Alice Purdey lives in Burnaby, B.C. and is one of the coauthors of '109 Walks in British Columbia's Lower Mainland'. She is also a member of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club [BCMC]. She obtained her nursing degree from the University of British Columbia [U.B.C.] in 1967. In the 1960s, Alice Purdey was one of Canada’s leading climbers. She made first ascents of many of Squamish routes, like Echelon, Colon and Triptoe. She was among a small group of climbers who were climbing technical rock routes in Canada at the time. She made an early ascent of Mount Waddington and first ascents in the Pantheon Range and around Hurley River. In 1967, she was part of a team that attempted the unclimbed north ridge of Mount Logan and she made the first Canadian ascent of Mount St. Elias.
The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) was founded in 1906 as Canada’s national mountaineering organization. The Vancouver Section was established in 1908 to support more local needs. It is governed by an executive committee which informs the Board of Directors at the national club in Canmore Alberta.
The Museum's current home is the fourth historical Lynn Valley Schoolhouse, which was constructed and opened 1920 to handle an influx of young students. When a new school building was created in the year 2005 for students, the fourth schoolhouse was repurposed to house the Archives of the City and District of North Vancouver. It continues to house the documentary heritage of North Vancouver to this day, as well as hosting community history events of all kinds.
Its address is the following;
3203 Institute Road
North Vancouver, British Columbia
CA V7P 1L8
You can email the archives at 'archives@monova.ca'.
Arthur Tinniswood Dalton was a mountaineer, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and former Assessment Commissioner for the City of Vancouver. Born in Winnipeg, he came to Vancouver with his parents in 1889. Circa 1922, having studied for two years at McGill University, he worked as a Point Grey building inspector with his father, William Tinniswood Dalton, a Vancouver architect.
He was a member of the party that made the first recorded ascent of Mount Garibaldi, Augst 11, 1907. According to his grand daughter, he had a flag that he took with him on his climbs and flew it from the summit of each of his first ascents. Articles he wrote are in the Alpine Club of Canada journals including a report on the first ascent of Mount Garibaldi. Dalton Dome is a peak near Mt. Garibaldi named after Arthur Tinniswood Dalton.
Atwell Duncan Francis King was born on September 12, 1877, in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Atwell Charles Rawley King and Edith Lucy Grant Dalton. After moving to B.C., King was called to the British Columbia bar in April 1914. King lived in Victoria and served as Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and later as in-house solicitor for the British Columbia Electric Railway [BCER] in Victoria for 33 years.
King was an ardent mountaineer, pioneering many routes in the Vancouver/Coast Mountains area. As a law student, he was one of the founding fathers of BC Mountaineering Club [BCMC] and held the initial post of editor. King was later made an honorary life member of the BCMC and for many years was associated with the Rowing and Boxing Clubs in Vancouver. King gained media attention as part of the first ascent of the West Lion (1654 m), on August 11, 1903. In 1907, King was the leader of the first party to reach the summit of Mount Garibaldi. Atwell Peak on Mt. Garabaldi is named after him. He died at Victoria November 4,1947.
The British Columbia Mountaineering Club was first established on 22 Oct 1907 as the Vancouver Mountaineering Club. Its first annual meeting was held on 1 Mar 1908, and it was later incorporated as a Society under the Friendly Societies Act on 25 Nov 1912. At the club's second annual meeting, held 29 Mar 1909, it was decided to change the name of the club to the British Columbia Mountaineering Club, or BCMC. The BCMC remains an active organization today, having celebrated its centennial in 2007. The BCMC's Natural History Section became the Vancouver Natural History Society in 1918.
Charles "Chappy" Chapman was an early and influential member of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club. He joined in 1908, after his arrival from his native England, and later served as President and Vice-President. A printer by trade, his firm Chapman & Warwick printed the Club’s newsletter, The B.C. Mountaineer, for many years. Chapman was particularly active in the Garibaldi region and helped to open this area to other climbers. After his death in 1960, a canister containing a record of his ascents was placed on the top of Guard Mountain in Garibaldi Park as a tribute to his efforts.
An active and respected member of the B.C. Mountaineering Club (BCMC) from 1946 until his death in 1999, Richard Harwood (Dick) Chambers made approximately twenty first ascents of mountains and new routes in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia between 1951 and 1967. Described as the “heart and soul of the [BCMC] Climbing Committee in the 1960s,” Chambers served as the club’s president from 1961 to 1963 and received an honourary club membership in 1968. He was an avid photographer.
Walter Alfred Don Munday (1890-1950) was born and educated in Portage la Prairie and moved to Vancouver with his family in 1909. He was active in the B.C. Mountaineering Club before serving in World War 1. He was severely wounded at Passchendaele and recuperated at New Westminster's Military Hospital. In 1918, he was introduced the Mountaineering Club's librarian Phyllis Beatrice James who also worked as a clerk at the hospital where he was receiving treatment. They married on February 4, 1920. Following their marriage, the couple lived on Grouse Mountain, initially in a tent. They had one daughter, Edith Munday. Don Munday and his mountaineering wife Phyllis Munday made attempts to scale the 'Mystery Mountain', now known as Mt. Waddington, after first seeing it in 1925. They made 11 trips in 12 years exploring the area. In 1948 Don Munday published 'The Unknown Mountain' to chronicle their adventures. Their climbing exploits were extensive and extraordinary. Mount Munday is named after Don and Phyllis Munday, and Baby Munday Peak is named for their daughter Edith.
Eleanor Maud "Nellie" Chapman (nee Harris) was born in England. In London, where she worked as a milliner, she took part in protests supporting the Sufragette movement. Family history includes a story that she chained herself to a railing during one of the protest actions. In 1910, Eleanor emigrated to Canada, arriving in Quebec July 10th of that year. In Vancouver she continued to work as a milliner and lived at the YWCA. She met Charles Chapman through the British Columbia Mountaineering Club which was founded 1907. Both were active early members. Married in 1914, they spent their honeymoon camping on Goat Mountain.
Married in 1953, Esther and Martin Kafer came to Canada on July 1, 1954. Avid climbers in their native Switzerland, they took to the wilderness of the Coast Mountains where they made many first ascents. In 1962, Esther was the first Canadian woman to summit Mt. Waddington, British Columbia’s highest and most difficult peak. Enormously skilled, they readily helped those newer to the mountains and shared their passion with many young mountaineers – including John Clarke. Martin was a founding director of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of B.C., and both are joint honorary presidents of the B.C. Mountaineering Club. Esther was its first woman president. In recognition of their lifetime of service they received Community Achievement Awards in 2007. In September 2012, at the age of 85, Martin Kafer became the oldest person along with his wife, Esther at age 84, the oldest woman, to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro.
G. B. Warren was a lawyer and an early member of the BCMC. He was in the party of mountaineers that completed the first recorded ascent of Mount Garibaldi on August 11, 1907, roughly a month before the formation of the BCMC. The photographs in his album provide important insights into this early expedition.
Gertrude (Gertie) Marion Wepsala was a member of the Tyee Ski Runners in the 1930's, and winner of the Dominion Ladies combined downhill and slalom events in 1938 and 1939. At the same time, the man who would be Gertie’s husband, Al Beaton, was touring Japan with his basketball team, Dominion champions, the Vancouver Westerns. Each was training to compete at the Olympics and other international competitions. However, during World War II, the fifth winter and twelfth summer Olympics were cancelled.
The couple married in 1942. Gertie continued to ski and worked in wartime industry as a shop clerk at the Boeing Aircraft factory, and Al joined the Royal Canadian Signals Corps. After the war, Joe Wepsala, Gertie’s father was responsible for overseeing the production of the first chairlift up Grouse Mountain completed in 1949.
In the late 1950s, Gertie wrote a ski column called ‘Telemark’ for the Vancouver Sun and in her later years she took up golfing. She also wrote columns under the pen name 'Gertil Peaton'. Gertie died in 2007 at the age of 91.
Born in Sangudo, Alberta, on 17th October 1924, James Adam Craig was the younger son of German-Hungarian immigrants bearing the surname ‘Bauer’. Originating in Alsace Lorraine, the family had lived in Hungary for several generations before emigrating to Canada – where James’ mother promptly changed their surname to ‘Craig’ in order to avoid post-WWI anti-German sentiment. Friends, family and colleagues often addressed James Craig as ‘Jim’.
He received his elementary education, including a first exposure to English, in Sangudo, before the family moved permanently to Vancouver’s West End in the 1930s. There, James attended King George Secondary School until leaving to find gainful employment at one of the city’s shipyards in the midst of his Grade 10 year. In 1943, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a navigator until the conflict’s end, never seeing action. Upon his enlistment’s conclusion, James earned both a B.A. and law degree from the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1956. He received his call to the bar in 1957, immediately establishing a practice, which lasted until his retirement in 1990.
Between legal assignments, James Craig was a prominent and active member of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club [BCMC] for more than twenty years; he served as its president from 1977-78, and participated in a number of notable ascents – such as the inaugural climb of Mt. Kennedy and the first Canadian ascent of Mt. Waddington. A person dedicated to communal involvement, James Craig was at various times a member of the Vancouver Ballet Society, Norbert Vezak's Western Dance Theatre, the Serra Club, Newman Club, Vancouver Community Arts Council and the Asian Arts Council – also serving as president of the Serra Club and Vancouver Ballet Society. He met his wife, Beverley (née Barkley), at a reception for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet during their tour of Vancouver; they were married in October 1966 and had three children - Janine, Patrick and William. James Adam Craig passed away in late 2011.
James John "JJ" Trorey was born in Niagara, Ontario in 1858. He operated his own coffee and spice business in Ontario before moving to Vancouver around 1897 to join his brother George Trorey in his successful jewelry business. He worked as a customs broker for Henry Birks & Sons after the company bought out the Trorey Jewelry business. An avid mountain climber, no sooner had he arrived in Vancouver that Trorey accepted the challenge of Grouse Mountain and became a charter member of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club [BCMC]. In August 1907, Trorey joined Vancouver mountaineers A. Dalton, W. Dalton, A. King, T. Pattison, and G. Warren to ascent the summit of Mount Garibaldi. Mount Trorey in the middle of the Spearhead Range was named after J.J. Trorey. Also a member of the Alpine Club - Vancouver Chapter he continued to climb after his retirement from Birks in 1931. Trorey died on January 12, 1941 on his 83rd birthday.
John Clarke was a noted Canadian explorer, mountaineer, conservationist, and wilderness educator. Born in Ireland, Clarke moved to Canada with his parents at age 11, attending the Monastery School in Mission, British Columbia. From 1964 until his death in 2003 Clarke spent at least six months of each year on extended backcountry trips, usually into the Coast Mountains of British Columbia using the technique of dropping food caches from small planes along an intended route, then traveling that route for weeks at a time. His routes regularly led him along the high ridges and glaciated icefields of the west coast, and allowed him to make hundreds of first ascents of the many mountains along the way. Many of these trips exceeded 30 days in length, and were often done solo, simply because nobody could afford the time to accompany him.
In 1994, Randy Stoltmann, a good friend of Clarke's, was killed in an avalanche while attempting a summit. This was a turning point for Clarke. Stoltmann, already a noted conservationist and volunteer, had left a hole in the mountain community that Clarke stepped in to fill. In 1996, Clarke and Lisa Baile founded the Wilderness Education Program (WEP).
Katie Bell was a researcher who worked on the Garibaldi Park History project in 1984. She conducted oral history interviews with hikers, climbers, and pilots about Garibaldi Provincial Park in B.C. which are currently preserved at the BC Archives.
Married in 1953, Esther and Martin Kafer came to Canada on July 1, 1954. Avid climbers in their native Switzerland, they took to the wilderness of the Coast Mountains where they made many first ascents. Enormously skilled, they readily helped those newer to the mountains and shared their passion with many young mountaineers – including John Clarke. Martin was a founding director of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of B.C., and both are joint honorary presidents of the B.C. Mountaineering Club. In recognition of their lifetime of service they received Community Achievement Awards in 2007. In September 2012, at the age of 85, Martin Kafer became the oldest person along with his wife, Esther at age 84, the oldest woman to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. Martin Kafer spent the majority of his working life at the University of B.C., where he worked as an electrical engineer.
Michael Charles Feller came to British Columbia, after obtaining Chemistry degrees from the University of Melbourne, to complete his PhD in Forestry at UBC in 1975. After a few years lecturing back in Melbourne, he returned to UBC in 1979 as a postdoctoral fellow, was made a NSERC University Research Fellow, and then joined the professoriate in 1983. Now an Associate Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia (UBC) Forest and Conservation Sciences Department, Michael Feller has dedicated a lifetime to the preservation and enjoyment of our forests. For the BC Mountaineering Club [BCMC], he has been archivist and author, editor and publisher. From his initiatives regarding land use policies along the Sea to the Sky corridor to his academic research work to designing a forest conservation course for fourth year students at UBC, Michael has relentlessly advocated for the alpine environment and the responsible and respectful use of wilderness resources.
Neal Marshall Carter was born in Vancouver on December 14th, 1902. Educated at UBC and McGill Universities, he earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry. In his professional life, he was a marine biologist working in fisheries research. He was introduced to mountaineering, and to the BC Mountaineering Club (BCMC) by Tom Fyles, and was a member of that Club from 1920 to 1926, when he left the BCMC for the Alpine Club of Canada.
His first love, where climbing was concerned, was the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, though he also climbed extensively elsewhere in Canada and further afield. He liked exploring new peaks, and made several first ascents in what is now Garibaldi Park. He was a skilled surveyor, photographer, and cartographer, and created the first topographical maps of Garibaldi Park, and of the Tantalus Range in the 1920's. In the 1930's he explored peaks at the head of the Lillooet and Toba Rivers, and was a member of a team attempting a first ascent of Mt. Waddington. In the early 1940's he surveyed the Seven Sisters Range near Smithers, and was the first to climb the highest peak, Mt. Weeskinisht. He remained an active climber in the 1950's with two important first ascents: Mt. Monmouth and Mt. Gilbert.
Carter was made an honorary member of Varsity Outdoor Club at UBC in 1970 and the Alpine Club in 1974. He was also named a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for his mapping work. In March, 1978 he died while swimming in Barbados, at the age of 75. Mount Neal in Garibaldi Park is named in his honour.
Paul Binkert was born in Germany in 1908, in the Swiss-broder town of Waldshut. At 16, he climbed his first mountain, the 2,465-metre Santis in the Swiss Alps.
Critical of the Nazi regime, he was considered a dissident and was ordered to surrender his passport. In 1933, tired of living under the Fascist regime he somehow re-obtained his passport and that night, without telling his family or friends, the then 27-year-old Binkert tucked a few items in his rucksack and crossed the border to Switzerland. After spending a few years in Switzerland and England, working for the Voluntary Service for Peace, Binkert moved to Columbia with a group of other political refugees. He worked and lived in Bogota, travelling to the mountains when he could.
In 1948, now married to Elsy and a father to two small children, Binkert decided to move to B.C. after meeting a Vancouver man on a business trip to New York City who showed him photos of his cabin on Grouse Mountain. Binkert joined the B.C. Mountaineering Club shortly after the family emigrated to Canada. In 1958, at the age of 50, he was chosen to climb the 4,663-metre Mount Fairweather; BC's highest peak. On June 26, 1958, Binkert and three others became the first to reach Fairweather's summit.
Later in life, Binkert climbed fewer peaks and focused his passion on trail-building in southwestern BC; he led club trips and introduced new hikers to the magic of mountains and the forest. Binkert received awards and accolades from various clubs and organizations for the work he did building BC's trails, providing access and reducing damage to the environment. Binkert was very proud that a trail was named after him. The Binkert Trail is the trail to The Lions; a favourite project in his latter years.
Binkert married his second wife June in 1967. They met in 1957 while taking an art class at the University of B.C. During the late 1960s, Binkert also began to pursue his other passion—sculpture —full time. Binkert's first "one-man" show was in 1971 at the Burnaby Art Gallery. Several other art exhibits followed.
Phyllis B. Munday (nee James) was a Canadian mountaineer and the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson, which she did alongside Annette Buck in 1924 as part of a larger expedition. She met Don Munday, her husband, in 1918, and had one daughter, Edith Munday. Phyllis and Don Mountain spent their marriage planning and going on mountaineering expeditions, with their most well-known trips being to Mount Waddington/Mystery Mountain, which they found by accident. Phyllis also founded a local Girl Guide troop in 1910 and the North Vancouver's first St. John Ambulance Brigade in 1920. She was also inducted as an official and unofficial member of multiple Alpine organizations over her life. Phyllis was awarded the Order of Canada in 1972 for her work with the Girl Guides of Canada and St. John Ambulance as well as for her mountaineering career. Mount Munday is named after Don and Phyllis Munday, and Baby Munday Peak is named for their daughter Edith.
Ralph Hutchinson was born in Tanganyika in 1930, he was educated in Kenya and England and spoke fluent Swahili. After studying law at Cambridge University in England, he moved to Canada in 1954. He was working at an insurance firm in Vancouver when he met, and later married, Dorothy Johnstone and took up his other passion, mountain climbing. Hutchinson joined the BC Mountaineering Club [BCMC] shortly there after. He arrived in Nanaimo around 1960. In 1961, while working as a lawyer in Nanaimo, Ralph Hutchinson was a member of the four person Canadian expedition to summit Mt. McKinley. He lost four of his toes on this climb due to frostbite. He later became a Nanaimo, BC Supreme Court Justice, retiring in 2002. Hutchinson gave the name to one of the best-known hiking trails on the mid-Island, the Judge's Route on Mount Arrowsmith.
Born in England in 1887, Thomas Fyles married Margaret Gladstone in Victoria, BC in 1922. Tom Fyles joined the B.C. Mountaineering Club [BCMC] in 1912, and was its leading climber for fourteen years. For much of that time he was the club’s highly-respected trip director. A postman by trade, his seemingly shy exterior concealed a passionate, energetic climber who recorded a long list of first ascents in the local mountains.
William Tinniswood Dalton was an architect and mountain-climbing enthusiast. Born in England, William moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1881, where he worked with architects such as Charles Osborne Wickenden. He married Frances Mary Walton in 1881 and the two lived in Winnipeg throughout most of the 1880s. When Charles Wickenden moved to Vancouver about 1889, William and his family also went to Vancouver, and he worked as a draughtsman with Wickenden until 1893.
In 1902, he formed a firm with Sydney Eveleigh, responsible for designing several commercial buildings and public schools. Throughout his time living in Vancouver, William was an active mountaineer with the Alpine Club of Canada and often climbed with his son, Arthur who was also an early mountaineer enthusiast.