"Trapper Nelson" may sound like an “old timer” from the Gold Rush. It was in fact a backpack — one used by any self-respecting mountaineer. Although later upgraded to lighter packs, as James Adam Craig describes in this article, a Trapper Nelson was great as it was spacious and basic.

Here, he reminisces about his time in the BC Mountaineering Club from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. He talks of different packs as well as the necessities for camp.

His article also speaks of Gary Gordon, Fr. Damasus Payne, Martin & Esther Kafer, Dick Culbert, Glenn Woodsworth, Arnold Shives, Alice Purdey and John Clarke.

Peaks included are Mount Slesse, Mount McKinley, Mount Logan or Mount St. Elias, Lake Lovely Water, Tomyhoi-Falls River, Icewall Lake, Mount Waddington, Ape Lake, Blowdown Creek, Lillooet Icefields, Nirvana Pass and Stawamus Chief (“Squamish Chief”).

Soulmates, adventurers, entrepreneurs…to those with at least a little knowledge of the early explorations of the North Shore Mountains, Don and Phyllis Munday need no introduction.

Their devotion to exploration and to each other led them to creating a life among the peaks, and a home in a cabin on the slopes of Grouse Mountain. This short video charts their time together.

When the BC Mountaineering Club hit the age of fifty, the members chose to produce a booklet of memories, and fortunately for us today, we can read them here.

This is a great account of the early years of the BCMC — memories of the intrepid explorers who made the mountains their home-from-home.

• Cabins, Camps and Climbs, 1907-1911, by Frank H. Smith
• Early Days of the BC Mountaineering Club, by R. M. Mills
• Recollections, by Charles Dickens
• Reminiscences, by Professor John Davidson
• The Conception and Birth of the Vancouver Natural History Society, by Professor John Davidson
• The Story of Garibaldi Park, by L. C. Ford
• Some Reminiscences of 1920-1926 With the BCMC, by Neal M. Carter
• Snow Peaks, Mount Judge Howay, by Tom Fyles
• Robie Reid, First Recorded Ascent, June 1925, by Elliot Henderson
• Waddington Diary - 1936, by Elliot Henderson
• Waddington Area - 1956, by Jo Yard
• Anniversary Peak, by Roy Mason
• Bushwacking, by R. A. Pilkington
• A Mountain (song), by R. Culbert

Three things were important to Phyllis Munday — her family (husband Don and daughter Edith), mountaineering and the Girl Guides. She poured her heart and soul into them, becoming beloved in all three areas.

This newspaper article describes her life and her loves over five decades from around the time her father told a young Phyllis "you've climbed one mountain, why do you want to climb more?". If ever there were "famous last words," it might be those.