By Lyndsay Melcosky Our group of 11 ventured to the Robson Hut for a 2 night stay on June 26, 2026. Most of us had never hiked the trail before and some of us had it on our bucket list for years. Hiking the trail in recent years was hindered by the pandemic, and then by trail closure and reconstruction due to flooding. The hike to the hut was grueling and strenuous, at 21 km Read more
June 5-7 saw a hearty crew of ACC climbers descend upon the Kootenay Plains campground for what would become a classic Rocky Mountain climbing weekend: equal parts climbing, weather forecasting, campfire storytelling, and creative interpretation of the phrase “summer conditions.” Friday evening kicked off with over 30 climbers somehow managing to fit into one campsite. Through a combination of strategic tent placement, questionable parking decisions, and mountaineering optimism, everyone found a place to call home Read more
Continuing our series of Edmonton Section historical articles this year, PearlAnn Reichwein celebrates our history of coming together in our heritage sites. PearlAnn Reichwein, PhD, is a full professor at the University of Alberta who studies the history and heritage of the Canadian West. Author of Climber’s Paradise: Making Canada’s Mountain Parks, 1906-1974, a finalist at the Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival and awarded a prestigious Canadian Historical Association Clio Prize, and co-author of Read more
Don Campbell (1920 – 2002) was a long time member of the Edmonton section, joining the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) at sixteen. He worked in Lake Louise when he was nineteen and climbed Mt. Hector, Mt. Temple, Mt. Weed, Mt. Fairview, and Devil’s Thumb the summer of 1940. He was drawn to Mt Victoria, memorizing the mountain’s details, but did not have an opportunity to climb the 3464 metre height that year. The years Read more
On Sunday, May 3, a group of 11 members from the Edmonton section headed out for a brand-new via ferrata experience near Canmore, guided by Brent Peters. We met at Grotto Pond on a beautiful Sunday morning, sharing stories from the weekend—many of us having stayed at the ACC Canmore Clubhouse—before getting geared up. Brent outfitted us with helmets, harnesses, and lanyards, and walked us through proper safety and technique before we began. The route Read more
In looking through some old Edmonton Section trip reports that I recently acquired, I noticed how often section members have led trips to Mount Temple, starting in our early years to most recently, last fall. First climbed in 1894, Mount Temple is now an established but challenging scramble. It has an elevation of 3544 meters and is the highest peak in the Lake Louise area, dominating views. From 1990 or earlier and into the 2000’s, Read more
Bang, bang, bang! The sound of ski boots gently persuading doors open and closed at Fairy Meadow foretold the overnight snow volume before we even looked out the window. The hut and sauna were wavering under the weight of three days worth of steady snow. Even the flooring was showing signs of distress under mother nature’s load. This was my third pilgrimage to Bill Putnam’s paradise. Our team of 20 roamed far and wide around this Read more
A brief note in recognition of International Women’s Day 2026 (Sunday, March 8, 2026). Left to Right: Jean Davidson leaving the summit; Doris Campbell crossing the glacier; Sylvia Evans on the way to Tonquin 1952. The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) was founded in 1906 when Victorian ideas of appropriate activities for women were being replaced by more modern ideas of feminine capabilities. Most European mountain clubs were still segregated by gender, but the ACC Read more
Don Campbell (1920 – 2002) was an enthusiastic member of the Edmonton section, and wrote about his early experiences in the club in this article. He joined the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) at the age of sixteen, adventuring out on climbs with Edmonton section founders Cyril Wates, Helen Burns, Rex Gibson, Dr Harry Bulyea, and others. He was a frequent photographer of activities and mountain landscapes on club trips. Despite a shoulder injury that had limited his climbing, Read more
The morning of January 24, 2026, two groups of Edmonton climbers departed the Rampart Creek hostel, one bound for the Balfour wall and the other to Tangle falls. As we were relatively large groups (~10-11 in each), there was some anxiety about getting scooped, especially because we overshot the pre-arranged call time by ~30min. Thankfully, each site was free of people when we rolled up. At the Balfour wall we set up 5 ropes on Read more
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