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Description area
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History
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.