger and more tolerant of physical 

risk, others may not feel suffi ciently at ease to take 

their turn in the lead often enough to develop 

their leadership skills. A lack of female leaders at 

both the section and national levels confi rmed the 

challenges of nurturing female trip leaders. 

Working with Tom Fritz, a long term ACC 

supporter and marketing Vice President for 

outdoor clothing manufacturer Marmot, Mortimer 

and Keith secured sponsorship to create the ACC 

Marmot Women’s Camps. Th at done, the two 

men retreated, and an all-women ACC volunteer 

committee was formed to oversee the program. 

Edmonton Section member Julia Keenliside served 

as its fi rst Chair, and working with Tami Knight, 

Willa Harasym and Leslie DeMarsh the program 

was designed and candidates were selected for the 

fi rst Marmot course in 2000. 

Th e aim of the course was to give women a 

chance to learn and use leadership skills in an allfemale 

setting. Th e course was targeted at women 

who had the basic skills and were ready to learn to 

lead in either the summer or winter setting. 

Moving steadily forward and upward, 

in September 2005 members of the Club’s 

National Leadership Committee held a four-day 

experimental Central Canada Rock Leadership 

Course in Val David Quebec, following 

curriculum models prepared by Shokoples. 

Committee members hope to proceed with a 

course that’s even better than the successful 

trial. 

With formally organized and professionally 

executed leadership courses, the Club continues 

to secure its foundation from the bottom up. 

Th rough section level leadership courses as 

well as the formal North Face and Marmot 

programs, the ACC actively fulfi lls its stated 

Objects: “the encouragement and practice of 

mountaineering and mountain crafts and the 

promotion of these skills through participation 

in the activities of the Club.” 

Th ese courses also help promote the work 

of the Club: “the development of reliable 

professional and amateur guides to assist the 

Club in carrying out its training, climbing and 

ski mountaineering programs.” 


With all the major peaks 

climbed by at least 

their simplest routes, 

mountaineering took 

a diff erent turn. The 

exhilaration of achievement 

moved indoors onto climbing 

walls, and outdoors onto 

icefalls. Competitive climbing 

burst onto the international 

scene bringing in its train 

thousands of new adventure 

enthusiasts with new ways 

of thinking about upward 

mobility. Dozens of new 

organizations have been 

created to advance this 

growing interest. The Alpine 

Club of Canada embraces and 

actively supports these new 

directions in climbing. 

Will Gadd competes at an 

Ice Climbing World Cup 

competition at Kirov, Russia; 

circa 2000 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WILL GADD 

COLLECTION 


Reaching New Heights: Indoors and Out 

Over the course of the century, climbing has 

evolved to encompass an extraordinary 

range of individual disciplines. Climbers 

no longer set out solely in the hopes of reaching a 

summit – in sport climbing the ‘summit’ is likely 

to be a set of metal chains permanently attached 

to bolts drilled into a vertical cliff about 30 metres 

above the ground. Ice climbers scale frozen 

waterfalls as self-contained objectives. Mixed 

climbers combine the technical skills of advanced 

ice climbing with the gymnastics of technically 

challenging indoor wall or outdoor sport climbing. 

Modern sport, ice and mixed climbing are not so 

much about the alpine experience as they are about 

the simple joy of exploring the relationship between 

thoughtful body movement and climbing medium. 

Like virtually all recreational activities, 

mountaineering benefi ted greatly from advances 

in technology throughout the 20th century. As 

mountaineers attempted increasingly challenging 

peaks, belay techniques evolved, and harnesses were 

constructed of stronger webbing. Shortly before 

World War II, the invention of sturdy rubber 

Vibram soles gave outdoor footwear a step up. Also 

in the 1940s, the fi rst solid, hard pitons, forged from 

the axle of a Model-A Ford, were used to tackle the 

high steep faces in Yosemite National Park. 

Early in the 1960s, French climbers introduced 

climbing footwear with smooth rubber soles, and 

in 1983 the Spanish brought forward a sticky 

rubber-soled rock climbing shoe. It was also in 

the 1960s that temporary, removable yet 

safe camming devices that didn’t scar the 

rock were developed. Hemp ropes were 

replaced by strong, dynamic synthetic 

fi bres capable of holding long falls of 

weights far in excess of a human body. By 

the early 1970s, full body harnesses were 

replaced by waist harnesses, allowing for 

greater range of movement. 

In November 1952, Hans Gmoser and 

Leo Grillmair, a pair of young climbers 

recently arrived from Austria, with Isabel 

Spreat made a fi rst ascent of an obvious 

line of cracks and corners on the Rockies’ 

landmark Mount Yamnuska. Th eir route, 

Grillmair’s Chimneys, and several others 

in the subsequent years, launched a whole 

new level of technical rock climbing in 

Canada, and Canadians joined in the 

fray. In 1961, coast climber Jim Baldwin 

and American Ed Cooper set a milestone 

in Canadian mountaineering with their 

fi rst ascent of the Squamish Chief ’s 

Grand Wall. Th roughout the 1960s, bold 

Canadian rock climbers practised their 

craft on increasingly challenging routes across 

the country, some of which were among the most 

diffi cult climbs in North America at the time. 

Th e 1970s saw the birth of waterfall ice 

climbing – an arena in which Canadians found 

their niche, mounting an international presence that 

endures to this day. With the birth of ice climbing, 

improvements in ice axes and crampons allowed for 

more effi cient climbing on steep and bulging ice. 

From the 1970s onward, advances in technology 

and technique led mountaineers to attempt more 

technically challenging routes to summits that had 

seen countless ascents by their easiest “standard” 

routes. Th rough the 1980s, Canadians including 

John Lauchlan and Barry Blanchard set a new 

standard for bold and daring north face climbs 

in winter. By the 1990s, experienced ice climbers 

began combining gymnastic rock climbing skills 

with technical ice climbing skills to develop mixed 

climbing as a discipline of its own, with low 

profi le “fruit boots” fi xed with built in crampons 

designed to hook into tiny spaces and rock ledges, 

and leashless ice axes wielded as extensions of a 

climber’s arm. By virtue of a long season and plenty 

of suitable chossy rock, Canadians have established 

themselves among the world best mixed climbers. 

From its earliest days, mountaineering was a 

competitive pursuit, with climbers racing to be 

the fi rst to claim a summit, usually in the name of 

their country. Th rough the latter two decades of 

the century, with all the major peaks climbed many 

times over on all continents, it almost seemed logical 

that competitive climbing move indoors. Canada’s 

fi rst indoor climbing wall was designed by Murray 

Toft and built into the structure of Mount Royal 

College in 1971. In 1989, universities in Montreal, 

Chicoutimi and Edmonton constructed indoor 

climbing walls. Outdoors, by the end of the 1980s, 

the use of expansion bolts permanently drilled into 

rock faces became commonplace – despite ethical 

debates that continue to this day. Since then, tens 

of thousands of sport climbing routes have been 

established on hundreds of cliff s from coast to coast 

to coast. Bolted crags opened climbing to a wider 

range of people who wanted to enjoy a day or a 

few hours on the rock, without the technical and 

psychological commitment demanded by climbing 

on traditional gear. 

With the progression of the relatively safe and 

low risk activity of sport climbing through the 

1980s and 90s, interest in rock climbing literally 

exploded across North America and Europe. In the 

1980s the fi rst offi cial diffi culty competitions took 

place in Europe, with the fi rst indoor event held 

in a gymnasium France in 1986. By the late 1980s, 

the UIAA recognized the burgeoning competitive

Progress and evolution in anything is invariably 

tied up with the idea of competition. Competition 

provides comparison and context for most human 

activities, and is as important in the mountains as 

in a gymnasium. Th e Alpine Club of Canada is not 

only a vehicle for cultural or social appreciation – it’s 

an internationally recognized sports federation with 

commensurate responsibilities. It has a role to play in 

determining the future of climbing in Canada, and 

in the future of Canada itself. 

—Dave Dornian 

Chair, Competition Climbing Section 

Zak McGurk eying the 

crux at the Vsion Gym in 

Canmore in 2004 

PHOTO BY FRASER MCGURK 

climbing circuit, and 

the fi rst World Cup 

competition, with 

events in speed and 

diffi culty took place in 

1989. In 1997, a new 

structure, the ICC 

– International Council 

for Competition Climbing, was created inside the 

UIAA, with a bouldering discipline introduced 

the following year. Today, more than 75 countries 

participate in climbing competitions. 

Competition climbing debuted in Canada at 

the Banff Centre’s Eric Harvie Th eatre in 1988, 

with the fi rst Canadian National Sport Climbing 

Championships. Organized by Marc Dube, under 

Peter Fuhrmann’s leadership, the ACC supported 

the event, thus beginning its commitment to the 

evolution of competitive climbing. Canadian Jim 

Sandford won, and in 1989 the fi rst Canadian 

National Team formed. Later that year, Dube and 

Sandford travelled to Russia to represent Canada 

at an international competition. Th rough the 1990s, 

Will Gadd was Canada’s leading competitive 

climber, reaching the semi fi nals in World Cup 

competition in Kobe Japan in 1991 and 1992. A 

decade later, and benefi ting from organized training 

and coaching, Vancouver’s Sean McColl placed 

fi rst in both speed and diffi culty events in the 2002 

Youth World Championships in Canteleu, France. 

A year later, McColl won the 16-17 Boys category 

at the Youth Worlds in Bulgaria. In 2005, he won 

the USA Climbing Nationals. 

Th roughout 1990s it became increasingly 

evident that indoor competitive climbing had 

great appeal for youth – even for those whose 

parents had no experience or interest in climbing. 

Driven by long-time volunteer and competition 

climbing advocate David Dornian, at the 2005 

spring Board of Directors meeting, the ACC 

welcomed the Competition Escalade Canada 

(CEC) as the Club’s fi rst non-geographic section. 

As the only sanctioning body for competition 

climbing in Canada recognized by the UIAA’s 

International Council for Competition Climbing, 

CEC membership is required for any athletes 

representing Canada at sanctioned international 

events. In redefi ning Competition Escalade Canada 

as an ACC section, young climbers interested in 

participating in the popular competitive climbing 

circuit would now become ACC members in the 

process, thereby exposing them to the benefi ts of 

Club membership from an early age and raising the 

profi le of competition climbing within the Club. 

At the start of the 21st century, and by virtue 

of the ACC’s membership in the UIAA, the 

Club assumed the role of Canada’s national 

governing body for another growing competitive 

activity – Ski Mountaineering Competition. In 

the latter part of the 1990s, the International Ski 

Mountaineering Council was established to oversee 

the organization of competition calendars, an 

international World Cup series and to lobby for 

inclusion in the Olympics of the sport that had 

been evolving in Europe since the 1980s. Th e fi rst 

offi cial ISMC World Championships were held 

in Serre Chevalier, France, in January 2002. On 

very short notice, the ACC organized a two man 

team consisting of Ptor Spriceneiks and Richard 

Haywood to represent Canada, who were grateful 

to not fi nish dead last behind experienced and 

über-organized Europeans. 

Ski mountaineering competitors race over steep 

alpine terrain using ski touring gear, gaining and 

losing up to 3000 metres worth of elevation past 

a series of checkpoints set along ridges and peaks. 

Th ey skin up slopes, scramble up ridges carrying 

their skis on their packs and make a few well 

deserved turns down other slopes, travelling from 

valley fl oor with a mandatory pack full of gear in 

less than three hours. Whistler hosted Canada’s fi rst 

ski mountaineering competition in 2003, which 

was handily won by Revelstoke’s Greg Hill, who 

also won the two subsequent years. With the 2010 

Winter Olympic Games set for Vancouver, the 

ACC is enthusiastically backing UIAA eff orts to 

have the new sport included as an Olympic sport. 

One hundred years after introducing the sport 

of mountaineering to its members, the Alpine Club 

of Canada is actively working toward making the 

myriad of climbing disciplines more accessible 

to ever increasing numbers of Canadians. Club 

members help support and organize ice climbing 

festivals across the country, in places including 

Orient Bay Ontario, Quebec City, Lillooet British 

Columbia, St. Boniface Manitoba, and Canmore 

and Nordegg Alberta, bringing climbers together 

in a casual, festive setting and introducing new 

people to the activity. As the sanctioning body 

for competitive climbing in Canada, the Club 

continues to expand Canadians’ awareness and 

appreciation of its mountains and ever evolving 

mountain craft. 


The Centennial of the Alpine 

Club of Canada is a once in 

a lifetime opportunity to 

highlight what Canada’s 

premiere mountaineering 

organization has contributed 

to the development of a truly 

unique mountain culture in 

this country. Judging from 

the activities planned both 

at the section and national 

levels for 2006, it will be 

a year the Club will never 

forget. 


A Century of Leadership and Adventure 

In its fi rst one hundred years, the Alpine Club of 

Canada has left an indelible mark on Canadian 

mountaineering history, but it has also stood as 

a reminder that mountains – wherever they may be 

in Canada – are a part of every Canadian’s psyche. 

Th ey represent some of what we are proudest to be, 

and much of what we aspire to. 

In a world that has changed so much in 100 

years – from motorized transportation to modern 

health care and weapons of mass destruction – the 

Alpine Club of Canada and other clubs like it 

have changed precious little. Th e values it holds 

dear are remarkably durable and the pursuits it 

supports still honour the distance we can cover 

on foot – a human scale of time and energy in 

the midst of magnifi cent geology and in spite of 

our technological prowess. Th ough the world may 

change, these values do not. 

Th e spirit of the original Alpine Club of Canada 

still guides the Club’s activities today. Members 

from across the country are planning and preparing 

events for the Alpine Club of Canada Centennial 

in 2006. We will celebrate with art, science, social 

gatherings and – of course – with climbing camps 

in some of Canada’s most spectacular mountain 

locales. Events are planned for provinces across the 

country. 

In Winnipeg, on March 25 and 26, the Manitoba 

Section will host the Alpine Club of Canada’s 

Centennial Board of Directors meetings – halfway 

between the west and east, just as the original 

meetings were held in 1906. Th e prairie sections will 

kick things off with a Centennial Party, March 24, 

at historic Fort Gibraltar. March 25 the party moves 

uptown with a Gala at the stunning Fort Garry 

Hotel. Of course, the Manitoba Section will also 

celebrate its own alpine history with a special book 

commemorating notable Manitoban mountaineers 

– Elizabeth Parker would be proud. 

Next door in Ontario, celebrations will 

be doubled thanks to the 50th anniversary of 

the Toronto Section in 2006. Th e Section will 

commemorate the Centennial and its own golden 

anniversary with a special reunion at the cliff s of 

Bon Echo September 1. Th e section will also release 

a revised version of the notable Bon Echo climbing 

guidebook. 

Th e Montreal Section is bringing art and 

mountains together for a special exhibition 

of artwork by section members Sheila Eamer, 

Celestine Segers and Ed Potworowski. Th e 

Section is also hoping to designate a “charitable 

mountain” in honour of the Club’s Centennial 

year. All summiteers would be encouraged to seek 

sponsorship from friends and family, to support a 

designated charity. 

Th e Outaouais Section is holding a Centennial 

photo contest of summits: 100 ans de leadership 

et d’aventures en montagne. Members have been 

challenged to take the offi cial Centennial banner to 

a new summit and capture a photo of themselves 

with it on the summit. Th e winning photos will be 

compiled into a poster and/or calender. 

Not surprisingly, Alberta and British Columbia 

will also be abuzz with Centennial events. In 

Alberta, many of these will be front-country – as 

the National Offi ce prepares to welcome members 

from across the country, and colleagues from 

around the world. 

Th e International Mountaineering and 

Climbing Federation (UIAA) is, today, the 

largest mountaineering organization in the 

world. It represents 97 member organizations in 

68 diff erent countries worldwide and speaks for 

the mountaineering community in international 

forums, such as the Mountain Partnership. In 2006, 

the UIAA General Assembly will take place in 

Banff , October 12 to 14. A celebratory Centennial 

dinner will be held at the Banff Park Lodge on the 

fi nal evening. John Wheeler – grandson of ACC 

founder A.O. Wheeler will attend as Patron. 

For those who prefer smaller gatherings, the 

ACC plans to open two upgraded facilities at 

the Canmore Clubhouse on October 13: the Pat 

Boswell (Toronto Section) Cabin and the Heritage 

Room, which commemorates the history of the 

Club. October 11, prior to the UIAA meetings, 

a one-day seminar is planned in Banff entitled 

Climate Change in the Alpine – a crucial issue in 

mountain places. Finally, the much-anticipated 

exhibition Th e Mountaineer and the Artist: Refl ection 

on a Mountain Place will open in October at the 

Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff . 

Local sections in Alberta are also planning 

special events for the Centennial. Camps, photo 

and story competitions, a commemorative book, 

celebratory dinners, and a community party in 

Canmore are all under development. 

Th at said, the Alpine Club of Canada was fi rst 

and foremost a mountaineering organization and, 

true to form, there are plenty of outdoor adventures 

to inspire members in this, its Centennial year. In 

British Columbia alone, no fewer than ten camps 

and celebrations are planned. 

Th e Marmot Women’s Centennial Ski Camp 

and the North Face Centennial Winter Leadership 

Course will both take place before the end of 

February 2006. Th eir summer counterparts will 

take place July 9 to 14 in the Bugaboos and July 

29 to August 5 in the Premier Range, respectively. 

Th e Centennial General Mountaineering Camp 

(GMC) will coincide with these events, running

Outaouais members Mélanie 

Lalande and Frédéric Lavoie 

on the top of Aconcagua 

(6992 m) participate in their 

section's photo challenge 

Centennial event. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OUTAOUAIS 

SECTION 

July 1 to August 12 in B.C.’s Premier Range. Th e 

GMC is sponsored by Mountain Hardwear. All of 

these events will off er great skills development at 

week-long camps. 

For the more adventurous, the Yukon Alpine 

Centennial Camp will take place in the truly grand 

St. Elias Mountains, June 2 to 18. 

If you have never attended an Annual General 

Meeting of the Alpine Club, 2006 is the year to 

do it. In commemoration of the importance of the 

region to the history of Canadian mountaineering, 

the Centennial AGM will be held July 15 at the 

popular Wheeler Hut, at Rogers Pass in British 

Columbia’s Glacier National Park. Th e following 

day, the Stanley Mitchell Centennial Camp will 

begin, running July 16 to 22 in the Little Yoho 

Valley of Yoho National Park. 

Several sections are also planning camps 

in British Columbia. Th e Edmonton Section 

will be holding two one-week camps in Mount 

Assiniboine Provincial Park in August 2006. Th e 

Vancouver Section will host a fl y-in, summer 

climbing camp at Lake Lovelywater near 

Squamish, B.C. from August 5 to 12. 

On Vancouver Island, day and weekend trips 

are planned for Strathcona Provincial Park. And 

July 23 to 30, the Vancouver Island Section is also 

planning an ambitious traverse of the Golden 

Hinde, Vancouver Island’s tallest peak – no huts, 

no trails, eight days. Finally, in honour of the 

ACC Centennial the Section is also working to 

have the Arrowsmith Massif protected for its 

signifi cant avian and mammalian habitats and for 

its watersheds, which support fi ve diff erent species 

of salmon. 

Regardless of how or where you may choose to 

celebrate the Alpine Club of Canada Centennial 

in 2006, there will be events and activities to enjoy 

from all parts of the country. 

Canada Post will issue a commemorative stamp 

in July 2006. An historic play, Elizabeth Parker 

and the Alpine Club of Canada, will be mounted 

by Parks Canada’s World Heritage Interpretive 

Th eatre in March 2006. Several special publications 

will also be released. Th e entire collection of the 

Canadian Alpine Journal from 1907 to 2006 will 

be made available in digital format – making 

trip reports keyword searchable. A Centennial 

Canadian Alpine Journal will be published, as well 

as Ever Upward: Th e Canadian Alpine Journal and 

the Evolution of the Mountain Spirit in Canada – a 

book exploring everything from evolving climbing 

techniques to the changing role of parks and 

reserves in Canadian mountain culture will follow 

in 2007. Yet when all of these events are over, what 

happens next? Th is question is ours to answer. 

One hundred years ago the Alpine Club of 

Canada captured the imaginations of Canadians by 

embodying what inspired the nation at that time. 

Mountains and mountaineering – yes – but also 

the spirit of adventure, the noble fortifi cation of 

mind, body and spirit, the enamoured pursuit of 

scientifi c knowledge, and an admiration for art as 

an expression of cultural refi nement. At the time, it 

was also a sport for the wealthy – drawing people 

from around North America with the means to 

travel for weeks at a time. 

Today, many climbers make tremendous 

material sacrifi ces to carve out the time and 

save the money required to enjoy their passion 

for mountains. Not to mention, after two world 

wars and the birth of popular culture, Canada’s 

Edwardian hopes and dreams have been tempered 

in the last one hundred years. Our admiration for 

personal refi nement has been replaced by more 

relaxed and informal ways of living. Exercise is no 

longer considered a form of moral fortifi cation, and 

science is no longer a romantic form of intellectual 

exploration but a professional pursuit that is both 

politically and economically charged. 

Our founders never imagined that great 

“wilderness” would ever see roads and civilization 

– nor could they possibly have imagined that the 

lauded industrial growth of that time would wreak 

such havoc that the very climate of the alpine 

would be altered. Today we face challenges on a 

scale they could not have imagined. 

Yet the values of the original Alpine Club of 

Canada still resonate today. Th e Club will continue 

to teach mountain-craft, to “deplore wanton 

defacement of the wild natural beauty ” of mountain 

places, and to bring mountains to the forefront of 

the Canadian consciousness. But should the Club 

last another hundred years, it will do so by doing 

what the original Club did so well – capturing the 

imaginations of Canadians and embodying what 

we hope to be, as climbers, as individuals, and as a 

nation. 


After its fi rst one hundred 

years of service to mountain 

culture, the Alpine Club 

of Canada looks with 

enthusiasm to the 21st 

century. In his concluding 

article, the current President 

of the ACC, Cameron Roe, 

refl ects on the essential 

nature of the Club and 

its purpose and ponders 

the future development 

of our uniquely Canadian 

appreciation for the alpine. 

ACC members descend 

Mount Robson, 2004 

PHOTO BY CAM ROE 


The Centennial Postscript 

The Alpine Club of Canada is 100 years 

old. Th is is a notable achievement by any 

yardstick and one well deserving of some 

contemplation of past events and refl ection on what 

the future might hold. With much of this issue of 

the Gazette dedicated to shedding light on the past 

history of the Club, it falls upon me to look at that 

past and attempt to describe where the future of the 

Club might lead us. 

Th e Alpine Club of Canada has always 

seemed to me to be about communities and our 

relationship with those communities. Th e Club was 

started by a like minded group of individuals who 

got together to foster Canadian mountaineering. 

Th e British Alpine Club and various clubs in the 

USA had been active in the mountains of Canada, 

and it occurred to the likes of Elizabeth Parker 

and Arthur O. Wheeler that Canadians should 

perhaps be exploring and climbing the mountains 

of Canada instead of leaving it to visitors. From 

this beginning, came a series of mountaineering 

adventures and trips that saw the exploration of the 

western mountains develop and mountaineering 

leadership and training grow by leaps and bounds. 

A strong mountaineering community was born. 

Th e growth of the Club from the earliest 

times to present can be thought of as a series 

of relationships with other communities with 

whom we share the mountains. Early on it was 

relationships with the Canadian Pacifi c Railway 

and access to transportation, hotels and guides 

that helped defi ne the Club. With more people 

moving to the western cities like Calgary, 

Edmonton and Vancouver, section relationships 

became increasingly important. Th is strong relation 

between the Club as a whole and the various local 

sections went on to represent the most enduring 

and important relationships that the Club has ever 

had and probably ever will have. Th e sections of the 

Alpine Club of Canada in turn foster relationships 

with individuals by mentoring and providing an 

environment in which these individuals can learn 

and grow their mountaineering skills. Th e people 

being mentored most often go on to lead and 

mentor others in turn. 

Other ‘communities’ have had real infl uence 

on the Alpine Club of Canada. Th e Club’s 

relationships with other organizations such as 

Parks Canada, Provincial Parks, the burgeoning 

Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and 

environmental groups had clear, positive and lasting 

infl uence on the Club. We are, however, faced 

with a broad range of challenges that will, in the 

next hundred years, demand strong, productive 

relationships with these other communities. 

We will inevitably be aff ected in the coming 

century by changing demographics, evolving 

technology and population growth. Among the 

specifi c challenges we face will be growing issues 

related to access and environmental footprints in 

ever more crowded mountain regions. Also looming 

large in the future are the impacts we have already 

begun to witness associated with climate change. To 

remain relevant as a club, we will have to be active 

in addressing these very real concerns. We will 

also have to actively welcome and embrace the rise 

of new, sometimes unforeseen, kinds of climbing 

interests besides mountaineering. 

So what does all this mean? At the core of it all, 

the Alpine Club of Canada is a mountaineering 

club and to continue for the next hundred years, I 

believe that we must never lose sight of this. I think 

the future direction of the Alpine Club of Canada 

should be simple. Keep climbing. Keep enjoying 

your time spent with others in the mountaineering 

environment that you love and let others know 

that you love it. Work with other individuals 

to foster and mentor love and respect for the 

Canadian alpine. Do the same for other groups 

and organizations that form the larger mountain 

community. If we do all of this, I believe that the 

Alpine Club of Canada will grow and prosper in 

the next century. 

—Cam Roe 

President of the Alpine Club of Canada

Après avoir promu la passion 

des montagnes depuis 

un siècle, le Club Alpin 

du Canada se tourne avec 

enthousiasme vers le 21e 

siècle. Dans son article de 

clôture, le président actuel du 

CAC, Cameron Roe, partage 

ses réfl exions concernant 

la mission du club, son 

objectif et notre appréciation 

grandissante et tout à fait 

canadienne du monde de la 

montagne. 

Cam Roe leading a group of 

ACC members on the east 

ridge of Mount Edith Cavell, 

2004 

PHOTO BY ROGER LAURILLA 

Le PostScript Centenaire 

Le Club Alpin du Canada fête ses 100 ans. 

C’est en soi une réalisation admirable 

qui mérite bien un retour en arrière pour 

souligner les succès et un bond en avant pour 

cerner ce qui nous attend. Comme ce numéro de 

la Gazette consacre une grande partie de ses pages 

à l’histoire du club, mes fonctions m’amènent à 

jeter un éclairage sur le passé et à tenter de décrire 

l’avenir du club. 

L’histoire du Club Alpin du Canada, c’est 

l’histoire des collectivités et des liens qu’il a tissés 

avec elles. Le club a été créé par un groupe de 

personnes partageant certaines affi nités, qui se sont 

regroupées pour donner naissance à l’alpinisme 

canadien. Le British Alpine Club et divers clubs 

états-uniens parcouraient à l’époque les montagnes 

du Canada quand des gens comme Elizabeth 

Parker et Arthur O. Wheeler prirent conscience que 

les Canadiens pouvaient eux aussi explorer et gravir 

les montagnes du pays. Selon eux, cette activité 

ne devait pas être réservée aux visiteurs. Leur 

réfl exion a ouvert la porte à une série d’aventures 

et d’excusions alpines qui ont favorisé l’exploration 

des montagnes de l’Ouest, ainsi que la création de 

cours d’alpinisme et de leadership d’expédition qui 

ont connu un franc succès. Une solide communauté 

alpine était née. 

La croissance du 

club, des premiers 

balbutiements jusqu’à 

maintenant, peut être 

perçue comme un 

ensemble de liens avec 

d’autres collectivités 

avec lesquelles 

nous partageons les 

montagnes. Au début, 

ce sont les liens avec le 

Canadien Pacifi que et 

l’accès au transport, à 

l’hébergement et aux 

guides qui ont façonné 

les fondements du 

club. Avec la migration 

croissante vers les villes 

de l’Ouest comme 

Calgary, Edmonton 

et Vancouver, les liens 

entre sections sont 

devenus de plus en plus 

importants. Le solide 

lien qui s’est tissé entre 

le club en tant qu’entité 

et les diverses sections 

locales est devenu avec 

le temps la relation la 

plus durable et la plus importante de toute l’histoire 

du CAC. Aujourd’hui, les sections du Club Alpin 

du Canada créent à leur tour des liens avec des 

particuliers en leur off rant un encadrement et un 

environnement dans lequel ils peuvent apprendre 

et améliorer les techniques alpines. Les gens ainsi 

formés forment et encadrent à leur tour d’autres 

personnes. 

D’autres « collectivités » ont aussi exercé une 

réelle infl uence sur le Club Alpin du Canada. Le 

club, qui entretient des relations avec Parc Canada, 

les parcs provinciaux, l’Association des Guides 

de Montagne Canadiens en pleine croissance 

et les groupes environnementaux, a clairement 

bénéfi cié de l’infl uence positive et durable de 

ces interlocuteurs. Toutefois, nous faisons face 

actuellement à un éventail de défi s qui, au cours 

du prochain siècle, nécessiteront l’apport de liens 

solides et productifs avec ces autres collectivités. 

Au fi l du siècle en cours, nous seront 

inévitablement touchés par les changements 

démographiques, les découvertes technologiques et 

la croissance de la population. Des problématiques 

de plus en plus importantes liées à l’accès et aux 

empreintes environnementales laissées dans des 

zones montagneuses de plus en plus visitées 

fi gurent parmi les défi s que nous auront à relever. 

De plus, nous aurons à aff ronter un autre défi de 

taille, celui des eff ets que nous avons commencé à 

sentir et qui sont liés aux changements climatiques. 

Si nous voulons préserver l’intégrité de notre 

club, nous devons nous pencher sérieusement 

sur ces questions vitales. Nous devrons aussi 

accueillir activement la montée, parfois imprévue, 

de nouveaux loisirs qui sont liés à l’ascension de 

montagnes. 

Que devons nous tirer de cette réfl exion? Et 

bien à la base, le Club Alpin du Canada est un club 

d’activités en montagne. À mon avis, nous devons 

adhérer à cet énoncé si nous voulons poursuivre 

notre mission. Selon moi, nous devons tenir la 

future orientation du CAC à son expression la 

plus simple : gravir des montagnes. Continuez 

d’apprécier le temps que vous passez avec d’autres 

personnes dans les montagnes que vous aimez, 

et faites savoir aux autres que vous les aimez. 

Travaillez en collaboration avec d’autres individus 

pour favoriser et générer un amour et un respect 

du milieu alpin canadien. Faites en autant pour 

d’autres groupes et organismes qui font partie de 

la grande collectivité alpine. Si nous suivons tous 

ce chemin, je suis convaincu que le Club Alpin du 

Canada grandira et s’épanouira davantage au fi l de 

notre siècle. 

—Cam Roe 

Président du Club Alpin du Canada 


INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAINEERING AND CLIMBING FEDERATION 

UNION INTERNATIONALE DES ASSOCIATIONS D'ALPINISME 

To the President and all the members of the Alpine Club of Canada 

Bern, January 2006 

On behalf of all member clubs and federations of the Union Internationale des 

Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA) it gives me great pleasure to extend our warm 

greetings and congratulations to the Alpine Club of Canada on reaching its 

centennial. 

For many years the ACC has played an important role in the UIAA, sitting on 

many of the commissions and the competition committees. We have always been 

grateful for the involvement with which your members have represented Canada 

at our meetings. 

When we think of your wilderness and your protected areas, we can only 

compliment you on the foresight that you have taken to preserve your mountain 

places. By doing this you have done a favour for the members of the UIAA and all 

the other people who love and respect our mountains and wilderness. 

We think of the vitality of Canadians and how young a country you are, we must 

believe that the ACC will have a continuing important role to play in Canadian 

society by being a group that not only speaks for the preservation of your 

mountains, but that also recognizes the importance of recreating in them. 

Not only do you have some of the world’s top climbers but your guiding community 

has a reputation for excellence. How you work with your land managers and the 

way you manage your mountain huts has shown the success of good practices. 

In October 2006 we will have the opportunity to join your celebrations when the 

ACC generously hosts the General Assembly of the UIAA. We will have important 

work to accomplish in Canada but can think of few better places to meet than in 

the Rocky Mountains. We are looking forward to meeting with your members and 

having the opportunity to visit your wonderful country. 

We wish the ACC a new century of distinction. 

Pierre Humblet, UIAA President a.i. 

The UIAA thanks its partners: Bask, Entre-Prises, Grivel 

UIAA Office ● Monbijoustrasse 61 ● Postfach ● CH-3000 Berne 23 ● SWITZERLAND 

t: +41 (0)31 370 18 28 f: +41 (0)31 370 18 38 e: office@uiaa.ch w: www.uiaa.ch

congratulations 

on your 100 years of alpinism 

800 638 6464 www.patagonia.com 

Contemplating a new route in the Pigeon Feathers, Bugaboos. 

Photo: Andrew Querner 

Patagonia pledges at least 1% of sales, 

$20 million in grants and in-kind donations 

to date, to the preservation and restoration 

of the natural environment. 

© 2006 Patagonia, Inc.

Congratulations 

on your first 100 years 

CPR has been a proud supporter 

of The Alpine Club of Canada since 1906. 

www.cpr.ca 

CPR ad which appeared in the 

Canadian Alpine Journal, 

Vol. 7, 1916.

2006- Introducing the new innovative line of suspension packs 

2005- Introduced the innovative Maneuver Soft Shell Jacket 

2004- Spectre SL sleeping bag earns Backpacker Mag “Editors Choice Award” 

1993- Mountain Hardwear ® founded 1994- Introduced first window use in tent flys 

1995- Ethereal Parka earns Backpacker Magazine “Editors Choice Award” 

Adjustable U-Bar 

Fit-Lock Harness 

U-Bar 

2003- Waypoint tent features first welded seam construction in an outdoor product 

Fit-Lock 

Pivoting Waist Belt 

OUR EXODUS SYSTEM MOVES WITH YOU FOR UNMATCHED COMFORT AND MOBILITY 

• ADJUSTABLE U-BAR CONNECTS THE YOKE TO THE FRAME, DISTRIBUTING WEIGHT EVENLY • THE FIT-LOCK HARNESS CUSTOM CONTOURS TO YOUR SHAPE 

• PIVOTING WAIST BELT ADJUSTS TO YOUR POSTURE AS YOU MOVE 

Pivoting Waist 

Belt 

Congratulations to the 

Alpine Club of Canada on 

100 years of mountaineering! 

2001- Quantum adjustable fit sleeping bag earns Backpacker Mag “Editors Choice Award” 

1996- Patented the “Tension Shelf” in our tents 

1999- Original Pack Pant earns Backpacker Mag “Editors Choice Award” 

2000- Trango 2 and 3.1 tents earn American Alpine Institute “Guides Choice Award”

Each one of us dreams dreams and sees 

visions. The peaks we climb in our reveries are 

nobler than any we can hope to ascend in real 

life, but it is our visionary mountains which 

govern our actual accomplishments. 

—Cyril Wates 

The Gazette, 1938

Winter 2006 - The Alpine Club of Canada

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