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Title:Guardians of the Peaks : Mountain Rescue in the Canadian Rockies & Columbia Mountains
Author:Kathy Calvert & Dale Portman
ISBN:189476580X : 9781894765800
Illustrations:b/w photos
Format:Paperback
Size:200x250mm
Pages:328
Weight: .744 Kg.
Published:Heritage House Publishing (Rocky Mountain Books) - November 2006
List Price: 23.5 Pounds Sterling
Availability:In Print
Subjects:Climbing & mountaineering: Canada: Ambulance & rescue services


Mountain rescue in western Canada developed through the Canadian Pacific Railway's use of Swiss guides to enhance the climbing experience in the early 1900s. These guides brought their knowledge of mountain rescue to the Canadian Rockies. As climbing gained in popularity with the emerging middle classes after the Second World War, tragic accidents became more common. Two accidents in 1954-55 (the deaths of a group of female climbers from Mexico on Mt Victoria and a group of Philadelphia schoolboys on Mt Temple) forced the government to develop a professional mountain rescue team through the Park Warden Service under the tutelage of Walter Perren (a Swiss guide and the father of mountain rescue in Canada). Perren essentially turned cowboys into competent rescue personnel, and the story takes off from there. Following five principal men through the first 50 years of mountain rescue in Canada, Guardians of the Peaks also looks at all aspects of the rescue experience. The story is enhanced by the rescue events themselves, which are solidly juxtaposed between the stories and the political, cultural and technical developments of the time. It is also the story of personal tragedy and the ability of individuals to cope with this stress-laced, demanding occupation.

Man and Mountains; The Walter Perren Years; The White Dragon;