Canadian climbers train for Youth World Championships

Transcription

Vol. 19, No. 3
●
Fall
2004
Canadian
climbers train
for Youth World
Championships
page 4
Austerity Audacity Perversity
Page 10
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What’s Inside...
Mountain Culture
Editorial
3 Letter from the Editor
Mountaineering / Climbing
4 Canadian climbers train for Youth
World Championships
6 Cold passion
8 Tropical Storm Marcey
9 Fifty years of rock climbing at Bon
Echo
10 Austerity – Audacity – Perversity
17 Kama Bay ice climbing web guide
22 New rules for custodial groups
Facilities
16 Club opens door to new
backcountry cabin
19 Fay Hut - at home in the mountains
20 The history of Keene Farm part II
14 Melting Mountains
15 Jumbo decision comes in for a
landing
18 Because it beats complaining
23 Hot Links
National News
22
22
23
24
Volunteers required
Mountain Guides’ Ball
National Office news
Centennial Fund Campaign
Awards / Notices / Classified Ads
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Kokanee ski week available
Karl Nagy Memorial Scholarship
Financial Grants
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What’s Outside...
Front cover:
Canadian junior team climber, Cathy Laflamme, of Calgary puts her skills
to the test in the Carrot Creek area on August 21, 04 while training for
the Youth World Championships in Scotland; photo – Craig Douce©
Inset:
Summiteers: Fairy Meadow climbing camp; photo – Peter Albinger
Letter from the Editor
Aaaahhh,
it’s that relaxing season of autumn. The time of year when life
ticks down, the mercury plummets and cooler temperatures ease
the pressure to get ‘out there’. That is, of course, unless you’re an ice climber. For the rest
of us, contemplation and introspection fills the air, it’s the time for harvesting all you have
learned and experienced over the summer, storing it for next season. Now is the occasion to
take stock and reflect on the importance of the mountains. This precious landscape that tests
us and teaches us, leads us to reach deep into the core of who we are and pushes us to reach
our potential.
Perhaps you had a poor harvest this past summer and it is at this moment, the autumn
season, when new commitments are made. A promise to yourself, that next summer that long
dreamed of mountain sojourn will be realized.
As part of this reflective season, I personally have decided it is time to step down from
being editor. These three years have been a fulfilling, educational experience, the best part
being the people with whom I’ve crossed paths. Whether they were describing the challenges
of a 14-day high ski traverse in the Coast Mountains or a technical, two-pitch traditional
rock climb at Bon Echo, their enthusiasm and passion motivated me to help them convey
these experiences through writing. I learned much about the unique landscapes that
stretch across Canada and the dynamic people who adore, treasure and protect them. The
opportunity to support our writers as they put their funny anecdotes, huge adventures and
mystical mountain experiences to paper has been a wonderful challenge with some engaging
conversation. Thank you all for your efforts and please continue to share the stories and
photos of your backcountry adventures by submitting them to the Gazette.
—Bonnie Hamilton, Editor
Beginning with the 2005 winter issue, Lynn Martel, assistant editor for the past three years,
will assume the role of Gazette editor.
Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Fall 2004
3
Canadian climbers train for
Youth World Championships
by Lynn Martel
In
many ways, the scene was familiar.
Two-dozen teenagers gathered on a
Saturday afternoon, girls chatting in small
groups while the boys joked and challenged
each other.
The setting however, wasn’t a shopping
mall or video arcade, but the gravel bank of
a tumbling creek at the base of a limestone
cliff in Banff National Park’s Carrot Creek,
an hour’s hike from the trailhead. With
only three others climbing in the canyon,
Parks Canada’s request for limited use of the
environmentally sensitive area appeared to
be heeded.
These teens however, were climbing the
vertical and overhanging rock walls with
a purpose. Canmore’s Celeste Wall, Zak
McGurk, Charlie Hitchman, Nani Woolings
and Jessie Newton were among 24 members
of Canada’s Youth National Team preparing
for the 2004 Youth World Championships,
which took place in Edinburgh, Scotland
from Sept. 10 thru 12.
Climbing outdoors, explained coach and
owner of Canmore Alberta’s Vsion climbing
gym, Düng Nguyen, helps develop essential
route-reading skills.
“You have to try out different kinds of
rock,” Wall agreed. “Climbing inside we can
see all the holds. Out here we have to find
the holds.”
photo by Craig Douce
Encouraged by shouts of, “Come on
Charlie! You’re strong! Hang on!” 17-yearold Hitchman determinedly inched his way
up ‘Cup o’ Joe’, rated 13b. With sloping
holds on smooth water polished rock, the
drastically overhanging route presented
a level of difficulty demanding quick,
efficient movement, precise foot placements
and advanced balancing techniques.
Hanging from one hand to shake out his
pumped forearm, Hitchman’s feet suddenly
greased off the rock and he dropped two
metres before his belayer, managing the
rope, caught his fall. Dangling in mid air,
Hitchman grinned as comfortably as a
circus performer.
Minutes earlier, Vancouver’s Sean
McColl, 16, on-sighted the route - climbing
15m from the ground to the permanently
fixed chain anchor without any prior
attempts or knowledge of the route.
Last fall, McColl won the 16-17 Boys
category at the Youth Worlds in Bulgaria.
Throughout the summer, he and his
teammates have trained to improve their
strength, endurance and climbing skills.
Facing his fourth Worlds, McColl said
training demands motivation.
“I’d rather be going to the beach and
hanging with my friends,” he admitted. “You
have to sacrifice, but I think it will pay off. I’ll
always have the chance to hang out with my
friends, but you don’t always have the chance
to go across oceans and represent Canada.”
With nearly 400 competitors from over
30 countries, the World Championships
see 50 to 60 competitors in each category.
Edinburgh would be Hitchman’s second
Worlds since he started competing – and
climbing – three years ago.
“I thought I’d prepared myself for the
international scene, but when I got there I
realized how enormous it was,” Hitchman
said. “The French are really strong, last year
they only sent their B team, the A team went
to adult events. They take it really seriously,
there’s no parents allowed. It’s their national
sport. It’s inspiring, but you need to look
past it. They don’t have any super-human
powers. You just need to focus on what
you’re capable of, not get caught up in what
they’re doing.”
Going into the Worlds, 14-year-old Wall,
a Canmore native, had never travelled beyond
competitions in Vancouver and Saskatoon.
photo by Craig Douce
“It’s going to be different. I’ve never had
more than 10 people in my group before,”
she said. “It’s probably going to be crowded
when I’m trying to warm up. I could have
to fight my way to the wall. It’s going to be
a big learning experience.”
Advice from Calgary’s Stacey Weldon,
19, veteran of Youth Worlds in Italy,
Amsterdam, Austria and France - where she
finished seventh - is helpful, Wall said.
“It’s definitely inspiring to watch the
older climbers, the experienced ones, you
want to get on that route and try it,” Wall
said. “If someone gets it, we all feel good
for them.”
Like several of her teammates, her lithe
teenage body showing well-developed arm
and back muscles, Wall admitted she’s afraid
of heights.
“When I first started I’d go five feet and
I was terrified,” Wall said. “You get used to
it. It definitely boosts your confidence when
you do something hard.”
While earning a coaching degree at the
University of British Columbia a decade ago,
national team head coach Andrew Wilson
coached junior climbers at Vancouver’s The
Edge climbing gym (which he now owns).
Historically rebellious and undisciplined,
Wilson sought ways to make their training
more systematic and structured like
traditional sports.
“Climbers can train and benefit from
training just like triathletes and rowers,”
Wilson said.
A hockey player and sporadic climber
through his teens, Wilson said he became
disillusioned as a hockey coach.
“I started to see an atmosphere of kids
being introduced to things that were – not
positive,” Wilson said. “Then I went to my
first climbing competition and said wow!
The two closest competitors were cheering
each other on.”
That camaraderie endures he said, as
competitive climbing is welcomed into
the World Games in 2005, a pre-requisite
step toward the Olympics. And Canada is
competitive.
“These kids are really focussed and really
dedicated,” Wilson said. “They understand
training to get results. This is the strongest
team I’ve even been involved with for sure.
We’ve got seven or eight capable of cracking
the top 10. It’s a really exciting time.”
That’s a tribute to Competition Climbing
Canada, Wilson said, and to the generosity
of the local indoor gyms where the kids
train. With 100 competitors across Canada
benefiting from structured instruction from
day one, compared to 900 in the U.S. who
have neither national team nor coaches,
young Canadian climbers profit from the
experience of former competitors, including
Calgary’s Knut Rockne, the only other coach
to join Wilson in Scotland. As well, having
the help of two-dozen parents making the
trip is invaluable, Wilson added.
For parents, competitive climbing isn’t
much different than other sports, said Fraser
McGurk, whose three sons compete in
hockey, cross-country skiing and climbing.
“Your kid either finishes school or
whatever activity and you somehow try to
get food into them and get them out the
door to train,” McGurk said. “There’s not
as many competitions as a hockey player has
games, but the training is just as intense.”
Having Zak make the national team
increases the financial commitment,
McGurk said. Two weeks before the event,
about half of the $20,000 needed to send
the team to Scotland had been raised.
“It’s phenomenal, the support from
businesses in town,” McGurk said. “It’s
really good life experience for the kids, the
donation is not just given to them. The
athletes feel a sense of responsibility not just
to climb well but to represent the country.”
And Canmore parents helped out in
August by billeting visiting team members
from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and
Saskatoon.
“It’s really neat. Normally these kids
compete against each other to make the
team, now they’re working together,
building stronger friendships,” McGurk
said. “They’re very supportive of each other.
It’s an interesting sport, a very calm sport
compared to hockey.”
Still, competitive climbing is serious
business.
At 15, McColl won his category in
both speed and difficulty events, but just as
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quickly lost his title when he tested positive
for pseudoephedrine in a routine urine test.
He had innocently taken Claritin® before
the event. Competitive climbing’s first year
of drug testing, Wilson admitted it was a
learning experience for all.
When McColl won again last year, his
accomplishment was indisputable.
“Now the kids see it’s possible,” Wilson
said. “We know Canadians can be the
friendliest team and the best liked team but
we can have results too.”
Editor’s note: Sean McColl successfully
defended his title, capturing first place out of 63
competitors in his age category. Stacey Weldon
finished seventh out of 35 in her category. In
all, six Canadians finished in the top 20 of
their age groups, one more than last year.
Reprinted with permission from the Rocky
Mountain Outlook. To learn more visit
www.competitionclimbingcanada.com
5
Cold passion
by Margo Talbot
Competing
at the ESPN X-Games in 1996 on Jeff Lowe’s man-made
ice tower, I was one of about 60 ice climbers witnessing the
genesis of spectator ice climbing competitions that were about to explode onto this continent.
While the event would not have raised any eyebrows in Europe, where their existence was
already firmly rooted, here in North America there was a wave of excitement at this new
venue.
Let’s get a few things straight about these humble beginnings: performing gymnastic feats
of stupendous power did not necessarily reflect the abilities and talents of the athletes who
were new to the concept. I can remember Alex Lowe and Barry Blanchard performing quite
badly in the speed climbing competition, even as Will Gadd came in at a close second after
being off the ice for more than a decade. He had gotten bored with traditional ice climbing
but liked to compete and the money was fat. He was also a highly trained competitor on the
plastic rock climbing walls, and he instinctively knew that he could transpose his skills onto a
different medium when he badgered Jeff Lowe to include him in the event. Even today, with
the advent of overhanging mixed walls, which incorporate wood, plastic and metal holds, it is
generally those with a rock climbing background that tend to do well because they specifically
train for these events and possess the necessary flexibility, power and movement skills.
Competitive ice climbing has come a long way since then, with many changes to its face
along the way. One of my favourite parts of ice festivals and competitions is how they serve
to evolve the sport in question. It was at the European World Cup series several years back
that the athletes and organizers decided the competitors had to go leashless to make the event
more interesting, in addition to making it more of a test of endurance for the competitors who
were used to hanging out in their leashes for extended periods of time. Climbing equipment
companies, in conjunction with their sponsored athletes’ feedback, began experimenting with
various designs for new leashless tools. These same athletes designed boot spurs so they could
pierce dangling icicles that were too ginger to be front-pointed. It was in training for these
events that climbers decided to adopt different techniques such as speed climbing, climbing
without axes or crampons (or both), as well as inventing energy-conserving techniques.
All of these leaps filtered out into the general community of ice and mixed climbers,
giving everyone the chance to broaden their repertoire and hone their skills. But perhaps the
most important skill of all was refined at the after-comp parties where all of that focus and
hard work paid off as everyone vied for the real prize of the day: to see who could win the
party.
While ice climbing is no longer a featured sport at the winter X-Games, ice festivals are
still going strong. Ouray Ice Park in Colorado hosted its first ice festival two years before I
competed for ESPN, and other climbing communities were following suit with increasing
zeal. In Canada we witnessed this phenomenon take root in Orient Bay, Ontario, Quebec
City, Canmore and Nordegg Alberta and Lillooet, British Columbia, with a smattering of
smaller ones cropping up in the outer Meccas. Here’s your coast-to-coast guide to outdoor
winter pleasure in the form of picking your way up a slab of frozen water.
Eric Landmann on Sycho Icycho, one of the classic fun lines at Orient Bay
photo by Steve Behrend
Point-Rouge
photo by Andrew Querner
Festiglace
Sponsored by The North Face and held
on natural ice routes, this magnificent
gathering of enthusiasts will run from
February 18 to 20, 2005. Over 5000 people
are expected to show up at events ranging
from ice and mixed climbing competitions
featuring the world’s top climbers (who get
to choose which natural routes they will
climb as well as see how many they can
successfully scale in their allotted time), to
speed climbing competition for all abilities,
plus a plethora of tertiary events including
a Tyrolean traverse, snowshoe trails and
climbing clinics. The event takes place in
Pont-Rouge, and for anybody not familiar
with Quebec in the wintertime, you’re in for
a real treat.
www.festiglace.com
Nipigon Ice Fest
Originally called the North of Superior/
Orient Bay Ice Festival, this is the longest
running ice festival in Canada. It was started
in 1986 and primarily attracted climbers
from the Midwest. In 2003 the organization
of the event fell into new hands and was
renamed the Nipigon Ice Fest. Taking place
the first weekend of March, this celebration
attracts 500 participants and brings climbers
from all over the continent to check out
the local ice. The difficulty competition
happens on natural routes, plus there’s an
array of social events including films, slide
shows and dinners. Participants also have
their choice of ice or mixed clinics with
some of the sport’s better-known talent.
www.nipigonicefest.com
photo courtesy Granite Publishing
www.climbingcentral.com
6
Montreal River – Batchawana Ice Festival
Held in late February, this event takes place in a small town on the east side of
Lake Superior, 30 km north of Sault Ste. Marie. While the social events happen
in the town site, all of the climbing happens on day trips to surrounding areas.
One destination is Cerro de Hielo (Mountain of Ice) where there are 30 climbs
up to 60 m in height. There are also trips out to McKay Complex, which sports
the highest climb in the mid-continent at 258 m, called Stratosphere.
www.northofsuperiorclimbing.com
Nordegg’s Tri-Ice-a-Thon
Started on request by the Centre for
Outdoor Education in Nordegg Alberta,
this event is in its fifth year. The festival
hovers on that wonderful fine line where
it’s big enough to pull in the gear sponsors
and Canadian talent, yet small enough to
have that hometown climber-gathering
feel. Sporting three man-made walls for
time trials and gear demos, the actual
competition happens on a natural route in
the Cline River Gallery. Described by its
instigator as “a great way to have fun and
win some prizes,” this event is the one to
attend if you want your weekend to be
about your climbing as opposed to being
focused on the elite athletes of the sport.
The famous climbers of the region are on
hand, but more as instructors and gear
company representatives than as the main
course. The focus is on the beginner who
wants to try the sport, and the existing
climber who wants to share their passion
with other like-minded souls. Because this
event is not strictly competition orientated,
its goals are aimed in the direction of fun
and instruction with the all important
sponsor prizes thrown in.
www.coe.ca
Canmore
Canmore Ice Climbing Festival
Festiglace du Quebec
photo courtesy Festiglace
Agawa Canyon Ice Festival
Accessed by train from Sault Ste. Marie
Ontario, this is a climbers-only event held
in a canyon at railroad mile 112. The
canyon sports 60 routes up to 240 meters
high. It takes place the second weekend in
March, and is celebrating its seventh season
in 2005.
www.northofsuperiorclimbing.com
Lillooet Ice Festival
This festival takes place in the town of Lillooet, just north of Whistler, B.C. The organizers
rent out the local Legion and plan the party. There are slide shows, climbing clinics and
sponsor booths, and participants head off to nearby ice climbs to pass the time between social
events. Informal and fun, this event happens the last weekend in February.
www.ice-mixed.com
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photo by Andrew Querner
Sponsored by Arc’teryx this annual
event is held the first weekend of March. All
competitions and events take place in the
beautiful town of Canmore, Alberta, with
the exception of the climbing clinics, which
happen at ice-filled canyons just outside of
town. The event starts off on a Thursday
with the indoor dry-tooling competition at
The Vsion climbing gym. On Saturday and
Sunday over 1200 participants flank the
courtyard where the man-made structure
lives. Initially an ice only competition, last
year saw the advent of a World Cup style
outdoor mixed wall designed for top-level
athletes. The event proved not only to be
a statement of physical gymnastic ability,
but crowd-pleasing entertainment as well.
Incorporated into the wall were a number
of other potential lines for intermediate
competitors as well as those who wished
to try the sport for the first time using
demo gear available from adjacent sponsor
booths.
www.canmoreiceclimbingfestival.com
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7
Tropical Storm Marcey
by Howard Buckle
It
really shouldn’t have come as a
surprise. After all, the forecast called
for thunderstorms in the late afternoon.
Besides, Marcey was coming.
Dave and Marcey introduced us to rock
climbing in Ontario. On our first day out,
Dave told me he had “ruined more people’s
lives that way.” I had incorrectly assumed
he was joking. A few years, thousands of
dollars in climbing gear and three tattoos
later, I found myself taking early retirement,
moving into a condo in Canmore, Alberta
and dreaming of 5.11 rock, WI5 and
11,000-foot (3355 metre) summits. My
plans for a peaceful retirement on a sailboat
in the Caribbean disappeared in a cloud of
chalk dust.
After that, my wife Gayle and I regularly
travelled with Dave and Marcey in the east
to climb. Inevitably, Marcey brought the
storms. I have sought shelter from the rain
in Kentucky shortly after Marcey’s arrival.
I have glared at her in Tennessee while
putting a tarp over the tent in the rain. Road
trip after road trip, Marcey meant rain. We
started calling her T.S. - short for Tropical
Storm.
So when Gayle told me Dave and T.S.
would be passing through Canmore and
wanted to spend a day climbing, we decided
to go to Grassi Lakes. Thunderstorms being
in the forecast, the idea was to be where we
could get back quickly to the car should it
rain. The plan seemed sound. I failed to
include the ‘T.S. factor.’
Gayle and I drove up the Smith Dorien
Highway to Whitemans’ Gap parking lot
with Patrick, another friend of ours. The sky
was cloudy but not particularly threatening
as the three of us walked down to the crag.
Smith Dorien Highway washed out by the storm
8
We had given Dave directions and they
would meet us there.
We had a couple of routes in when Dave
came down the trail. Marcey followed a
short time later. Handshakes and hugs were
exchanged. As Marcey put on her harness,
I swore I heard thunder. Dave incorrectly
assumed I was joking.
Dave was halfway up his second climb
when the unmistakeable rumble of thunder
rolled down the valley. Patrick and the girls
packed up as I exchanged a worried look
with Dave. The “here we go again” went
between us unspoken. Patrick, Gayle and
good old T.S. were on their way out and rain
was falling by the time Dave was off rappel.
He and I tucked in under a little overhang
to see if the rain would let up. The rest of
our group was out of sight. The rain showed
no sign of letting up, so we decided to press
on. After 50 m, it was raining so hard we
had difficulty seeing. We found a small cave
and sat down to wait it out. We were joined
by a half dozen others. Our little cave grew
crowded as we pressed together.
Remembering that one of the worst
places to be during a lightning storm was
inside a cave, I briefly considered leaving. It
began to hail. I reconsidered and sat on my
pack, hoping it would provide insulation
if lightning struck. Fifteen minutes later,
the hail was still falling. The time between
the lightening and thunder was still less
than a second. One of our six new friends
commented they had never seen hail fall
for so long before. I realized the pack I was
sitting on was now almost under water. The
rain was flooding in from both sides of our
cave. More worried looks were exchanged
as the streams flowing in both sides of our
cave turned into lava-like flows of gravel
sized scree. Small
photo by Craig Douce rocks were washed
off from the loose
choss above us,
falling sporadically
in front of us.
The falling rocks
increased in size
and
frequency
as the rain and
hail
continued.
A falling boulder
exploded in front of
me and a fragment
smacked my chest.
Once again I
reconsidered.
A couple was crouched in another cave
on the opposite side of the canyon. The rain
was still falling hard, but there were longer
breaks between the rock falls. When the
couple signalled for us to cross, eight of us
ran. Ten of us crammed into a smaller cave
but there was less rockfall hazard.
I noticed one of the people in the cave
wearing wet denim jeans and shivering badly.
Fearing she would become hypothermic, I
helpfully offered a well-meant suggestion
that she remove the soaked cotton pants.
This was, however, not well received by the
shiverer’s boyfriend.
A short time later, the sky grew brighter
and we realized the rain had stopped. We
made our way out of the cave and away
from wet girlfriends in denim. Dave and I
met back up with Patrick, Gayle and T.S.
The girls had apparently been forced deeper
and deeper into a cave filled with what Gayle
described as rat droppings. Patrick chose
to wait under a small overhang, protected
from rockfall but not the rain and hail.
During the storm, Gayle joked with Patrick
about metal climbing equipment making a
good lightning rod. Realizing he was still
carrying my six-foot long aluminium stickclip purchased on my last road trip to Smith
Rocks, he threw it as far as he could. He
politely advised Gayle he would buy me a
new one.
A dozen new waterfalls now flowed
down the face of Ha Ling Peak as we made
our way back to the car. The path was filled
with gravel, mud and sludge washed down
from above. Gayle complained her pedicure
was ruined. A helicopter circled the area.
Driving down the road back to Canmore,
we found the road blocked by three cars.
Continuing another 100 m on foot, we
found why the helicopter was circling. A
rockslide 5m deep and 10m wide buried
the road. Four-wheel drive was not going
to help.
The 15-minute drive north to Canmore
was now not an option. We headed south.
Two hours later, after driving the Kananaskis
circuit, we were back in Canmore - in time
for our dinner reservation.
Two to three hundred truckloads of
gravel were removed from the road and
used to patch the washouts before the
Smith Dorien was reopened. Dave doesn’t
plan to bring T.S. back for at least two years.
Things could have been worse, I guess. She
could have visited us on a sailboat in the
Caribbean.
Fifty years of rock climbing at Bon Echo
by David Brown
Located
130
kilometres
west of Ottawa
and 220 km northeast of Toronto, Bon
Echo Provincial Park features a cliff about
100 metres high and 1 km long that grows
abruptly out of Mazinaw Lake.
The first ascent of this cliff, on a route
named Birthday Ridge, was accomplished
Sept. 1, 1956 by four Alpine Club of
Canada (ACC) members: Alan BruceRobertson, David Fisher, Marnie Gilmour
and Kathleen McCormick. They climbed
Front of the Pinnacle the next day. Today
we know them as David and Marnie Fisher
and Alan and Kay Bruce-Robertson. Sadly,
Alan passed away in 1996.
In 1963, the ACC’s Toronto Section
purchased a cottage lot on the lake
immediately north of the cliff and built a
small cabin. This cabin is still the centre of
Toronto Section climbing activities today.
Two years from now, the Toronto Section
is planning to host a 50th anniversary party
at the cabin. If you climbed at Bon Echo,
have fond memories and want to see just
how little it’s changed, mark your calendar
now – Sept. 1, 2006. Track down your old
climbing partners and tell them, too. We’ll
publish details in the spring 2006 issue of
the Gazette.
We’re also collecting material for an
expanded coffee-table style hardcover
version of the Bon Echo climbing
Above: Fall colours at Bon Echo dock
Left: Susan Andrew on Vertigenous
guidebook, A Guide to Rock Climbs at Bon
Echo, by Steve Adcock and David Brown,
now in its third edition. To have a look, visit
www.climbers.org/bonecho/guide01
If you have pictures, can we borrow
them? We can scan prints, 35 mm negatives
and 35 mm slides. Would you write down
your best Bon Echo stories and anecdotes?
For example, could someone reveal the
secret behind Top Secret? And when did the
shrimps learn to whistle?
Contributions to the book can be
sent to David Brown at 2075 Castlefield
Crescent, Oakville, ON, L6H 5B4, or to
brownmail@sympatico.ca
9
Austerity – Audacity – Perversity
ACC Fairy Meadow 2004 Climbing Camp
by Margaret Imai-Compton
“The
big objectives up here
are Mount Adamant and
Mount Austerity,” began our guide Jim
Gudjonson, as he briefed us upon our
arrival at the Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow)
Hut in British Columbia’s northern Selkirk
Mountains.
“This is an excellent area to use a variety
of your mountaineering skills. For sure there
will be roped glacier travel, rock climbing
and maybe some ice climbing if you want
it. We’ll just keep an eye on the weather and
take it a day at a time.”
The expressions around the table were
eager and curious as Felix Camire, our camp
manager, outlined hut protocol and led us
through introductions. We were six clients;
Brian ‘BD’ Danneman, Mike Dinkel and
John Seward from the U.S., plus Peter
Albinger, Brian McCrindle and me, all from
Toronto. Jim and Chad Rigby were guiding
and Paula Zettel had been released from her
desk duties at the Alpine Club of Canada
(ACC) National Office to cook for the week.
As I hiked from the heli landing area to
the hut earlier in the evening, the charm
of the setting worked its magic. I found
myself humming tunes from my daughter’s
repertoire of nursery rhymes, for this
was truly a fairy kingdom. Lush verdant
meadows, abundant alpine flowers and
meandering creeks above rocky waterfalls
were framed by the spectacular Granite
Glacier and the Adamant Range to the west
and the misty skyline of the Rockies to the
east. This was to be our playground for the
next week.
Climbing Mount Austerity
10
photo by Peter Albinger
The first three
days we stretched
our mountaineering
muscles with climbs
of 2700-metre Mt.
Pithias, the Horn,
3012 m, the Unicorn,
2992 m, and three of
Mt. Quadrant’s four
peaks.
“The
weather’s
holding. Let’s go to
Austerity tomorrow,”
Jim announced on From left, Brian Danneman, Chad Rigby, Paula Zettel, Jim Gudjonson (partly
Tuesday evening. We hidden) and Margaret Imai-Compton
were setting off for the
summit register, I wondered how this
second highest peak in the Adamant Range,
mountain had come to be named Austerity.
3348 m (10,980 foot) Mount Austerity via
The Greek root, ‘austeros’, means harsh or
the Ironman By Pass route.>
severe and yet the summit experience was
Jim and Chad led off in the dawn as
completely sublime and blissful as we took
we wound our way out of Fairy Meadow,
in the wonder of the Selkirks immediately
over the moraine and on to the Granite
surrounding us and the peaks of the Rockies
Glacier. After three heart-thumping hours,
further afield. Within the next hour, I was
we reached the bergschrund at the bottom
to have my own harsh encounter with Mt.
of what the Selkirks North guidebook
Austerity.
describes as a, “130 m 45 to 50 degree twoAs Jim lowered Peter and me over some
pitch ice slope.”
rocky ledges, I totally misjudged a downward
“Hmmm - this should be interesting,”
step onto a ledge. My left foot skidded over
I mused as I glanced down at the infinitely
a boulder and in the next moment I felt the
sloping glacier below us, then up to what
knee twist, wobble and collapse entirely. I
looked like a direct ice route to heaven. I
landed in a heap.
took a deep breath as Peter and I started up
“Damn, Damn, Damn!” I was so angry
together. Within seconds I heard myself yelp
and embarrassed at my clumsiness, I was on
as I slapped into the slope and got pulled
the verge of tears but I had promised Jim at
downward. Peter was dangling at the end of
the beginning of the camp that I was not a
the rope while I hung with one arm on to
whiny, weeping camper, so I smiled through
my ice axe planted into the slope. This was
the pain and struggled to my feet. Then I
the point at which I berated myself with (at
looked at our descent route and realized
least once on every climb), “What the heck
there was still the ice pitch to negotiate
do you think you’re doing here Margaret?
plus three or four kilometres of glacier and
Are you CRAZY?”
moraine travel back to the hut.
Having put the ice climb behind us, we
Jim obliquely mentioned something
tackled the rocky ridge that would take us to
about “getting a rescue up here”, but as soon
the summit. Jim expertly scoped out routes,
as I understood that meant being plucked
established anchors and safely belayed us
off Austerity/Audacity/Perversity by a
from one pitch to the next. Mt. Austerity
helicopter, my pride decided that I would
was starting to feel more like Mt. Audacity.
get back to the hut on my own steam, even
I mean, how audacious and impudent were
if it meant hopping all the way. Chad, Mike
we, lowlanders from Toronto, labouring our
and Brian showed infinite patience and
way up this mountain? When we reached
understanding as they slowed the pace to
the summit, Brian McCrindle had renamed
accommodate my lopsided gait, continuing
the mountain Perversity because, in his
to escort me after we had unclipped from
words, “You have to be a little perverse to
the rope. I believe in the ‘love of teammate’
do what we just did.”
concept, and my teammates, plus Jim’s calm,
As Jim and Chad entered us into the
WWWMARMOTCOM0HOTO!CE+VALE
watchful attitude and BD’s expert diagnosis/
treatment of an MCL sprain got me through
that day and the remainder of the week. Jim
described our Austerity/Audacity/Perversity
climb as a perfect day, with the exception of
my boo-boo near the summit.
On Thursday morning, as the team
was leaving for the east side of Outpost
mountain, Felix had some sombre news.
“Hey guys, we have a serious problem here.”
I saw Jim momentarily brace himself for the
bad news. Felix elaborated, “We have way,
way too much food and we have to carry it
out with us on Saturday so we have to eat as
much as we can in the next three days.”
From this point onwards, the camp
became an exercise in force-feeding. Felix
and Paula delivered food to us non-stop boxes of snacks and candy bars, grocery bags
full of oranges and apples, a tray of 40 eggs,
bins full of cheese, cereal, bread, gobs of
pasta and rice, dozens of Kokanee beer and
- best of all- desserts including chocolate
cheesecake and apple pie. We dutifully
consumed as much as possible and became
pudgier by the day, despite our vigorous
daily mountain outings.
Perhaps it was the abundance of food,
or mayonnaise gone bad, but the dreaded
puke-itis made its way into camp on the
last day. The first victim was Felix, heaving
into the darkness, followed at dawn by
Mike. Within an hour of departing for the
east side of the Gothics, the other victims
returned to the hut at staggered intervals first BD, then John and finally Jim. Chad,
Peter, Brian and Paula valiantly continued
on to reach their destination.
On our final evening, we sat around
the dinner table in the muted halo of
candlelight. Generous amounts of whiskey
and wine softened our conversation as we
talked of humorous, embarrassing and
awkward moments in mountaineering and
guiding. Then, inevitably, we spoke of the
sadder side of our passion - the near misses,
the mishaps and the deaths. As we blew out
the candle and retired for the night, I was
saddened that the week had come to a close.
But at the same time, I appreciated how
much each of my guides and teammates
had contributed to the rich experiences and
enduring memories of the week.
Thank you Jim, Chad, Felix, Paula, Peter,
BD, Mike, Brian and John. And thanks to
the ACC for the excellent hut system and
organization that goes into every one of
these camps.
4HE7ORK'LOVEBY-ARMOT)NSPIREDDESIGNEDANDTESTED
BYOUTDOORPROFESSIONALSOBSESSEDWITHGREATGEAR%NGINEERED
WITH-ARMOTSOWN-EM"RAIN©WATERPROOFANDBREATHABLEINSERTS
ANDTHEATTENTIONTOFUNCTIONALITYANDDETAILDEMANDEDBY
PEOPLEWHOWORKOUTDOORSFORALIVING/BSESSIONISSIMPLY
PARTOFTHEDEALWHENYOUREA-ARMOTFOR,IFE
Felix and Brian
Join us for a week at the
CAMPBELL ICEFIELD
CHALET
Fully catered and guided
April 16-23, 2005.
Also for self-sufficient groups:
X-Mas and New Year, Jan. 9-22,
And from April 23 on.
Phone 403-673-2198
www.skigolden.com
11
Get
Goods
the
Active Wear
ACC Vest
T-shirts
200 weight Polartec
Fleece, Forest Green or
Ash Grey with ACC logo
S, M, L, XL
100% Heavy Cotton, available in S, M, L, XL
Short & long-sleeve with ACC logo
Ash Grey
Members: $74.95
Non-Members: $79.95
Forest Green
T-shirts with ACC leaf image
Short-sleeve
Long-sleeve
Sand
Sage Green
Medium Blue
Natural
Forest Green
Short-sleeve:
ACC Mountain Leaf Image Cap
Long-sleeve:
Members: $16.95
Members: $23.95
Non-Members: $18.95 Non-Members: $25.95
*Sizes / colours are limited.
100% Brushed Cotton,
Stone with Green Brim
Stainless Steel Mug
Multi-function Pocket Knife
Swiss Guides Poster
12 ounce, double walled mug to keep
your beverage at the desired
temperature. Non-slip rubber
base. ACC mountain image
in forest green.
Stainless steel, includes
nylon, velcro case with
belt loop.
(approx. size: 7 x 2 cm)
Englehard & Feuz on
Mt. Victoria
Members: $11.95
Non-Members: $12.95
Members: $9.95
Non-Members: $10.95
ACC Mountain Leaf Sticker
Club Logo Pin
Club Crest
Brass ACC pin
(approx. size: 2.5 x 2 cm)
Sew-on ACC logo crest
leatherette on felt
Members: $16.95
Non-Members: $18.95
Accessories
Members: $14.95
Non-Members: $16.95
Members: $1.87
Non-Members: $2.80
(actual size: 46 x 61
cm)
Members: $4.95
Non-Members: $5.95
Members: $4.95
Non-Members: $5.95
Cards
Acclaimed Books
Greeting Cards
The Canadian Alpine Journal 2004
Enjoy the tradition of sending season’s
greetings with these 4 x 6 inch cards,
featuring a gorgeous photograph of the
Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow) Hut nestled
snuggly beneath the Northern Lights.
– edited by Geoff Powter
Packages of 10 cards with envelopes,
seasonal message or blank inside.
Members: $9.95
Non-Members: $11.50
TO ORDER:
This high quality annual journal contains a
wide range of reviews, reports and articles on
Canadian mountaineering.
Members: $25.95
Non-Members: $29.95
Member subscription price and back issues of
the CAJ available – call for details.
call: (403) 678-3200 ext. 1
email: info@Alpin
Great holiday gift ideas!
Ways to the Sky
A Rocky Mountain Sketchbook
– by Andy Selters
– by Donna Jo Massie
This historic book charts the evolution of alpine
climbing in the United States, Canada and Mexico,
from the evidence of ancient native ascents to the
latest cutting-edge climbs. Andy Selters highlights
key personalities, then points readers to the
mountains where they can experience firsthand
many of these historically significant routes.
Learn to create beautiful landscape
paintings through the instruction and
examples of this stunningly produced
book, a step-by-step guide to watercolour
painting and drawing in the mountain
landscape.
Members: $29.95
Members: $16.95
Non-Members: $19.95
Non-Member’s : $33.95
Bruno Engler Photography
Every Other Day
Bruno Engler, last of the Swiss mountain
guides, spent over 60 years photographing
the Canadian Rockies. In 1987, at the Banff
Festival of Mountain Films, Bruno received
the inaugural Summit of Excellence Award,
representing the highest of honours from
his peers for his contributions to Canadian
Rockies culture and for his enthusiasm and
dedication to photography, guiding and skiing.
– edited by R.W. Sandford & Jon Whelan
Members: $59.95
Members: $29.95
An engaging and entertaining account of the
exploits of a brash, very confident, 19 year old
amateur climber, A.J. Ostheimer III, and his
guide, Hans Fuhrer. Together they climbed
some 35 peaks in the Columbia and Clemenceau
Icefields area of Jasper National Park in a seven
week period during the summer of 1927. Twentyeight of these peaks were first ascents.
Non-Members: $59.95
Non-Members: $34.95
Accidents in North American Mountaineering 2004 Artists of the Rockies Inspirations of Lake O’Hara
An annual compendium of accident reports
from climbing accidents in the United States and
Canada. Through analyzing what went wrong
in each situation, ANAM gives mountaineers
the opportunity to learn from other climbers’
mistakes. From inadequate protection, clothing,
or equipment to inexperience, errors in judgment,
and exceeding abilities, the mistakes recorded in
this book are invaluable safety lessons for all climbers.
Members: $11.95
Non-Members: $13.95
A Mountain Life
– editied by R.W. Sandford
The Stories and Photographs of Bruno Engler.
Members: $30.95
Non-Members: $33.95
Also available:
– by Jane Lytton Gooch
Illustrates 100 years of landscape art inspired
by the Lake O’Hara area in the Canadian
Rockies. The book has an introduction
outlining the history of artistic activity,
including the Group of Seven, and the 50
colour plates, documented and described,
show a variety of media and styles from 27
artists up to 2002.
Members: $24.95
Non-Members: $29.95
Backcountry Huts & Lodges of the Rockies &
Columbias – by Jim Scott
Comprehensive guide to wilderness
lodging including the ACC’s mountain huts. Each
description includes location, GPS coordinates,
amenities, features, cost, access descriptions, best
guidebooks and reservation instructions.
Members: $24.95
Non-Members: $24.95
Guidebooks on mountaineering, climbing, skiing and hiking, as well as history and general interest books.
Maps - topographical and Gemtrek's recreational maps.
nClubofCanada.ca
GST & shipping extra.
visit: www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca/store
Melting Mountains – the ACC’s climate change awareness program
by Chris Joseph
“What
can we do?” It’s a
question the Alpine
Club of Canada (ACC) has heard over
and over from the mountain recreation
community since we initiated Melting
Mountains, an awareness program about
the effect of climate change on our alpine
environment.
In fact, the community’s response
has been phenomenal. The brochure we
developed in 2003 - a colourful collection
of climate change facts and solutions - went
out the door as fast as it came in. Within a
month of the initial print run, nearly 30,000
brochures had been claimed by mountain
enthusiasts around the world.
To address this overwhelming response,
the ACC has joined forces with the David
Suzuki Foundation, the Government of
Canada and Mountain Equipment Co-op
(MEC) to expand the scope of the program.
A number of plans are afoot. These upcoming
efforts will continue to show our club’s
leadership on this critical issue and should
continue to rally the troops into responding.
But before we get into describing the new
elements of the program, let us update you
on the latest science and news.
Mountains as global barometers
Sadly, the evidence continues to arrive:
our mountains are responding dramatically
Recession of the Helm Glacier, Garibaldi Provincial
Park, BC.
1929 photo courtesy of British Columbia Archives
(I-67145 & 67146 composite); 2002 photo by J. Koch
to climate change and are showing themselves
as ‘global barometers.’ For example, in
British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial
Park, scientists are charting substantial
reductions in ice coverage. Simon Fraser
University scientist Johannes Koch and his
colleagues have found that the park has lost
about a third of its ice mass in the last 300
years, with the most loss occurring in the
last 20 years. Glaciers elsewhere in western
Canada are evidencing similar changes, as
are glaciers throughout the world.
In 2003, American scientists reported
that Patagonian icecaps doubled their rate of
melting since 1975. This summer, Peruvian
researchers declared, “if climatic conditions
remain as they are, all the glaciers in Peru
below 18,000 feet (5490 metres) will
disappear by around 2015.”
A number of other physical changes are
also being observed. Earlier this year, a team
of European scientists suggested that the
extraordinary rockfalls from mountains in
the Alps in the summer of 2003 - in which
portions of a number of famous climbing
routes literally fell off the mountainside are the result of melting alpine permafrost.
Such events support earlier predictions that
climate change will bring about greater
numbers of landslides, debris flows and
outburst floods. Mountain weather is also
changing. Data collected throughout the
West, including Mount Logan, show that
snowlines are rising and winters are getting
shorter.
What does this mean for us? Our winter
snow will feel more and more spring-like
and we may lose some of our favourite
climbs. We really can’t ignore the fact that
our hallowed grounds will be transformed
substantially by climate change.
Mountain community responses
Fortunately, the mountain recreation
community is beginning to take action. In
the U.S. last year, the National Ski Areas
Association and the Natural Resources
Defence Council launched the Keep
Winter Cool program to mobilize skiers
and ski resorts to curb their greenhouse
gas emissions. Lots of fantastic initiatives
have sprung up. For example, California’s
Mammoth and a handful of other resorts
are powering portions of their operations
with wind or other renewable energy
sources and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado
offers discounts to customers who arrive via
14
carpooling. Perhaps the most forceful move
was by Colorado’s Aspen Ski Company. In
July of this year, the resort called on the U.S.
government to implement effective climate
change policy. In 2001, Aspen announced
a 10-year plan to cut their greenhouse gas
emissions by 10 per cent.
Here in Canada, we also have some great
examples of leadership. One third of B.C.’s
Whistler-Blackcomb’s snowmobiles are lowemission Bombardiers and low-emission
GMCs compose a growing portion of their
vehicle fleet. Throughout Canada, MEC
has been renovating its stores with energy
efficiency in mind. Due to recent retrofits,
its Ottawa store is charting $23,000 in
energy savings annually. Clearly, there is a
momentum growing.
The Peak Challenge
Each of us must now take our efforts to
a new level. There are a number of things to
be done. The brochure introduced us to the
Peak Challenge – a rally call directed at all of
us in the mountain recreation community.
The Peak Challenge stems from our national
emission-reduction goal as determined
by Canada’s obligations under the Kyoto
Protocol. To reach the national goal, each
of us must cut one tonne, or 20 per cent, of
our greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Is this hard? No. For example, in Alberta,
where most electricity is generated by coalfired generators, replacing all standard light
bulbs with compact fluorescent or halogen
bulbs cuts emissions by an average of 1.48
tonnes and saves $135 in electricity bills! It’s
that easy.
But we can’t stop there. We must
continue to be stewards of the mountains
and demonstrate continued leadership
among our climbing circles and in our
communities.
Melting Mountains coming to you
We are currently in the process of
organizing for our fall and winter presentation
tour. Through these presentations, we will
continue to spread the message that our
mountains are indeed melting, hear about
the changes local recreationists are noticing
around the West and talk with interested
parties about how they can effectively
combat climate change. Melting Mountains
needs volunteers and host sections to
coordinate these presentations across B.C.
continued on the next page
Jumbo decision comes in for a landing
by Amy Krause
You
are standing 3400 metres
above sea level, eye-to-eye with
the peaks of the Purcell mountains, blue
sky above, snow under ski, it smells of rock
and ice, and it is July. You are 50 kilometers
from the nearest major highway.
You are also 15 metres from the nearest
chair lift.
This could be the scene in the Jumbo
Creek region of British Columbia, plunked
half way between Invermere and the tiny
town of Meadow Creek, in what is currently
the domain of heli-ski companies and
backcountry travelers alone.
By the time you read this issue of the
Gazette, the fate of the proposed Jumbo
Glacier Ski Resort should already be known.
The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office
(EAO) is expected to pass down its decision
Sept. 17.
Regardless of the outcome, the fate of the
Jumbo Glacier Ski Resort will reverberate
continued from the previous page
and Alberta. If you or your section would
like to participate, please contact Chris
Joseph at info@MeltingMountains.org to
get organizing.
We should also point you towards our
new website at www.MeltingMountains.org
Here, we have posted the latest on scheduled
presentations, information about climate
change and its impact on our mountains,
as well as resources and suggestions to help
you succeed in your Peak Challenge. As
well, we will soon be introducing a number
of interactive components to our website.
Through Meltwatch you can follow changes
to mountains you hope one day to climb,
submit information and photos describing
changes you’re observing in your local peaks
and help scientists track the effect of climate
change on our alpine environment.
We in the mountain recreation
community have a lot to lose with climate
change; we also have a lot to offer. Ian and I
look forward to meeting and working with
many of you in the coming months as the
Melting Mountains program develops.
Chris Joseph is a guide and mountain
skills instructor in Squamish, BC. Ian
Bruce is an avid skier and climber living in
Vancouver, B.C. and is Melting Mountains’
program director. Both Chris and Ian can be
contacted at info@MeltingMountains.org
throughout the region and
beyond. It demands that
we ask difficult questions
that cut to very heart of
what wilderness means to
Canadians, to alpinists and to
the residents of the Kootenays
– questions such as: What is
wilderness? How much of it
should be protected? Who
should have access to it, and
Society Jumbo Pass, looking north-east into the Jumbo Valley, Mts Jumbo
how?
photo courtesy Jumbo Creek Conservation
The
Jumbo
Creek and Karnak
Conservation Society has
environmental assessments and over 4500
legitimate concerns about the development.
public comments submitted over the 90It worries about the strain placed on 68
day comment period.
resident grizzly bears in the Purcells, the
Yet there is no easy answer in all
ability of alpine watersheds to support a
this data. It begs the difficult questions:
5500-bed village, and the risk of drawing
How much of Canada’s alpine wilderness
economic growth away from existing resort
should be protected? Can we weigh one
communities, including Fernie, Panorama
person’s personal devotion to place against
and Kimberley.
another’s potential livelihood? Do mining
Jumbo Glacier Resort – Pheidias Project
and forestry destroy a wilderness forever?
Management and Vancouver architect
Or are abandoned, but ecologically viable
Oberto Oberti - argue that the resort is
lands worth protecting too? If we can’t see
located in a valley that was forested and
development from adjacent valleys, does it
mined until 1991, that it will protect
make significantly less impact? And finally,
watersheds with a state-of-the-art water
if alpine and glacial landscapes are integral
treatment plant, be the smallest resort in
to Canadian identity, then are ‘average
the region, provide year-round training
Canadians’ obliged to conserve them or
opportunities for Olympic athletes, create
entitled to access them?
up to 800 jobs and contribute millions in
Can we do both by taking people to the
local tax dollars.
peaks of the Purcells? Can we do both from
Finally, it argues that the resort will
the top of a chairlift?
provide ‘average Canadians’ with access
To learn more visit the B.C. EAO
to alpine and glacial landscapes – icons of
website www.eao.gov.bc.ca; Jumbo Glacier
Canadian identity.
Resort at www.jumboglacierresort.com; or
The British Columbia EAO has 30
the Jumbo Creek Conservation Society at
days to wade through feedback from
www.jumbowild.com. Comments on the
local, regional, federal and aboriginal
decision are welcome, even after Sept. 17.
governments, multiple economic and
15
Club opens door to new backcountry cabin
by Lynn Martel
From
the front stoop of the cozy
log cabin, towering jagged
peaks peeked out occasionally from behind
swirling clouds, only to be quickly hidden
again by thick grey masses heavy with rain.
To the south, Mount Aosta’s steep rock cliffs
were striped with snowmelt, its pronounced
ridges and pillars suggesting potential
climbing routes. To the west, white patches
of Castlenau Glacier offered tempting
destinations for adventure in a place that
felt so remote and wild I found it hard to
believe it took less than 90 minutes to reach
by mountain bike following a power line
trail bordered by pasque flowers and glacier
lilies.
Situated about a 20-minute stroll from
Lower Elk Lake in Elk Lakes Provincial Park,
the two-story, one-room log cabin was built
by B.C. Parks in 1991 to accommodate park
rangers whose duties included manning an
information counter. But with rangers now
spending more time patrolling broader
regions of the park rather than focussing on
a single location, the hut has seen infrequent
use in recent years.
That all changed in July however, as
the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), in
partnership with B.C. Parks, took over
operation of the cabin, offering overnight
accommodation in a remote area with
relatively easy access. And with the ACC
providing volunteer custodians on a fulltime basis through the summer months
and performing duties including registering
users to the Lower Elk Lake campsite, area
visitors will be provided with an enhanced
experience, said Glenn Campbell, B.C.
Parks area supervisor.
“We’re really pleased to have an
organization with the values the Alpine Club
has to help deliver some of our recreational
needs here,” Campbell said. “The ACC has
a large group of volunteers to draw from
who are enthusiastic about the backcountry
and who have a lot of experience, which we
see as being of benefit to the park as a whole,
not just for accommodation purposes.”
The arrangement, according to ACC
director of facilities Lawrence White, is
mutually beneficial.
“Parks really respects the values of our
volunteers,” White said. “And it gives the
Alpine Club a presence in a different part of
the country. We can show off a new area that
a lot of people might not realize is there.”
With a rushing creek supplying water
16
only 30 metres from the door, Elk Lakes
Cabin is equipped with foam mattresses for
10 people, a propane stove for cooking and
lighting, plus pots, pans, dishes and cutlery.
Visitors need only pack in sleeping bags and
food and with access from Kananaskis Lakes
trailhead consisting of a three to four hour
summer hike or winter ski, or a 10 kilometre
bike ride, the cabin is not only accessible
to a wide range of users, but affordable
averaging $20 per person per night, or $42
for two parents with up to three children.
But the biggest attraction is the location.
Ranging between 2900 and 3200 m, mounts
Fox, Foch, Castlenau and Aosta dominate
the skyline, with massive cliffs, plunging
waterfalls, hanging icefalls and jewel tone
lakes at their bases.
In winter, ice climbers can tackle frozen
waterfall routes on the Seeping Wall while
summer hikers can explore easy to moderate
trails to Frozen Lake, Fox Lake and Lower,
Middle and Upper Petain Falls - all of which
are closed to bikers.
With a full-time maintenance crew
of two to four people (in summer), the
non-profit, membership-based ACC relies
heavily on volunteer manpower to maintain
23 alpine huts, ranging from spartan bivy
shelters perched above treeline below
formidable climbing routes to charming
log cabins set among flower-filled meadows
and alpine lakes throughout the Selkirk and
Rocky Mountains of Alberta and B.C.
Typically the ACC arranges logistics for
helicopter flights to fly in materials - and fly
outhouse barrels out - but volunteer members
do 90 per cent of the physical labour. Over
two weekends in June, volunteer work crews
at the Elk Lakes Cabin removed a hot water
tank and shower unit and installed a propane
lighting system and a two-burner propane
hot plate (to augment the four-burner stove
already there). With vehicle access via a
70- km logging road from Elkford, B.C.,
the ACC hopes to install an underground
outhouse pump system, which would be far
more economical to service than barrels.
Inside the bright, skylight-fitted cabin,
Malcolm “Tabs” Talbot, ACC Huts
Committee chair, moved from the common
room to one then the other of two smaller
rooms on the main floor, planning the
cabin’s future. Take down this wall, move
the kitchen into here, extend the living area
out to there, put a dining alcove over there.
Upstairs, extend the sleeping quarters to
Elk Lakes Cabin
photo by Bruce Hardardt
the opposite wall and build a bigger staircase
so people can climb up comfortably with
their packs. Make the custodian’s room only
as big as absolutely necessary, build front and
back vestibules and outside, he added with a
twinkle, build a wood-burning sauna.
A finishing carpenter from Calgary who’s
been renovating ACC huts for nearly 20
years - the first was Fairy Meadow - Tabs said
he likes to spend a few days at a hut, living
among other guests before formulating any
renovation plans.
“I like to stay in a crowded hut,” Tabs
said. “I like to watch how the place works
when it’s full of people.”
His aim, he said, is to give people who
want to sleep as much space and privacy as
possible, while others can cook, eat, play
cards or relax by the woodstove in comfort.
“I’m preparing all the huts for my
retirement when I can’t camp anymore,”
Tabs joked.
In June, Tabs joined a work crew at Lake
O’Hara’s Elizabeth Parker Hut in Yoho
National Park, to rebuild the outhouses.
With overnight fees averaging $20 per
night for Class A facilities, Tabs explained
the ACC’s Huts Committee decided several
years ago that visitors deserved outhouses
equal in quality and workmanship to the
huts, rather than being forced to use cold
draughty biffies with spindrift blowing
through cracks. Poor workmanship, he
added, such as improperly installed doors
can easily blow their hinges or become
jammed by snowdrifts.
Renovating huts isn’t entirely without
adventure or intrigue, Tabs said, as he shared
a favourite tale.
Once when a couple of Huts Committee
members arrived at Elizabeth Parker Hut to
begin some renovations, they discovered
some gear left behind by a couple (who
shall remain nameless), who had neither
registered nor paid to stay in the hut and
had gone up to Abbott Pass Hut for a night.
The work crew tore out the bunks, gutted
the entire log cabin and placed the pack
right in the centre of the stripped hut before
leaving.
After a hearty round of laughter in the
Elk Lakes Cabin living room, the nineperson work crew - including six-yearold Emily and eight-year-old Lucas, who
admired their pet worm housed in a yoghurt
container while their dad, Calgary’s Bruce
Hardardt, ACC Clubhouse Committee
chair, packed up hammers and drill bits enjoyed a lunch of soup and leftover pasta
from the previous night’s dinner.
Lunch was followed by a frenzy of
sweeping and mopping, quickly transferring
the renovation zone into an inviting
mountain retreat.
“That’s the trouble with work parties,”
said ACC mountain adventures coordinator
Jon Rollins. “Just when you’re about to leave
the hut looks all comfortable and organized.
The rest of the time it’s chaos.”
To
book
a
reservation
or
volunteer as custodian, check out
www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/facility
Kama Bay ice climbing web guide now available
After
years of filming in bitter
cold temperatures and
countless painful hours on the computer,
the Hangdog Production crew has finally
finished designing a web-guide to the ice
climbs in Kama Bay, Ontario.
This guide has up-to-date information
on new climbs including the first ascents
of NC-17 (M5+), Stone Cold Cowboys
(M4, WI4), G-Rated (WI3+), as well as old
classics such as Getting Oriented (WI4+)
and Icebreakers (WI5+).
Contents include printable maps,
photographs of many local climbers and
descriptions for each climb. The Alpine
Club of Canada (ACC) Thunder Bay
Section will be updating this guide annually,
so please inform the Club of any new route
information or photographs you have to
contribute. Hopefully this project will
inspire other Club members (like yourself )
to produce a similar web-guides for other
climbing areas around Thunder Bay.
To view, go into the Thunder Bay Section
home page, then go to Local Climbing,
then to Ice Climbing Areas. At the top
of the page, there is a sub-category called
Kama Bay Ice Guide. This is the home page
for this project. The contents are grouped
in sub-categories at the top of this project’s
main page.
This project was made possible through a
grant from the ACC’s Helly Hansen Mountain
Adventure Award program.
PSST!
Do you wanna be a famous
writer? Ok, how about just a writer?
Contact the Gazette editor at
gazette@alpineclubofcanada.ca to have
your article, story or event published in
the Gazette.
Karl Nagy Memorial Scholarship
The
Karl Nagy Memorial Scholarship was established in 2001 to assist aspiring
amateur leaders and guides in the development of their leadership and people
skills. Until his death in 2000, Karl set an outstanding example as a mentor in the mountains
and was well known for his leadership, safety and success. Karl was admired and loved for
his exuberant attitude in the mountain environment that he played and worked in.
This scholarship is intended to provide an opportunity to Association of Canadian
Mountain Guides candidates and/or Alpine Club of Canada aspiring amateur leaders
to develop their skills and abilities within the ACC General Mountaineering Camp
environment. All applicants must be current members of the ACC.
The Karl Nagy Memorial Scholarship Selection Committee will review all applications
received and approve one application for attendance at a designated week of the GMC
Mountaineering Camp each year. The individual selected will be sponsored to attend the
GMC to observe and assist current guides and amateur leaders roughout the week. Alpine
Club amateur leaders and ACMG candidates will be given priority in alternating years.
The year 2005 is set for an aspiring ACMG guide.
The deadline for applications is January 31,2005. For more information, visit
www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/activities/leadership.html#nagy
17
A volunteer’s commitment to the Alpine Club of Canada
The Gazette continues to recognize the contributions of some of the Alpine Club of
Canada’s (ACC) most dedicated and long-serving Executive Committee volunteers. Peter
Muir has served as the Vice President of Access and Environment since 1998 and was the
recipient of the ACC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001. Peter works as a lawyer and
resides in Winnipeg Manitoba with his wife and two children.
Because it beats complaining
Peter Muir
by Peter Muir
Poor
Mr. Mallory; when asked a
stupid question, he gave a
frustrated answer. And now his overused
response is changed and used again by
some duffer climber from Winnipeg. Oh
well, better to be thought of than not, I
suppose. Mallory’s answer reflects my usual
initial reaction when asked why I volunteer
- if you have to ask, perhaps you will never
really get it anyway. But, although likely, the
only thing he and I have in common - he
missed a great chance and I hope not to miss
mine.
For the most part, I will spare you the
details of an otherwise pretty ordinary
climbing and skiing life. Yes, I climb rock,
mountaineer and more than anything, love
to ski and I live in Winnipeg. Good, old
Winnipeg flowered with abundant cultural
relief but not blessed with topography
beneficial to my chosen passions. So how
and maybe more importantly why, would
a prairie boy become the VP of Access and
Environment for the Alpine Club of Canada
(ACC)?
Sometime in the dark ages, that period
of time in which most sport climbers believe
that people must have been forced against
their will to listen to Van Morrison and rock
climbers used stoppers for more than paper
weights, I took a climbing course. It was
fun. It was taught at an old quarry north of
Winnipeg by the first of a long line of great
friends I have come to know through the
ACC. Tibor Bodi is a true gentleman of the
sport who encouraged me to climb and to get
involved with the local Manitoba Section. I
became section secretary around 1986. As
you can well imagine, there were few other
places to meet climbers in Winnipeg.
From that point forward my life is
road signed with the many people and
experiences that are part of and surround
the ACC. Truly fantastic folks, too many
for mention in a short article but truly
memorable characters.
When the Manitoba chair became the
secretary of the national club, he encouraged
18
me to become Section president and, in so
doing, I joined the whole new world of
the national club. Many challenges and
interesting questions later, the main benefit
for me remains the same - the people and
the experiences tied in with them.
So many great days and meetings as
reward for a few short hours around a
boardroom table. Don Forrest’s excited
remembrances of Mount Manitoba. Open
encouragement to keep climbing from Glen
Boles. Going on The North Face course
and learning from Cyril, Peter and Kristen
to demand more of myself. For the cost of
the course, I would have to volunteer for
the Club forever to repay what I got from
it - and that was before it was improved.
Tami Knight and I laughing until tears at
the expense of a poor executive member;
he ravaged by the results of Mr. Mortimer’s
tutelage that there is indeed a bottom of a
Grand Marnier bottle and it can be reached
if you apply yourself to the task all night.
Chance meetings with famous climbing
personalities - did you know it is physically
impossible to maintain the attention of
a woman in a bar while seated beside the
way over six-foot tall, square-jawed Conrad
Anker - neither did I but I know now.
Conrad as it turns out, does not spend a
great deal of his travel time in Winnipeg
so short of the ACC there was not much
chance I would cross his path or that of the
Burgess twins, Chic Scott, Peter Fuhrman,
Peter Croft, Karl Nagy, Ian McNaughtDavis, the members of the Japanese Alpine
Club and many others.
My time with the ACC has given me the
rare opportunity to deal with questions of
which dreams really are made. For example,
confirming committee recommendations
for the recipients of the Jen Higgins
Award. Can you imagine a better feeling
than helping, even in a small way, the
aspirations of a young woman in realizing
her expeditionary dream? I get to know
that feeling. Every member of the ACC
board, whether they think about it or not,
photo by Maria Fiorentino
gets that gift. And each evening of effort
spent debating difficult questions, such as
insuring that kids can go on Club climbs,
is rewarded by reading about their successes
and failures.
I could go on and on but where else
could you learn about mountain culture
than from Bob Sanford? Writing from
Geoff Powter and Dave Dornian? European
history from Mike Mortimer? Two
generations of contributions from the Roe
family? Horticulture from Gerta Smythe?
Would my life have been as much fun
if I had not met the very entertaining ice
climbing fanatic members of the Thunder
Bay Section? Nope.
All in all, it seems pretty simple to me.
You have a skill. I could learn from it and
the ACC could benefit from it. You should
volunteer in whatever capacity you feel you
can - you might surprise yourself in how far
you can go and isn’t that really why you are a
climber? You and I together will never keep
everybody happy but, because it is better
than complaining and because, even with
my idiosyncrasies, I am a different person
that when I started out, I know we will
grow in someway together and the ACC
will come with us.
Not long after I took that fateful lesson
from Tibor, I read in a British magazine
what has remained my favourite climbing
story. Its final paragraph is as applicable to
my time with the ACC as it is to my life, so
the final words go to Steve Ashton:
At the end of the traverse we took the usual
wet weather option and roped off from the
broomstick sapling in a small meadow above
the lower roof. Just in case the sapling pulled
I abseiled in an upright position so the impact
would be absorbed by crumpling leg bones
instead of a crumpling spine. I didn’t want
to end up paralyzed from the waist down. I
suppose that’s what commitment is all about;
stepping into the future, for better or worse,
because there’s nowhere else to go. There’s no
risk in that. You took the risk when you tied
the knot.
Fay Hut - at home in the mountains
by Fern Hietkamp
photo by Bruce Hardardt
In
July I had the opportunity to accompany a group of Alpine Club of Canada (ACC)
executive and volunteers and Parks Canada staff to visit the Fay Hut site, south of the
Valley of the Ten Peaks, above Prospectors Valley in Kootenay National Park.
Fay Hut was built in 1927 as a base for climbing in the Valley of the Ten Peaks and it has
the distinction of being the first hut built or operated by the ACC. As reported in the Fall
2003 Gazette, Fay Hut burned in the Tokumm Creek fire in Aug. 2003, one of many fires
that burned through B.C. and Alberta forests that summer. The ACC is working with Parks
Canada to rebuild the historic Fay Hut; the purpose of our visit was to locate a site.
After the helicopter landed us below the
towering peaks and glaciers, we crossed a
rushing stream and walked tentatively into
the blackened forest. We marvelled at the
complete devastation - the forest soil full of
ash and dry as dust, tree trunks hollowed
out by fire and all that remains of the Fay
Hut - a rectangular foundation in a small
clearing. But then our eyes started to pick
out the tiniest signs of life - a bit of fireweed
here, some mushrooms there, a spot of
meadow that the fire had leaped over as it
raced through the forest. It was like landing
on another planet; nothing seemed familiar
although it was the same old Fay Hut site
that we had visited many times before.
Between the time of its construction
in the 1920s until 1991, the Fay Hut was
variously supported and maintained by the
ACC and Kootenay National Park. After
1991, the hut was permanently handed over
to the ACC, and National Executive and
Rocky Mountain Section members poured
a large amount of effort and funding into
the hut to keep it in good condition.
After walking through the area, the
group identified an ideal site for rebuilding
the Fay Hut, about 50 metres above and
eight minutes past the old site, between
the stream and a rock outcrop. Once the
location was decided, Peter Fuhrmann and
Carl Hannigan flagged the trail to the new
hut site. Jonathan Rollins of the ACC’s
Energy, Water and Waste Management
Committee conducted an environmental
impact assessment for the new hut location.
Bev Bendell and Hans Fuhrer gave input on
the aesthetics of hut views. Malcolm Talbot,
chair of the ACC Huts Committee, reviewed
design opportunities that the location
provides and helicopter pilot Don McTighe
picked out an appropriate helicopter landing
area. Jeremy Zettel pulled out his surveying
equipment to triangulate the coordinates
for the new hut.
In the midst of all the discussion and
planning, Fay Hut Rebuilding Project
manager Bruce Hardardt and Gerry Israelson,
park warden and backcountry specialist for
Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay region,
discussed the design and approval process
that would be required. After a few hours
of work, Jon brought out a picnic lunch
and Peter a bottle of his homemade wine to
celebrate the occasion.
Amazingly, we were starting to feel
comfortable in this burned-out landscape.
We could picture where the rebuilt Fay Hut
would be, the walk to the outhouse, the trail
to the peaks and the forest re-growing in
time. You could say we started to feel right
at home at the site of the new Fay Hut!
Next steps in the Fay Hut Rebuilding Project
It is anticipated that the Fay Hut will be designed and rebuilt within the year. A design
committee is in place, with hut construction planned to take place over the winter of 20042005. A three to four week on-site building phase is planned to start mid July 2005. For more
information, or if you would like to volunteer for the hut rebuilding as logistics coordinator,
first-aid attendant, cook, construction and building professional or any other capacity, please
contact Bruce Hardardt, project manager, at bhardardt@shaw.ca
The ACC National Office and Facilities Committee would like to extend a sincere thank
you to all who have donated to the rebuilding of the Fay Hut to date. Further contributions
are welcome and needed. To donate, please see the back cover of this Gazette.
19
The history of Keene Farm Part II
by David Gillespie
The following is the second of a three-part history of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC)
Montreal Section’s Keene Hut. Part one, which appeared in the Summer 2004 Gazette, detailed
the history of the Styles Brook Valley, where the property is located, and the beginnings of the
Montreal Section’s interest in acquiring the property.
The purchase of the property
To form a company, a board of directors
composed of U.S. citizens was needed.
The Keene Valley real estate agent agreed
to sign the incorporation papers, but two
more citizens were needed. While Gordon
Weetman (Montreal Section chair at the
time) went skiing at Tuckerman’s Ravine
in New Hampshire with Bill Putnam of
New Hampshire (a leading member of the
American Alpine Club) and Fritz Weisner of
Stowe Vermont (a famous German American
climber who frequently climbed with Club
members at Val David, Pocomoonshine,
the Rockies and Shawangunks), Weetman
broached the need for U.S. incorporating
directors. They agreed to sign. He found
Harland Carson, a lawyer in Elizabethtown,
New York, to incorporate the Montreal
Alpine Club Inc. (MAC Inc.) as the
organization that would form a subsidiary
company for the ACC’s Montreal Section.
At the MAC’s first formal annual
meeting in Montreal, the Section fired the
U.S. directors and passed a bylaw naming
the Montreal Section’s executive as directors.
The Section then bought the farm in the
name of MAC Inc. and Mr. Hickey, the real
estate agent, sold insurance to the Section.
Mrs. Howe, the former landowner, had
a daughter who insisted on keeping the land
below the road to put a house trailer on. She
did agree, however, to let the ACC have a
two-acre parcel of land going down to the
brook for access. Montreal Section member
Louise LaRivière purchased another little
adjacent block upstream.
The restoration of the property
Section members were very busy on
weekends for the next three years. The roof
was repaired and the house, outside and
inside, was fixed. The old field well was
dug out, the valve discovered and water fed
into the house below. Even at -25˚ C, the
two wood stoves kept it warm and water
which was not available from the field well
(when it was frozen solid) came from ice
in the stream that crosses the road at the
corner of the property. Trails were marked
on the rocky ridges up to Clements Pond
in the back of the property, cross-country
ski trails were picked out across Styles Brook
and the trees overgrowing the meadow were
vigorously attacked.
Most summer weekends were spent
cutting the grass – on five acres requiring
maintenance - with only a single hand push
lawnmower. Doug Urquhart, an active
member from the very beginning of the land
acquisition, generously bought and donated
two more lawnmowers so that two mowers
were in use at all times while he maintained
or fixed the third one. Doug spent entire
summers living on the property. He worked
hard at many tasks and collected weekend
dues as well for many years.
The field had many large stones that
often hampered camping sites. Many more
weekends over the first five years were
spent ridding the boulders by digging a
hole beside each of them and then burying
them hopefully into the hole - not always
a successful task! The fall weekends were
focused on cutting firewood manually by
means of a large crosscut saw.
Years of constant lawn mowing, boulder
burying and manually cutting firewood
took a toll on our members, so in 1971
a second-hand farm tractor with a new
mowing implement, and a brand new chain
saw were purchased. What a blessing! In
1973, a large 20 by 30 foot shelter was built
to accommodate campers during inclement
weather.
Member Doug Sloan had a lawyer friend
from Manhattan do further legal work to
correct problems with the incorporation.
The loans were quickly paid off and user
fees made the Keene Farm self-financing.
Since the early 1970s, members began
staying overnight at the clubhouse over the
cold days of late fall right through the early
spring. The subsequent heavier usage meant
further restoration to the house. This called
for strengthening the century old beams,
replacing the mouse infested furniture with
wall-to-wall bunks, increasing the number
of beds on the second floor and finally,
repainting the entire interior of the house.
Paul Gillespie and his wife Monique, Doug
Urquhart, Boris Brumat and Jean Bourgain
Financial Grants from the Alpine Club of Canada
Through the generosity of many donors, the ACC has several funds in place to support a variety of mountaineering related projects and initiatives. The annual
deadline for the receipt of grant applications is January 31st, and the announcement date for grants awarded is March 15th.
The Environment Fund provides support for projects aimed at contributing to the protection and preservation of mountain and climbing environments,
including the preservation of alpine flora and fauna in their natural habitat. The focus of the Fund is wilderness conservation rather than recreation enhancement, in
recognition of the fact that wilderness is a rapidly diminishing and irreplaceable resource of great intrinsic value and that we must act quickly to save these areas.
The Jen Higgins Fund promotes creative and energetic alpine related outdoor pursuits by young women age 25 and younger. These projects should
demonstrate initiative, creativity, energy and resourcefulness with an emphasis on self-propelled
wilderness travel, and provide value and
interest to the community. For example, drawing attention to an environmental concern, exploring a
new area, a first accent/traverse, recreating an
historical event, involving research, or providing inspiration and role models for other women.
The Helly Hansen Mountain Adventure Award was established to celebrate the human passion for alpine areas, and is intended to support
worthwhile mountaineering and alpine related projects undertaken by Canadians that allow the passion for mountains to grow and flourish. That passion can be
expressed in many forms – mountain exploration,
recreation, culture, education, research and alpine access preservation.
For complete information and application forms,
visit our website: www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca/funds/index.html
If you do not have Internet access, you may request that the information and forms be mailed to you by calling the National Office at (403) 678-3200 ext. 108
20
photo by Karen McNeill
along with other members spent much of the
summer of 1974 doing the restorations. The
work was finally completed in late Nov., just
in time for winter use.
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
in the first week of Dec. 1974, it was
decided that a committee be formed to look
into the location and the building of a new
clubhouse. It was felt that the present one
was going to be too difficult and expensive
to maintain especially when considering its
age (over a century) and its ever increasing
popularity. That same week, a verbal
agreement was reached with the insurance
broker to increase the house insurance
coverage from $5,000 to $11,000 US.
Disaster!
The week following the AGM, an RCMP
officer came knocking at the door of the
Gillespie residence to announce the Keene
Farm clubhouse had burned down. We were
all in shock and disbelief, especially after
spending an entire summer renovating. The
officer told us it caught fire the day before
(a weekend), on a very cold night when
some urban Manhattanittes, unfamiliar
with wood stoves and guests of an absent
ACC member, went to bed with the stoves
fully loaded and the dampers wide open. As
is the classic case, the pipes overheated in
the night. The guests raced to town to tell
the fire department of the incident but it
was too late when they arrived. Was there
anything left of the house? What were we
going to do? Would the insurance honour a
verbal agreement from the week before?
Paul Gillespie (my father) and I drove
down that day to see what remained of the
house following the fire, to talk with the
fire chief and obtain his report and see the
insurance broker. Part three of this story,
describing the aftermath of the fire and the
events of the many years following, will
appear in the winter issue of the Gazette.
Many thanks go to Gordon Weetman for
his contribution to this article.
Get
your award nominations in by the December 31 deadline for the
exceptional ACC volunteers of 2004. Choose the appropriate award,
ACC Service Award, Distinguished Service Award, ACC Leader Award, Silver
Rope for Leadership Award. All the award criteria and nomination forms are on
our website at: www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca/awards/index.html or call the
National Office at (403) 678-3200 x 108 and we can mail you the information.
21
New rules
for custodial groups in Canada`s mountain national parks
Volunteers
Required
Effective
- ACC Centennial Events
April 1, 2004,
custodial groups
planning backcountry travel in avalanche
terrain between October 15 and May 31 in
Canada’s mountain national parks (Mount
Revelstoke, Glacier, Yoho, Kootenay, Banff,
Jasper and Waterton Lakes National Parks)
must obtain a permit signed by the park
superintendent. A ‘custodial group’ means
an institutional group where at least one
person is below the age of majority and
that minor is not in the company of his/her
parent. Institutional groups include but are
not limited to school groups, Scout/Guide
groups, church groups, cadet groups and
community youth groups. Conditions of
the permit stipulate that the custodial group
retain the services of a certified mountain
or ski guide, with a maximum group size of
nine persons, not including guides. Permits
will be issued following approval of a
custodial group permit application. Permit
applications must be submitted at least two
weeks in advance of the proposed trip’s start
date. A custodial group permit application
form can be obtained from:
● Mountain park web sites
● Parks Canada information centres or
administration offices
● Parks Canada’s office in Calgary, Alberta
(#1550, 635-8th Ave. S.W.)
● Information on hiring a mountain or ski
guide can be found on the web site of
the Association of Canadian Mountain
Guides at www.acmgguides.com
During
2005/06 the Alpine
Club of Canada
(ACC) will celebrate its centennial. In
recognition of this august occasion, the Club
is scheduling a series of activities at both the
national and section levels. The ACC has
always relied on volunteers to run Club
events and as we approach our centenary,
we find that this need is as great as ever.
Volunteers are needed to help us develop
and run a variety of projects. Some positions
require people to reside in the CalgaryBanff area, and other positions can be run
from outside the immediate area. Several
positions are skill-specific, while other tasks
just require the desire to be involved in what
will be a significant milestone in the life of
the Club.
For more information on volunteering
in these areas:
● Volunteer Coordinator
● Public Relations
● Fundraising
● UIAA General Assembly
● Webmaster for Centennial
Contact Mike Mortimer, Chair,
ACC
Centennial
Committee
at:
mmortimer@telus.net
On behalf of
The Alpine Club of Canada and
The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides,
we cordially invite you to join us for our annual fundraiser,
15th Annual Mountain Guides’ Ball
Saturday, October 30, 2004, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Sharon Wood, a woman who has made great contributions to
both the Canadian climbing community and her local Bow Valley
community, will be the patron of this years Guides’ Ball.
1913 Climbers on Mt. Respendent.
Courtesy of: Carole Harmon and the
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.
22
For details and ticket information visit our website:
www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca/support/guidesball.html
or call the National Office (403) 678-3200 ext. 108.
CLASSIFIED ADS
Mountain Art
Hot Links
by Suzan Chamney
There
Limited Edition Prints
by Glen Boles
E-mail: glenboles@shaw.ca
Visit: www.glenboles.com
(403) 932-3702
is a mountain of information out there in cyber space just waiting to be
shared. Whether you are interested in other mountaineering organizations,
possible trip routes, ideas for cooking in the backcountry, places to purchase equipment or
reference material, the choices are endless. Sometimes they are so endless that great websites
get missed, so the Gazette has created this new Hot Links column focussing on alpine related
sites. In each issue we will highlight websites, which we hope you will find of interest.
ACC Custom Portering Services
www.uiaa.ch The Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA) is the recognised
Available for all huts summer
and winter. If you are planning a
backcountry hut trip and would like to
have your food and equipment carried
in, contact the Mountain Adventures
Coordinator, Jon Rollins, for details
at (403) 678-3200 ext. 112 or e-mail
jrollins@AlpineClubofCanada.ca
international federation and the acknowledged expert on all international climbing and
mountaineering matters. The UIAA promotes access for the freedom to enjoy climbing and
mountain sports in a responsible way and with minimum impact to the environment. The
UIAA helps to protect mountain areas and climbing sites from damaging developments and
encourages development for local communities.
NOTICES
ACC Board of Directors Meeting
The next ACC Board of Directors
meeting will be held on Oct 30 and 31,
2004 at the Canadian Alpine Centre
in Lake Louise. For more information
contact the National Office.
TNF Leadership Course Deadline
The North Face winter leadership
course
application
deadline
is
October 25, 2004. This course will focus
on critical leadership issues for ski trips
and traverses. This subsidized course costs
$650 (+GST) and will be held at Golden
Alpine Holidays, Vista Lodge January 8
to 15, 2005. For more details check our
website at www.AlpineClubofCanada.
ca/activities/leadership.html or call
Jon Rollins at the National Office
(403) 678-3200 x 112.
CAJ Article Deadline
The submission deadline for articles for
the 2005 Canadian Alpine Journal is
January 15, 2005. Please forward articles
with contact information to the editor,
Geoff Powter at gpowter@telusplanet.net
or fax: (403) 678-3224.
Classified Ads Rates:
$20.00 plus $1.00 per word +GST
E-mail your ad to:
ads@AlpineClubofCanada.ca
or mail to the address on page 3.
www.acmg.ca The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides is a professional association of
trained and certified mountain guides, hiking guides and climbing gym instructors. On their
site you will find information on their Guide Certification Program as well as information
for planning your next adventure.
www.americanalpineclub.org The American Alpine Club is the leading national organization
in the United States devoted to mountaineering, climbing and the multitude of issues facing
climbers, with an emphasis on adventure, scientific research and education.
www.bivouac.com
The Canadian Mountain Encyclopaedia features searchable information
on 500 mountain ranges, 7000 peaks, 2000 key passes, 1000 towns, 1500 roads and trails.
Added to this infrastructure are 1000 trip reports and 3000 photo reports. The trip reports
include a good number of explorations and major traverses, as well as accounts of first ascents
and photographs.
Share your favourite links with us and we will print them in this column! Send your
suggestions to richard@rberryphoto.com
National Office news
by David Toole, President
Since
I’ve been hanging around
the National Office
recently acting as a volunteer supporting the
staff, I’ve been asked to write a short article
relating the news from the office. Josée
Larochelle, Office Manager/Membership
Coordinator, has returned from maternity
leave and her workstation is festooned with
pictures of her daughter Emilie Fay. She
has also told us recently that we can expect
a repeat as she is anticipating a further
addition next year. Paula Zettel filled in
for Josée over the past year, and did an
excellent job. Audrey Wheeler, Director
of Member Services is off at the end of
September for her maternity leave and we
don’t expect to see her for a while, but are
looking forward to news of a new arrival
in November. Nancy Hansen, Director
of Mountaineering was in the office for a
while in September preparing the Alpine
Huts & Mountain Adventures brochure
you received with this Gazette. She and her
husband, Doug Fulford, will be back again
in October and we expect to get Nancy on
board again for a short while as there is
always work to be done.
Lawrence White, Director of Facilities
has settled nicely into the slot Nancy
left. We were fortunate to have Luther
McLain with us over the summer as he
was on summer vacation from his program
at University. He did an excellent job
in training Carole Perkins as Facilities
Administration Manager. Ann Vanier,
Front Desk Supervisor, is expected to return
sometime in October after her maternity
leave. Matt Boekel, Maintenance Staff has
been with us helping Dan Verrall, Facilities
Maintenance Manager, over the past two
summers. He too is leaving as our busy
summer period winds down.
I’ve had a great time here helping out,
and can report to you that we certainly
have a great bunch of very dedicated people
working for the Club.
23
Centennial Fund Campaign 2004 - 2006
Donors Come Through
ACC members have responded very generously to our call for donations to help rebuild the
Fay Hut. Our major donor has pledged $50,000 and at last count other donors had contributed
another $47,770. Facilities Committee members and Parks Canada representatives have selected a
new location just a short distance away from the old hut site, and construction could take place as
early as next summer.
Replacing the Fay Hut is a priotity, and the Facilities Committee has many other worthwhile
centennial projects in the planning stage. As well, the Club’s Mountain Culture portfolio needs
assistance to complete a major centennial initiative currently in progress: the digitization of all
Canadian Alpine Journal articles and photos since 1907 in order to produce a computer-searchable
DVD – it will be amazing!
To date, donors have responded generously to our
Facilities General
request for funds, contributing more than $111,000 in
donations and pledges — all from Canadian members.
The donations are being directed to these categories:
Fay Hut
Mountain Culture
Centennial
Through the efforts of Bill Putnam, we have sent the
same appeal to our U.S. members, and donations are
beginning to arrive from south of the border.
Other
We are off to a great start in our three-year campaign to raise $1 million for facilities and
Centennial projects. If you have already sent a donation, we thank you for your support. If you
haven’t, we would love to help you reduce your 2004 tax bill!
For more information visit:
Canadian donors:
www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca/centennial
American donors:
The Alpine Club of Canada is a Registered Charitable
organization and will send you a gift receipt for tax
purposes in January, 2005. Your donation will allow the
Club to undertake projects like reconstruction of the Fay
Hut that it could not fund from internal sources.
The ACC Foundation is a US 501(c)(3) corporation, whose
purposes mirror those of the Alpine Club of Canada.
Donations sent to the Foundation will be put to work in the
manner stipulated by the donor, and a US tax receipt will be
issued in January, 2005.
Please mail the completed form to:
Please mail the completed form to:
Alpine Club of Canada
P.O. Box 8040
Canmore, AB Canada T1W 2T8
❏ I would like to contribute to the Centennial Fund
ACC Foundation
4260 Frank Neely Road
Norcross, GA USA 30092
❏ Please use my donation where it is most needed.
❏ Please use my donation to support the reconstruction of the Fay Hut.
I will help
YES!
❏ I would rather donate to another Alpine Club of Canada fund:
❏ Facilities projects
❏ Environment
❏ Mountain Culture
❏ Endowment
❏ Leadership Development
❏ Library
Name:
I prefer to donate by:
❏ I wish to remain anonymous
Mailing / Street Address:
City:
❏ Cheque enclosed
Donation Amount:
$______
❏ MasterCard
❏ VISA
. Credit Card #
Province:
Home Phone:
Business Phone:
Expiry Date: .
/
Postal Code:
E-mail Address:
charitable registration no. 
 rr
Signature:
Thank you for your support of these worthwhile projects.

Canadian climbers train for Youth World Championships

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