Experience Mount Assiniboine
Mount Assiniboine towers above Sunburst Lake; Photo Courtesy of Chic Scott
A.O. Wheeler who did so much to promote the Mount Assiniboine area; Photo Courtesy of Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (CAJ_1944_na66_299)
“If you are worn and tired from the daily grind of routine existence. If you need revitalizing and a real rest. If you are nervous, neurotic or dyspeptic, come and try it for a week or two. The cure is certain and for the remainder of your life the pages of memory’s scrapbook will be replete with scenes and experiences that will recur again and again with a thrill of joy.” (From the brochure for: “Banff to Mt. Assiniboine, A Public Walking and Riding Tour”)
There are few mountains on earth as beautiful and striking as Mount Assiniboine. It towers 500m above all its neighbours and has a perfect pyramidal shape. If you asked a child to draw a mountain, this is what it would look like. This mountain is right here in our backyard, located 30 km southwest of Banff, in British Columbia’s Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. Created almost one hundred years ago, this park is one of the jewels of the BC Park system. George Dawson, exploring on behalf of the Geological Survey of Canada, named the mountain in 1885 due to the similarity it holds to the tipis of the Assiniboine First Nation. It was first seen up close by ‘European’ eyes when legendary guide and outfitter Tom Wilson led a Chicago businessman,
Robert L. Barrett, to the base of the mountain, in 1893. Over the next decade the mountain was explored on all sides and several attempts were made to reach the summit. By the turn of the century Mount Assiniboine had become the premier mountaineering prize to be won in the Canadian Rockies. Assiniboine was finally climbed in 1901 by Englishman, Sir James Outram, led by his two Swiss guides Christian Haesler and Christian Bohren. It was a remarkable climb with the trio reaching the summit via the southwest face, then descending via the northeast ridge, thus making a bold traverse of the peak. Mount Assiniboine was visited only sporadically over the next two decades but in 1920 A.O. Wheeler, a prominent surveyor and the founder of the Alpine Club of Canada, began what he called “Banff to Mount Assiniboine Public Walking and Riding Tours”. Wheeler had discovered the great beauty of
16 | Enter Our Photo Contests
