APRIL 2002 NEWSLETTER

Peakfinder Updates

A significant addition to Peakfinder this month is the "Finding Ranges" section.

There are 66 named ranges in the Canadian Rockies and information about them can be accessed through this new feature. The name of the range may be entered directly or a list of all the ranges may be requested and the user can choose from the list. A second way of accessing range information is by clicking on the range name while looking at the page for a particular mountain. If you'd like to see the mountains that are part of a range, this may be done using the "Peaks by Range" option in the "Finding Peaks" section. There are a few ranges in the Canadian Rockies that have no named peaks and prior to this improvement the information for them could not be accessed.

With the assistance of Joyce McCart, author of "On the Road with David Thompson," Peakfinder's naming histories of Mount Lefroy, Mount Temple, and Mount Whymper have been revised. Thanks Joyce.

Thanks to Ed Michalski for some great photos in the Crowsnest Pass area. For an example, have a look at Ed's photo of Window Mountain.

If any Peakfinder users would like to contribute photos from the Mount Assiniboine area that would be great (especially Eon Mountain, Lunette Peak, and Aye Mountain). To see the photos that we have now select Mount Assiniboine in the "Peaks by Hiking Area" option under "Finding Peaks."

If you're interested in the history of the Canadian Rockies and in particular the involvement of Peter Fidler, Thomas Blakiston, George Dawson, and James Hector, visit Bruce Haig's excellent website at www.ourheritage.net for lots of detail and photos.

Please let us know if you have any information that you think should be included with any of the mountains.

Please note that all of the previous newsletters have been archived and are available on the site. If you're interested in other esoteric lists, unusual mountain names, etc. look through the earlier issues. 


April's Unusual Canadian Rockies Name

BRUSSELS PEAK

The Brussels was an un-armed merchant ship which was commanded by Charles Algernon Fryatt who is honoured by Mount Fryatt across the valley to the north of Mount Brussels. Frank Smythe, a widely travelled mountaineer who wrote numerous books related to climbing and mountains during the 1940's, wrote that, "It is a conspicuous object from the road, and strongly resembles one of those minor dolomite peaks which jut out surprisingly from an otherwise normal landscape." He went on to be, for some reason, unkindly critical of the mountain writing that there is, "no particular grace or dignity about it. In fact it is one of those absurd little mountains that shouldn't be there, stuck on an otherwise impeccable landscape as an afterthought." He was perhaps referring to how different its profile is compared to the "sisters" to its left and right.

His attitude towards the mountain may have been coloured by the fact that he made three attempts to climb it and was unsuccessful (At least one of his attempts was with Bruno Engler in 1946 –see “A Mountain Life” pg. 71). He later wrote, "Most mountains have their weaknesses, but not so Brussels. Most mountains have cracks or chimneys leading though otherwise impassable cliffs or pitches; but the cracks and chimneys on Brussels peter out into overhangs or are merely incidental, beginning and ending nowhere. Most mountains have ledges whereby difficulties can be circumvented, but there are few ledges in the cliffs of Brussels."

In 1948 the mountain was considered to be the last of the major summits in the Rockies which had not been climbed. During July of that year two Americans, Ray Garner and Jack Lewis climbed the mountain but only with the use of controversial and new climbing technology which involved drills and expansion bolts. Even with these the climb was a monumental struggle.

Many Canadian climbers and Frank Smythe were outraged, Smythe writing, "I still regard Mount Brussels as unclimbed, and my feelings are no different from those I should have were I to hear that a helicopter was to deposit its passenger on the summit of that mountain just so that he could boast that he had trodden an untrodden mountain top."

Enter "Brussels Peak" in the Finding Peaks search box to learn more about this mountain. 
Look who's honoured in the Canadian Rockies

JERRY POTTS

A scout and interpreter for the North West Mounted Police, Jerry Potts was of great assistance to the Force in 1874 upon their arrival in the Fort Macleod area. The mountain was named during 1974, the centennial year of the NWMP.

For information about Mount Potts enter the name in the Finding Peaks search box on the main page.
April's Esoteric List

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE PASSES FROM KICKING HORSE PASS SOUTH TO THE U.S. BORDER

Kicking Horse, Abbot, Wenkchemna, Vermilion, Redearth, Simpson, Citadel, Fatigue, Og, Assiniboine, Wonder, Marvel, Red Man, White Man, Spray, Palliser, North Kananaskis, South Kananaskis, Elk, Weary Creek, Gunsight, Fording River, Tornado, North Fork (Oldman), Racehorse, Deadman, Phillips, Crowsnest, Tent Mountain, Ptolemy, North Kootenay, Middle Kootenay, Sage, South Kootenay, Akamina

For information regarding any of these passes enter the name in the "Finding Passes" section on the front page.

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