JUNE 2002 NEWSLETTER

Peakfinder Updates

We continue to work on the Passes of the Canadian Rockies section of the website. Information regarding some 189 passes is currently available. Many, such as Pipestone, Simpson, White Man, Athabasca, and Howse, have interesting history associated with them. As with the peaks, we welcome photos of the passes from nearby points or views taken from the passes themselves. Enter "North Fork Pass (Banff)" to see the view as one enters this notch and "McArthur Pass" for a photo looking down onto this feature.

Peakfinder is being added as a link to many mountain related websites. Recently we have been linked by the Alpine Club of Canada's "Alpine Accidents Project." Their website is http://alpineclub-edm.org/accidents/index.asp . If you're a climber or scrambler it's certainly worth the time to review their information in the interests of preventing future accidents through education.

Some visitors to the Peakfinder website are searching for information regarding family members of previous generations. In some cases they have provided additional information regarding individuals honoured by having a peak in the Canadian Rockies named after them. 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Please note that all of the previous newsletters have been archived and are available on the site.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. 


June's Unusual Canadian Rockies Name

FIDDLE PEAK

Father de Smet referred to what is now called the Fiddle River as the "Violin River" in 1846. John Palliser referred to the "Fiddle Range" in 1865. One story is that when the wind blows in a certain direction near the range, it sounds like a #4 violin string. Another is that the river was shaped like a violin at one point.

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

ALEXANDER RUTHERFORD

Alexander Cameron Rutherford was the first premier of Alberta, serving from 1905 until 1910. In 1928 he became the first chancellor of the University of Alberta, serving until 1941.

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

FIRST ASCENTS BY J.W.A. HICKSON

Cataract Peak, Cyclone Mountain, Devil's Head, Mount Fifi, Hickson Peak, Mount Joffre, Little Cataract Peak, Mount Mangin, Mount Nivelle, Pinnacle Mountain, Ptarmigan Peak, Pulsatilla Mountain, Quadra Mountain, Mount Rhondda, Mount Robertson, Mount Sir Douglas, Mount Spring-Rice, Mount St. Bride

J.W.A. Hickson was born in Montreal and received a Ph.D. in philosophy in Germany.

He made some thirty first ascents with Edward Feuz jr. over a period of twenty-five years. The two climbed together often, Ed Feuz estimating that they climbed between two and three hundred mountains together, twenty-five of them first ascents. Feuz had great respect for his favourite client saying, "If you ever saw him walk down the street, you'd never think he was a mountaineer. He could hardly walk. Years ago a horse he was riding slipped and rolled over his leg and it never healed well. Physically, he was not strong either. But he had an iron will, and he was the most stubborn man I ever met; after all that's what gets you up mountains."

A professor of philosophy and psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Hickson served as president of the Alpine Club of Canada from 1924 until 1926.

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

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