In Plain Sight highlights a selection of natural wonders and outdoor adventures located in southern Alberta. The places featured in this book have been chosen for their utter uniqueness, beauty and splendour. Some are easy to get to and easy to get around in; others require a bit more time and energy. Overall, you will be stimulated, enlightened, delighted, amazed, uplifted and broadened by the experience. These are truly awesome places, in the very real denotation of that adjective. All are in plain sight, though they are little visited by locals or tourists.

The book contains chapters on Waterton Lakes National Park, Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Dinosaur Provincial Park, the Whaleback and a number of other special places. The narrative covers the geological record and the natural and human history of the places in order to explain how each locale is unique and worthy of further investigation.

Neil Jennings is an ardent flyfisher, hiker and photographer. He has fly-fished extensively in a variety of places around the world, in both fresh water and salt water, and has taught fly-fishing-related courses in Calgary for over 30 years. His writing and photography have appeared in a number of outdoors magazines, and he is the author of numerous books published by RMB, including a book on fly-fishing titled Behind the Counter and several full-colour guides to western wildflowers.

This first volume in The Aspiring Hiker’s Guide series is meant to encourage beginner and intermediate hikers, backpackers and scramblers to step into and explore the backcountry in Banff National Park, Lake Louise, Jasper National Park, Kananaskis Country and the Icefields Parkway with both confidence and excitement.  Many aspects of venturing into these areas are investigated, including expert advice on gear, clothing, food and equipment; procedures related to safety and etiquette; and considerations as to physical fitness and first aid.

Routes and trails are detailed with colour photographs and maps, GPS coordinates, elevation gain charts, distances, natural landmarks and tips on arriving at the destination safely. Best routes to summits are described in detail to prevent confusion and injury.

As well, the general histories of the trails, routes and naming conventions for some mountains are presented so as to add an element of understanding and intrigue as to what was experienced by the First Peoples and early European explorers who set foot in these beautifully wild areas of western Canada.

Gerry Shea moved to Kamloops from Vancouver at the age of 9, which is when he became enchanted by the nearby hills. It was on a family vacation many years later that he discovered the Canadian Rockies and began hiking and climbing in his spare time, gathering knowledge and experience which he has since used to help beginning hikers, scramblers and backpackers to trek safely. Gerry lives in Kamloops with his wife and children and continues to explore the Canadian Rockies. The second volume in this series, The Aspiring Hiker’s Guide 2: Mountain Treks in British Columbia, will be released in Spring 2011.

When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were retracing and how today’s Rockies trails came to be there. In Life of the Trail, they share their findings with hikers and history buffs, adventurers and armchair travellers.

Life of the Trail 5 details the routes in the area bounded on the north by Lake Minnewanka and the Bow River and on the west by Altrude Creek and the Vermilion and Kootenay rivers. Featuring such historical characters as Duncan McGillivray, David Thompson, George Simpson, Tom Wilson, Walter Wilcox and Bill Peyto, Volume 5 in this remarkable series also sheds light on the early days of the now world-renowned Kananaskis Country.

Emerson Sanford, originally from Nova Scotia, first visited the mountains of western Canada in the summer of 1961. Eleven years later, he moved to Alberta and has been hiking ever since. Emerson has solo hiked every historic route and most long trails between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes—over 3000 km in the past five years! He now lives in Canmore with his wife, Cheryl.

Janice Sanford Beck is the author of the bestselling No Ordinary Woman: The Story of Mary Schäffer Warren (Rocky Mountain Books). She has also written the introduction to the latest edition of Mary Schäffer’s Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies (Rocky Mountain Books) and, with Cheryl Sanford, researched the Mary Schäffer Warren portion of the Glenbow Museum’s permanent exhibit called “Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta.” Janice lives in Saskatoon with her partner, Shawn, and their children.

The grizzly bear, once the archetype for all that is wild, is quickly becoming a symbol of nature’s fierce but flagging resilience in the face of human greed and ignorance—and the difficulty a wealth-addicted society has in changing its ways.

North America’s grizzlies have been under siege ever since Europeans arrived. They’d survived the arrival of spear-wielding humans 13,000 years ago, outlived the short-faced bear, the dire wolf and the sabre-tooth cat—not to mention mastodons, mammoths and giant ground sloths the size of elephants—but grizzly bears in much of Turtle Island succumbed to 375 years of unrelenting commercialization and industrialization, disappearing from the Great Plains and much of the mountain West.

Despite their relatively successful recovery in Yellowstone National Park, the bears’ decline continues largely unchecked. And the front line in this centuries-old battle for survival has shifted to western Alberta and southern BC, where outdated mythologies, rapacious industry and disingenuous governments continue to push the Great Bear into the mountains and toward a future that may not have room for them at all.

Jeff Gailus has spent hundreds of hours observing grizzlies and guiding people through bear habitat. His poignant journalism and commitment to conservation have earned him a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship, a Story of the Year award from the Associated Collegiate Press and numerous shortlistings and honourable mentions for his magazine writing. He recently received Canada Council for the Arts and Alberta Foundation for the Arts grants to work on Original Griz, an environmental history of the Great Plains grizzly. His follow-up to The Grizzly Manifesto will be a similar volume on wolves, to be published by RMB in Fall 2010.

Okanagan Odyssey is a quirky and lyrical examination of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Sticking to the backroads and byways, Gayton gently pokes and prods local ecosystems, histories, vineyards and people. From Osoyoos in the south to Armstrong at the head of the Valley, the author revels in the biological and social diversity while sampling local wines and fruit along the way. In his unique version of wine pairing, Gayton matches up local books and landscapes with local vintages, giving terroir a whole new meaning. An ecologist by profession, Gayton deftly negotiates the tension between the Okanagan that is home to many endangered species and ecosystems, and the same Okanagan that is a mecca for developers and urban refugees. Okanagan Odyssey is not a travel guide, but represents travel writing at its idiosyncratic best.

Don Gayton is the 2009/2010 Haig-Brown Centenary Writer in Residence at the University of Victoria and an author of popular non-fiction. His books include Interwoven Wild, Kokanee, Landscapes of the Interior and The Wheatgrass Mechanism. He also writes for Canadian Geographic as well as technical articles on grasslands, climate change and fire ecology. His awards include the Saskatchewan Writers Guild non-fiction award, the US National Outdoor Book Award, the Canadian Science Writers Award and two shortlistings for the BC Book Awards. Gayton lives and works in Summerland, BC.

Bears: Tracks through Time is an eclectic look at our relationship with these beautiful and sometimes frightful creatures with which we co-exist in the Canadian Rockies. As a result of our close cohabitation with bears, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies has accumulated a modest collection of art, artifacts and archival materials related to bears. This book features images and stories from the collection. The postcards sent to us from the past provide a compelling glimpse into our changing views of bears. This is neither an exhibition catalogue nor an exhaustive study of bears, but rather an assortment of bear tales and the people, images and artifacts related to those stories.

Michale Lang is Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. Until 2007, she was Vice-President of Access, Collections and Exhibits at the Glenbow Museum, during which time she managed the development of Glenbow’s 24,000-square-foot permanent exhibit called “Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta.” Michale has written extensively for exhibitions and professional journals and for three years presented her popular “Alberta Mavericks” column on CBC’s Wildrose Country. Michale has a Master of Arts in Historic Resource Management and a Master of Education in Administration and Curriculum Development from Gonzaga University.

With over 100,000 copies of the previous editions sold, Gillean Daffern’s bestselling hiking guides to Kananaskis Country have been completely reformatted, revised and updated. As the pre-eminent expert on the area, the author continues to offer something for every level of foot-traveller, be they novice or experienced hikers, scramblers or backpackers. Gillean’s clear and detailed text, enhanced with colour photos and maps, enables everyone to navigate safely through this complex and beautiful area.

NEW! The previous two volumes have been extended into five exhaustively researched books.

NEW! Each new volume includes exciting and previously unpublished trails and routes.

NEW! All maps have been completely redrawn and enhanced.

NEW! Full-colour photographs throughout do justice to the spectacular scenery of the Canadian Rockies.

Gillean Daffern has been writing and publishing bestselling trail guides to Kananaskis Country for over 30 years, ever since the dawn of K Country in 1978. She was exploring the area well before then, too, so she knows it intimately and in every season of the year. She also travels to mountain areas outside of Kananaskis Country, and in particular enjoys visiting countries off the beaten tourist path. Gillean is the founder of Rocky Mountain Books and, along with her husband, Tony Daffern, was awarded the Banff Mountain Festival’s Summit of Excellence Award in 2006.

With over 100,000 copies of the previous editions sold, Gillean Daffern’s bestselling hiking guides to Kananaskis Country have been completely reformatted, revised and updated. As the pre-eminent expert on the area, the author continues to offer something for every level of foot-traveller, be they novice or experienced hikers, scramblers or backpackers. Gillean’s clear and detailed text, enhanced with colour photos and maps, enables everyone to navigate safely through this complex and beautiful area.

NEW! The previous two volumes have been extended into five exhaustively researched books.

NEW! Each new volume includes exciting and previously unpublished trails and routes.

NEW! All maps have been completely redrawn and enhanced.

NEW! Full-colour photographs throughout do justice to the spectacular scenery of the Canadian Rockies.

Gillean Daffern has been writing and publishing bestselling trail guides to Kananaskis Country for over 30 years, ever since the dawn of K Country in 1978. She was exploring the area well before then, too, so she knows it intimately and in every season of the year. She also travels to mountain areas outside of Kananaskis Country, and in particular enjoys visiting countries off the beaten tourist path. Gillean is the founder of Rocky Mountain Books and, along with her husband, Tony Daffern, was awarded the Banff Mountain Festival’s Summit of Excellence Award in 2006.

I believe that it is up to people like us to find the language, create the images and imagine the solutions that will allow us to break out of the vicious circle that threatens public health by threatening our landscapes and water sources . . . Together we can work toward this end. And, we can do it with humour. We can do it with style. And we can do it with grace.

Try as we might, parts of North America may not escape the impacts of the global water crisis. The same kinds of water supply and quality issues that have appeared around our crowded planet are already beginning to present themselves here. Unfortunately, this is occurring at a time when, as a direct result of declining global food production, the world is beginning to rely more heavily than ever on agricultural communities in North America to help meet increasingly unattainable food-production goals.

Instead of waiting for a water crisis of our own, North Americans may well wish to put the lessons learned elsewhere in the world into active practice. By using the example of others to put our own water-management house in order, North America can possibly avoid the same kinds of problems other countries are facing with respect to the protection of water resources. At the same time, we can employ enlightened attitudes toward the management of water resources to advance many of our own ecological and economic sustainability goals.

Passionately conceived, clearly written and citing concrete examples from all over the world, Restoring the Flow is an approachable yet authoritative source, one of the many implements concerned citizens, government officials, businesspeople and policymakers can use and reuse in understanding and addressing this ever-growing global crisis.

Bob Sandford is the author or editor of some 20 books on the history and heritage of the Canadian West. He began his work with UN-linked initiatives as chair of the United Nations International Year of Mountains in 2002. He also chaired the United Nations International Year of Fresh Water and Wonder of Water Initiative in Canada in 2003/04. These celebrations focused on the growing importance of water to ecological and cultural heritage in Canada. 

Bob is presently chair of the United Nations International Decade “Water for Life” Partnership in Canada, an initiative that aims to advance long-term water quality and availability issues in response to climate change in this country and abroad. He is also director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, a research and public-policy arm of the University of Lethbridge that promotes understanding of climate impacts on river systems originating in the Rocky Mountains. Bob was the first Canadian to be invited to sit on the advisory committee for the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, a biennial global public-policy forum that examines solutions to our planet’s water crisis.

That first day is hard. The hands begin to cramp, drops of blood start oozing through your fingertips . . .

In 2003, Tori Holmes, a 21-year-old from Alberta, Canada, and Paul Gleeson, a 29-year-old financial advisor from Limerick, Ireland, met in Australia when Holmes answered an ad to drive the support vehicle for Gleeson’s 5,000-kilometre cycling trek across that country. During their first adventure together, Gleeson fell hard: both off his bike and for the woman driving the car.

Once Australia was behind them, it became clear that crossing a continent together was simply not enough. Acting on self-assured determination and an ever-growing sense of adventure, Gleeson and Holmes embraced the dream of rowing a tiny boat across the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean in the 2005/06 Trans-Atlantic Race. Of course, neither of the young adventurers knew how to row, so they connected and trained with the only Irishmen ever to have completed the same race, Eamonn and Peter Kavanagh.

In November 2005, after months of training, Paul and Tori left the Canary Islands to row 4,800 kilometres across the Atlantic. In February 2006, they completed their epic journey after 86 days of huge seas, violent storms, terrifying capsizes, unbearable thirst, bizarre hallucinations and sleep deprivation. Along the way, however, during one of the darkest moments in the race, inspiration came in the form of an unseen, yet completely perceptible, presence. Old seafaring lore has several theories as to what this might have been, but both adventurers are keeping their minds open on it.

Part inspirational adventure story, part travelogue and part romance, Crossing the Swell is an honest and intimate portrayal of what it takes to truly engage in the many adventures that life has to offer.

Tori Holmes, originally from Alberta, Canada, went to Bangladesh after school to do volunteer work on various projects. In February 2006, after the events recounted in Crossing the Swell, she entered the record books as the youngest woman to row an ocean.

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE ORIGINAL AVALANCHE SAFETY

North of Jasper, in the Canadian Rockies, is a large, roadless and spectacular wilderness of alpine flower meadows, glaciated peaks, canyons, waterfalls and abundant wildlife. Compared to the millions each year who visit Banff and Jasper national parks immediately to the south, this northern area sees few visitors. Fewer still have ever attempted to travel through this wilderness in one continuous trip. The first to do so was Samuel Prescott Fay in 1914. To this day, his exact route has never been duplicated.

Fay and his party set out from Jasper on June 26, 1914, with five saddle horses and 16 pack horses. After a treacherous, slogging journey of 1,200 kilometres through wild, uncharted country they reached their destination on October 15, 1914, with the outfit completely intact.

During his expedition, Fay kept a detailed journal (currently held at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC), which he provided to the US Biological Survey (now known as the US Fish & Wildlife Service) and to various Canadian government authorities. He also published several magazine articles about his discoveries. However, the journal in its entirety, with all his day-to-day observations, struggles and concerns, has never been published. Similarly, his maps, photographs and wildlife records have been preserved in various Canadian and US archives but never exhibited to a wider audience. Brought together for the first time in book form, they provide an early and dynamic record of an area that remains little known to this day.

Complete with a large selection of never-before published photos and maps, The Forgotten Explorer is destined to become a classic of North American exploration history.

Samuel Prescott Fay was born in Boston on May 27, 1884. Fay was an early member of the American Alpine Club and visited the Rockies to climb in the Lake Louise and Lake O’Hara areas starting in 1906, making numerous trips with outfitter Fred Brewster. Fay died on August 11, 1971, at his home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

When it comes to living greener, our primary resource is knowledge. The purpose of this book is to boil down the information that is out there into one complete package of environmentally sensitive products, services and programs available to Calgarians. Live Green, Calgary! gives you precise, applicable information that will save you time. And there are money-saving tips, too!

Live Green, Calgary! puts local green programs, products and services at your fingertips so you can live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. As always, greener choices help ensure that we will have an abundance of clean and healthy resources for a long time to come.

Live Green, Calgary! highlights the free services, programs and rebates available so Calgarians can save money while getting greener.

Live Green, Calgary! saves you time by giving you the information you need to green your life in Calgary, all in one place and relevant to your family. Lauren Maris has done the legwork for you . . . all you need to do is start exercising your options!

Lauren Maris lives in Calgary, Alberta, and is the owner of EarthWise Solutions. She makes it easy for Calgarians to get on the green team by creating customized home-efficiency plans to help them consume less energy and produce less waste in their homes. For more information, visit www.livegreencalgary.com.

When Dan met Jack to go mountain biking, he saw that Jack had forgotten something IMPORTANT.

Dan asked, “DUDE, WHERE’S YOUR HELMET?”

Jack replied, “My head gets too hot. I don’t need my helmet!”

So off they went mountain biking.

Dan and Jack were having fun riding down, down, down the mountain. Then all of a sudden Jack hit a rock and went FLYING over his handlebar. He landed HEADFIRST on the ground. Jack hurt his head badly, so Dan rushed Jack to the hospital.

Doctor Lindy patched up Jack and then said firmly, “NO MORE MOUNTAIN BIKING FOR YOU!”

Trying to convince kids that wearing a helmet is an important and potentially lifesaving thing to do while mountain biking, climbing, caving, skiing or snowboarding is difficult at best and frustrating at worst for many parents, educators and caregivers.

Dude, Where’s Your Helmet? is a fun-filled, non-preachy book for kids about the consequences of not wearing the proper gear when engaged in various outdoor activities. With a hip design, easy-to-read text and witty photos highlighting plenty of cool gear, this book is perfect for elementary school-aged children between four and eight years old.

David A. Duncan is a contemporary photographer based in Calgary, Alberta, and has been shooting photos for over 12 years. He migrated from Toronto to Calgary in 1997 and has been storming the western market ever since. Dude, Where’s Your Helmet? is David’s first book and the first in a proposed series highlighting outdoor activity for kids. For more on David’s photography, check out www.duncanphoto.ca 

From Dr. Reese Halter comes a remarkable, concise account of the honeybees that have profoundly shaped our planet for the past 110 million years. They are the most important group of flower-visiting animals, pollinating more multi-billion-dollar crops and plants than any other living group. Since prehistoric times humans and honeybees have been inextricably linked. This book is rich with interesting and humbling facts: bees can count, they can vote, and honey has potent medicinal properties, able to work as an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, even an antiseptic. The fate of the bees, whose numbers have been beleaguered most recently by colony collapse disorder, lies firmly in the hands of humankind. As such, it is our job to ensure their health, protect the habitats within which they live and communicate to others the vital link that human society shares with the remarkable honeybee.

Dr. Reese Halter is an award-winning conservation biologist, syndicated science writer, TV host and father. He is a sought-after public speaker and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science, through which he regularly visits schools and encourages children worldwide to embrace conservation, science exploration and learning. Dr. Reese lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be contacted through www.DrReese.com.

First Nations are facing some of the worst water crises in Canada and throughout North America. Their widespread lack of access to safe drinking water receives ongoing national media attention, and yet progress addressing the causes of the problem is painfully slow. First Nations have had little say in how their waters are, or are not, protected. They have been excluded from many important decisions, as provinces operate under the view that they own the water resources within provincial boundaries, and the federal government takes a hands-off approach.

The demands for access to waters that First Nations depend upon are intense and growing. Oil and gas, mining, ranching, farming and hydro-development all require enormous quantities of water, and each brings its own set of negative impacts to the rivers, lakes and groundwater sources that are critical to First Nations. Climate change threatens to make matters even worse.

Over the last 30 years, the courts have clarified that First Nations have numerous rights to land and resources, including the right to be involved in decision-making. This book is a call to respect the water rights of First Nations, and through this create a new water ethic in Canada and beyond.

Merrell-Ann Phare is a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), which published “Changing the Flow: A Blueprint for Federal Action on Freshwater.” She is also a legal advisor to the Assembly of First Nations regarding water matters. Merrell-Ann serves on numerous advisory committees and consultation bodies on behalf of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER), including the Expert Advisory Committee to the National Round Table on Environment and Economy (NRTEE), the Regulatory Advisory Committee of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and recently finished two three-year terms on the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation. She was a member of the 2005 Lake Winnipeg Implementation Committee and the 2003 Manitoba Task Force on Emissions Trading and the Manitoba Economy. She has been a member of Canada’s delegation to the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development, and represented the Assembly of First Nations on Canada’s delegation to the first meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol. She is also a member of RBC’s Blue Water Advisory Panel, which advises the Royal Bank on water matters and, in particular, distribution of its $50-million Blue Water Fund.

There is a wonderful fascination about mountains. Their massive grandeur, majesty of lofty height, splendour of striking outline crag and pinnacle and precipice seem to appeal both to the intellect and to the inmost soul of man, and to compel a mingled reverence and love ... James Outram First published in 1923, In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies is Outram s record of his adventures and exploits in the early years of the 20th century among the massive mountains straddling the Alberta/British Columbia boundary. Throughout his time in western Canada, Outram crossed paths with numerous colourful characters Swiss guides, hunters, cowboys and outfitters, as well as previous climbers and explorers, whose journeys he discusses at length. It is this comprehensive detailing, not only of Outram s own climbs but also those of mountaineers who preceded him,that gives In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies the air of a grand overview of the early years of climbing in western Canada. With its many references also to burgeoning alpine towns in both Alberta and British Columbia, this third volume in the Mountain Classics Collection is an open invitation for readers, climbers and adventurers to follow in the footsteps of this avid early mountaineer and passionate outdoorsman into the rugged, beautiful landscape of the western Canadian mountains.

Born in 1864 in London, England, James Outram was a Church of England clergyman, mountaineer, author, businessman, militia officer and Orangeman who came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century after travelling and climbing throughout Europe. As a relatively new climber, Outram made numerous impressive ascents in the Rockies and Columbias in 1900, 1901 and 1902. In 1925, after years living in Calgary, Alberta, he retired in Victoria, B.C.

First published in 1903, Climbs & Exploration in the Canadian Rockies details the mountaineering adventures of Hugh Stutfield and J. Norman Collie while the two were together during various explorations in the area north of Lake Louise, Alberta. Between 1898 and 1902, Stutfield and Collie journeyed through the mountain towns, valleys and passes of the Rockies, where Collie completed numerous first ascents and discovered fresh views of Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefields.

J. NORMAN COLLIE (1859 1942) began his impressive climbing career on the Isle of Skye, later making first ascents in the Alps and Caucasus and climbing with a British expedition in the Himalayas. Collie first journeyed to Canada in 1897, returning for further climbing adventures in 1898, 1900, 1902, 1910 and 1911, making 21 first ascents in the Canadian Rockies and naming many of western Canada s major peaks. Collie died in 1942 from pneumonia, after falling into Storr Loch (Scotland) on a day of fishing. Very little is known of HUGH E.M. STUTFIELD (1858 1929).

He brought glamour and imagination into the sport of mountaineering as few guides have done before him. Recalling his personality and amusing stories one should not forget that his approach to mountains was first and foremost an aesthetic one; he saw a peak first as something beautiful-the technical problem was always secondary - and nothing counted beside that vision.

Of all the mountain guides who came to Canada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Conrad Kain is probably the most respected and well known. In this internationally anticipated reissue of Where the Clouds Can Go-first published in 1935, with subsequent editions in 1954 and 1979-Rocky Mountain Books has accentuated the original text with an expanded selection of over 50 archival images that celebrate the accomplishments of Conrad Kain in the diverse mountain landscapes of North America, Europe and New Zealand. The new foreword by acclaimed mountaineer and filmmaker Pat Morrow puts Kain's mountaineering adventures, numerous explorations and devout appreciation of nature into a contemporary context, ensuring that the exploits of this remarkable individual will remain part of international mountain culture for years to come.

Conrad Kain (1883-1934) was born in Nasswald, Austria, and moved to Canada in 1909, where he remained until his death in 1934. Although credited with more than 60 first ascents and numerous pioneering routes in the Canadian Rockies and the Purcell Range of British Columbia, Kain is primarily known for three first ascents in western Canada: Mount Robson (1913), Mount Louis (1916) and Bugaboo Spire (1916). During his 30-year mountaineering career, he journeyed to New Zealand between 1913 and 1916, successfully guiding more than 25 first ascents and climbing Mount Cook, the country's highest peak, on two occasions.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kain's arrival in Canada, the Conrad Kain Centennial Society was formed in 2008 to celebrate his many achievements and to develop legacy projects in his memory. This expanded edition of Kain's book will help carry his passion for mountaineering to a new generation of readers and adventurers.

The Stoney Indians called him Nashan-esen meaning "wolverine-go-quick" because of his speed in travelling on snowshoes over the rugged landscape of the Canadian Rockies. This book is the story of Jimmy Simpson's 80-year epic as one of the most important guides, outfitters, lodge operators, hunters, naturalists and artists in the Canadian Rockies. The story takes him from blazing the trails in the valley bottoms to ascending some of the highest peaks in the range, from leading scientists, mountaineers, big-game hunters and world-famous artists through some of the most unimaginable scenery on earth to entertaining thousands of visitors at his famous lodge at Bow Lake with his tales-both true and tall-of the pioneer days.

E.J. "Ted" Hart is the director of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff and the author of numerous popular and bestselling books on the Canadian Rockies.

With the horses picking up weight and strength all the way, we cantered into Banff on October 24th, 10 weeks after our departure from Lake Louise. Not one horse had been lost; not one had been permanently lamed, in the whole course of what was probably the roughest continuous pack-train journey made in the Rockies since the time of the pioneers.

First published in 1925, On the Roof of the Rockies details the amazing effortsundertaken by Lewis Freeman and Byron Harmon to scientifically explore and comprehensively photograph during their 70-day, 500-mile journey the most stunning regions of the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains. With a guide, a wrangler, a cook, 16 horses, two dogs, some carrier pigeons and hundreds of pounds of what was then state-of-the-art photography, moviemaking and radio equipment, the group journeyed through the area contemplating the routes of earlier explorers, facing violent storms and ultimately preserving historic views of pristine wilderness for future generations.

Lewis Freeman (1878-1960) was an American explorer, journalist and war correspondent who wrote over 20 books chronicling his many travels throughout North and South America, Asia, Africa and the South Pacific.

Byron Harmon (1876-1942) was an American photographer who spent a majority of his professional life in the mountains of western Canada. His ambition was to photograph the area's major peaks and glaciers. Along the way, he became an accomplished mountaineer and an internationally respected photographer and filmmaker whose work is sought after to this day.

Life of the Trail is a fascinating series that guides today's hikers and armchair travellers through the stories of historic routes in the Canadian Rockies. When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were retracing and how today's trails through the Rockies came to be there. In Life of the Trail, they share their findings with adventurers and history buffs alike.

The series divides the Rockies between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes into eight regions based on the geographical boundaries that influenced 19th century travellers. Within each region, the authors share the stories of those who recorded their travels along various routes between the time of the European pioneers and the 1930s. Never before has such a thorough history been presented in this manner, enabling adventurers to follow the history of the Rockies one route at a time. 

For those tempted to follow in the footsteps of these historic adventurers, Emerson has hiked each and every trail in order to provide a detailed trail guide and interesting anecdotes from his own experiences. Each volume is rounded out with maps and colour photographs-both historical and contemporary-to further stimulate the imagination. 

Life of the Trail 3: The Historic Route from Old Bow Fort to Jasper starts at the remains of Peigan Post, originally built in 1832 and still visible today, located at the west end of the Morley Reserve. This entire route is now a contemporary road, but early in the 20th century the section north of Lake Louise was the main trail heading north and was very busy with pioneers, adventurers and explorers. The trail has been divided into three sections: Old Bow Fort to Lake Louise, Lake Louise to Sunwapta Pass and Sunwapta Pass to Jasper.

Life of the Trail 4: Historic Hikes in Eastern Jasper National Park includes trails throughout the Jasper area, as well as routes in the White Goat Wilderness and part of the Bighorn Wildland, outside the national park itself. Today's boundaries are the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) to the west, the David Thompson Highway (11) to the south, and the Yellowhead Highway (16) to the north. The main routes are fur trade routes, Duncan McGillivray's route along the Brazeau river and Poboktan Creek, Jacques Cardinal's route from Jasper to the North Saskatchewan River along the South Boundary Trail and over Job Pass, and Old Klyne's Trail over Maligne and Cataract Passes and along the Cline River to the Kootenay Plains. The fourth is a 20th-century route: the Skyline Trail. 

Emerson Sanford, originally from Nova Scotia, first visited the mountains of western Canada in the summer of 1961. Eleven years later, he moved to Alberta, and has been hiking ever since. After beginning to backpack seriously with his teenaged daughters in 1990, he began to wonder who cut the trails and how their routing had been determined. Since then, not only has he delved through printed material about the trails, he has also solo hiked every historic route and most long trails between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes-over 3,000 km in the past five years! Emerson now lives in Canmore with his wife, Cheryl.

Janice Sanford Beck is the author of the bestselling No Ordinary Woman: The Story of Mary Schäffer Warren (Rocky Mountain Books). She has also written the introduction to the latest edition of Mary T.S. Schäffer's Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies (Rocky Mountain Books) and, with Cheryl Sanford, recently researched the Mary Schäffer Warren portion of the Glenbow Musuem's new permanent exhibit called Mavericks.

Janice is presently masquerading as a flatlander, making her home in Saskatoon with her partner, Shawn, and their two children.

Mountain Footsteps is one of Rocky Mountain Books' bestselling hiking guides. Covering routes around Cranbrook, Kimberley, Creston, Invermere, Radium and Fernie, located between the Rocky Mountains in the east and the Purcell Mountains in the west-including the Akamina Kishinena, Top of the World, Elk Lakes, St. Mary's Alpine and Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Parks-this volume will entice hikers of all abilities. As with previous editions, readers will continue to appreciate the author's detailed descriptions and personal anecdotes related to one of the most stunning areas in western Canada.
This new edition of Mountain Footsteps is completely revised and updated, including colour maps and photos, enhancing the outdoor experience for hiking enthusiasts from across the country and around the world.

Janice Strong is an avid hiker, snowshoer and skier and also an established outdoor photographer whose images appear in numerous publications and collections all over the world. For a decade she led hikes for the City of Cranbrook's Parks & Recreation department. She and her husband, Jamie Levine, enjoy their garden and their rural property near Cranbrook, BC.

Another of Rocky Mountain Books' bestselling hiking guides, The David Thompson Highway describes a variety of accessible trails located between Nordegg and Banff National Park along one of Alberta's most scenic drives. All 69 exceptional hikes start from the highway and range from leisurely two-hour walks to three-day backpacking journeys. Illustrated throughout.

Includes the Bugaboos, Toby Creek, Horsethief Creek, Kootenay National Park, Height of the Rockies and the western side of Mount Assiniboine.

Surrounded by the historic remnants of the Gold Rush, with a tiny population and a huge landmass comprising a variety of subregions and topographies, the south-central region of the British Columbia interior's trails have always been famous for great hiking. In Trails of the Southern Cariboo-Second Edition, residents and tourists alike will learn about and experience both traditional hiking and cross-country ski trails of varying lengths and terrain. The diverse routes in this dynamic region include stunning meadow trails, occasional breathtaking scrambles and longer hikes. This volume is a must-have for outdoor enthusiasts of all levels considering a trip to this area of western Canada.

Colin Campbell is a retired teacher/librarian. He lives at the historic 108 Mile Ranch, in the heart of the Southern Cariboo region of British Columbia, surrounded by rolling hills, thousands of lakes and a wide range of recreational activities. He regularly explores, hikes, skis and bikes the routes featured in this book.

This updated edition of Sport Climbs features over 2,000 bolt-protected routes located throughout the Bow Valley, including climbs at Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, Kananaskis Country and the Ghost River area. It includes over 100 new routes and is illustrated with over 300 topos, along with accompanying maps and photos. With more than 10,000 copies sold to date, Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies is the quintessential guidebook that both local and international climbing communities reach for when heading to the Canadian Rockies.

Jon Jones started rock climbing on the gritstone edges of his native England at the age of 15. He moved to Calgary in 1967 and has been active in the local climbing scene ever since. A recently retired university geology instructor, he now spends his time rock climbing in the Rockies, the Okanagan and, when winter arrives, in Australia.

John Martin grew up in Calgary and has been climbing in the Rockies since 1963. He has been active in guidebook writing since 1985. This is his 10th book with Rocky Mountain Books.

Winner of the Canadian Rockies Award at the 2005 Banff Mountain Book Festival, this comprehensive climber's guide and history of the 54 11,000-foot peaks in the Canadian Rockies celebrates in words and images these breathtaking summits and the wilderness settings over which they tower. This book uniquely captures and distills the lively-and frequently forgotten- accounts of the pioneering climbers and their various routes. Each entry provides a vivid description of the peak, an extensive history of the early ascents of it and a detailed description of moderate to intermediate routes, including access and approach information. Now extensively updated, the text is liberally illustrated with route and climbing photos, both contemporary and historical, and includes detailed area maps.

Bill Corbett is a native Albertan and has been a full-time writer for 27 years. Bill has spent countless weekends and holidays mountaineering, backcountry skiing, hiking and taking photos in the mountain ranges of the Canadian West. In 2002, he became the third person to climb all 54 of the 11,000-foot peaks in the Canadian Rockies.

As a geographic area, the Columbia Icefield looks back to a time when the world, including the early history of mankind, was dominated by ice.

This is a comprehensive portrait of bears of all kinds including their habitat, family life, behaviour and the way they are perceived in human culture.

An excellent guide to all the major animals that live in western Canada. There are over 40 profiles that range from mighty grizzly bears to graceful whales.

Canadian Rockies Panorama is a collection of over five dozen of the best-loved views in the Rockies. 
There are spectacular scenes from five parks, including Banff, Jasper and Yoho National Parks. Waterfalls, wildlife, lakes, flowers, canyons and mountains are combined to show off the incredible natural harmony of one of the world's most beautiful places. 

Whether tourists keep this book as a personal record of their trip, give it as a gift or frame the photographs and hang them at home, Canadian Rockies Panorama will always convey the majesty of this unforgettable landscape.

Currently available in English, Korean and Chinese, with additional languages planned for future publication, The Canadian Rockies: A Complete Photographic Portrait is a beautiful photographic collection of all the most significant and most-visited mountain landmarks- from Waterton Lakes to Kananaskis, from Banff to Lake Louise, and from Athabasca Glacier to Jasper. 

Each magnificent scenic view is paired with a photo of a wild flower or a wild animal, making this book a compelling portrait of the many faces of this remarkable landscape.

The Canadian Rockies are a national treasure. For generations, visitors have come from all over the world to experience the astonishing scenery contained in the mountain national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Yoho and Waterton. This gallery of exceptional photographs captures the essence of this magnificent wilderness in all its changeable moods: dramatic, exciting, colourful, raw and universally inviting.

Darwin Wiggett is a full-time photographer whose work has appeared in publications including Outside, Nature's Best, Geo, National Geographic Traveler, Outdoor Photographer and Photo Life.

The Canadian Rockies Photo Album contains 150 images from some of the finest mountain photographers in the world. The photos are of the highest quality, but in the end it is the sublime beauty of the mountains themselves that makes them unforgettable. They are the reason over six million people visit the Canadian Rockies each year.

Without a doubt, this is the all-time bestselling book on the Canadian Rockies.

Through the lens of his camera, Douglas Leighton has captured the magic and the majesty of the Canadian Rockies. Because he is a resident of these mountains himself, his reverence for the alpine wilderness is evident in his photography. His images successfully convey the pristine nature of this ever-changing landscape. Leighton's work represents both his respect for the unique character of the Rockies and his aspiration to share with others the beauty of this untamed place.

The Canadian Rockies are one the world's most popular and most beautiful places. From pristine mountain lakes to jagged, glacier-studded peaks, this wilderness area is a dramatic and powerful statement of the inherent beauty of our planet. This book-a complete look at this amazing region-includes historic images that date back over 125 years, as well as colour photographs of the large mammals that inhabit the region. And, of course, the colour photographs of all the important scenic views for which the Canadian Rockies are famous, taken by some of the Rockies' best-known photographers.

The animals of the Canadian Rockies are legendary throughout the world for their grandeur, mystique and beauty. This stunning picture book highlights dozens of species and contains basic information on the habitats of bears, wolves, deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, caribou and many more.

"If you're a connoisseur of the high and wild, just hearing the name "Bugaboos" is enough to make you feverish with wanderlust. Topher Donahue captures not just the landscape but the people and dreams that shape these otherworldly peaks."
—John Flinn, Executive Travel Editor, San Francisco Chronicle

"Bugaboo Dreams is a marvellously detailed account of the evolution of heli-skiing and -hiking in the Canadian Rockies. More importantly, however, it is the story of the remarkable man behind the business, Hans Gmoser, whose passion and commitment to mountain environments led to a lifetime of bringing others to recreate in these places he loved the most."
—Rebecca Martin, Executive Director, Expedition Council, National Geographic Society

"The stars were aligned to create this remarkable story: a vast mountain wilderness of rock spires and undulating glaciers and a visionary individual who inspired others to help transform his Bugaboo dreams into reality. Topher Donahue has captured the tale in an engaging manner that makes for a great read."
—Bernadette McDonald, author and former Director of The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festivals.

"It was an honour and one of the highlights of my youth to be part of the beginnings of the Bugaboos. Skiing with Hans Gmoser and the wonderful guides who joined him became an indelible experience, not only for the ultimate thrill of skiing in deep powder through the trees and vast open areas of untracked territory, but it also gave me an insight into the true qualities of leadership. Topher Donahue beautifully captures the essence of the experience and the hearts and souls of the pioneers who have made helicopter skiing a passion for so many."
—Isadore "Issy" Sharp, founder, chairman and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and Companion to the Order of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.


Take the snowiest mountains in Canada, add two Austrian immigrants, an army of adrenaline-addicted skiers (kings, queens, billionaires, average people and everyday ski bums) and throw a helicopter into the mix for an unforgettable story of mountain adventure.

The tale begins when two childhood friends-Hans Gmoser and Leo Grillmair-leave postwar Austria and travel to Canada in search of adventure. They stumble upon employment taking skiers across the vast glaciers and through the thick forests of Western Canada. When skiers start asking the immigrant mountaineers if it would be possible to use a helicopter to reach the best high-altitude powder, the two find themselves catapulted into a project brimming with more adventure, success, tragedy and fame than they could have dreamed.

Complete with archival and contemporary photos, this is the inside story of the people, thrills, accidents and innovations behind the evolution of a sport from a dangerous, ramshackle and lawless enterprise into a multi-million dollar industry offering reliable access to one of the world's most exciting forms of recreation.

Topher Donahue is an award-winning mountaineer and journalist who has spent most of his life guiding, climbing and skiing all over the world. He first experienced the mountains featured in this book as a climber, which is how he was introduced to Canadian Mountain Holidays and its founders, Hans and Margaret Gmoser. Bugaboo Dreams is his first book.

In the spring of 1982, 68-year-old George Griffiths sailed solo from Britain to Barbados, where he was met by his two sons. The younger son, Mark, joined his father to sail home to Canada by way of the Panama Canal and up the Pacific coast. Mark's older brother, Blair, flew home to begin work as a CBC cameraman documenting the Canadian Mount Everest Expedition Team, with its 26 climbers, 30 Sherpas and more than 200 porters.

Six months later, Blair Griffiths was dead, crushed by a six-storey wall of Everest ice. Through heroic efforts the team finally managed to recover Blair's remains, and there followed a heartbreaking cremation on a pyre of rhododendron boughs. Eventually two of the team succeeded in summiting the mountain.

In 1985, George Griffiths trekked with his grandson to Everest Base Camp, where Blair's ashes were laid, in order to say goodbye. In this place of awe and majesty among mountains and sky, father and adventurer found peace.

Written from taped accounts, diaries, letters and reports, Morning Light: Triumph at Sea & Tragedy on Everest is a poignant saga of adventure and high emotion that celebrates the human spirit and its need to explore.

Margaret Griffiths was married to George Griffiths and was the stepmother to Blair Griffiths. Margaret was born in England in 1920 and moved to Canada in 1953 after serving in the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force in the Second World War. During the Battle of Britain, she worked on the first experimental radar. She currently lives on Galiano Island, British Columbia, where she is a respected community leader and devoted activist.

From skilled weekend warriors to internationally recognized stars of the professional adventure game, Lynn Martel has interviewed dozens of the most dynamic, creative and accomplished self-propelled adventurers of our time.

In Expedition to the Edge: Stories of Worldwide Adventure, Martel has assembled 59 compelling and entertaining stories that uniquely capture the exploits, the hardships, the fears and the personal insights of a virtual who's who of contemporary adventurers as they explore remote mountain landscapes from the Rockies to Pakistan to Antarctica.

Through candid and revealing conversations, Martel captures the joys, the motivations and the revelations of top climbers Sonnie Trotter, Sean Isaac, Raphael Slawinski and Steph Davis; Himalayan alpinists Carlos Buhler, Marko Prezelj and Barry Blanchard; record-setting paraglider Will Gadd; Everest skier Kit Deslauriers; the conservationist duo Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison as they follow a caribou herd for five months on foot across the Yukon; and Colin Angus on his two-year quest to become the first person to circumnavigate the world by human power.

Lynn Martel grew up in Montreal and studied creative writing at Concordia University. Since the 1980s she has lived in the Canadian Rockies, where she writes about mountain culture and history. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Rocky Mountain Outlook, Whistler Pique Newsmagazine, Calgary Herald, explore and WestJet's inflight magazine up!

Praise for The Weekender Effect:

"What happens to paradise when you carve it up into lots and sell it? Bob Sandford writes about it with clarity and a deep love of the places he knows so well. Sandford's story of one town's mutation from a quiet mountain haven to an overcrowded, generic 'outpost of globalization' is essential reading for those who care about community and our last few glorious spaces."
-- Thomas Wharton, author of Icefields, Salamander and The Logogryph

"Equal parts manifesto, meditation, and love song to mountain communities everywhere, this calmly passionate book belongs in every house, condo, tent and backpack in the mountain West and on university courses on nature writing, the environment, community, citizenship, sense of place, human geography and many more. This is essential reading for anyone who lives in, lusts after or loves the mountains."
-- Pamela Banting, President, Association for Literature, the Environment and Culture in Canada

As cities continue to grow at unprecedented rates, more and more people are looking for peaceful, weekend retreats in mountain or rural communities. More often than not, these retreats are found in and around resorts or places of natural beauty. As a result, what once were "small towns" are fast becoming "mini cities", complete with expensive housing, fast food, traffic snarls and environmental damage, all with little or no thought for the importance of local history, local people and local culture.

The Weekender Effect is a passionate plea for considered development in these bedroom communities and for the necessary preservation of local values, cultures and landscapes.

ROBERT WILLIAM SANDFORD is an ecological historian, an expert on Western water resources and author of Water, Weather and the Mountain West (Rocky Mountain Books, 2007). He lives in Alberta.

This first volume of the guidebook series Northern British Columbia Canoe Trips describes in detail eight northern BC paddling routes over eleven rivers, and is designed to provide canoeists with all the information they require to plan a river trip appropriate to their skill level and special interests.

Each route includes:

• a summary of the main attractions of the trip

• where to start and where to finish along the river

• trip length in days and kilometres

• required maps

• suggestions about when to go

• star ratings for difficulty and for historical and recreational value

Northern British Columbia Canoe Trips: Volume One covers numerous routes never documented in any publication before, including the Taku, Jennings, Omineca and Gataga rivers, among others, as well as more well-known favourites such as Fort Nelson and the Dease. The book provides paddlers of all types with a variety of river trips to choose from based on comprehensive and comparative information, as well as detailed and specific navigational notes to aid them along their chosen route.

Laurel Archer has been a canoe guide and instructor for the past 20 years and is the author of Northern Saskatchewan Canoe Trips: A Guide to 15 Wilderness Rivers. She teaches canoe tripping and whitewater kayaking for the Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training Program (COLT) at Strathcona Park Lodge on Vancouver Island.

The Canadian Rockies are one the world's most popular as well as most beautiful places. From pristine mountain lakes to jagged, glacier-studded peaks, this wilderness area is a dramatic and powerful statement of the beauty inherent on our planet. This book - a complete look at this amazing region - includes historic images that date back over 125 years, as well as colour photographs of the large mammals that inhabit the region. And of course, the book features beautiful colour photographs of all the important scenic views for which the Canadian Rockies is famous, taken by some of the Rockies best-known photographers.

As I paused on a massive ledge far out on the moraine I was nearly overcome with the deathly silence. The power and majesty of mountains stand forth most clearly when accompanied by some great sound, the crashing of thunder or avalanche or the roar of a rushing stream.

First published in 1900, The Rockies of Canada is based on one of the first major works to be written about the mountains of western Canada, Camping in the Canadian Rockies (1896). Focusing upon the escapades of the "Lake Louise Club", a group of relatively inexperienced climbers from Yale University and elsewhere in the eastern United States, this fifth volume in the Mountain Classics Collection offers the reader a glimpse not only of the remarkable beauty and grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, but also the danger and rigours these early adventurers experienced nearly every day.

Walter Dwight Wilcox (1869-1949) first travelled to the Canadian Rockies as a student in the late 19th century. He made numerous first ascents over the years and did a great deal of exploring and mapping throughout the region of Banff and Lake Louise and in the Kananaskis Valley. Wilcox made his final trip to his beloved Rockies in 1940, at the age of 71.

Baffin Island, by world-renowned adventurer, filmmaker and writer Mark Synnott, is the first comprehensive guide to Canada's largest island (fifth largest in the world), which is quickly becoming known as a premiere destination for adventure travellers and thrill-seekers alike. Beautifully illustrated with stunning photos and detailed maps, Baffin Island is the best available volume for anyone considering a trip to - or even remotely interested in - the possibilities that a trek to Baffin Island has to offer.

MARK SYNNOTT has taken on adventure in places like Patagonia, Pakistan, Nepal, India, China, Tibet, the Alaska Range, the Amazon, West Africa and Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. When he's not in the mountains, Mark works with The North Face research, design and development teams and lectures frequently on his life of adventure. He's also a successful freelance photojournalist and a senior contributing editor at Climbing Magazine. His articles and photos have appeared in many publications in the U.S. and abroad, including National Geographic Adventure, Men's Journal, Outside, Skiing and New York Magazine. Mark makes his home in Jackson, New Hampshire.

Life of the Trail is a fascinating new series which will guide today's hikers and armchair travellers through the stories of historic routes in the Canadian Rockies. When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were tracing and how today's trails through the Rockies came to be. In Life of the Trail, they share their findings with adventurers and history buffs alike.

The series divides the Rockies between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes into eight regions based on geographical boundaries that influenced 19th century travellers. Within each region, the authors share the stories of those who recorded their travels along various routes between the time of the pioneers and the 1930s. Never before has such a thorough history been presented in this manner, enabling adventurers to follow the history of the Rockies one route at a time.

For those tempted to follow in the footsteps of these historic adventurers, Emerson has hiked each and every trail in order to provide a detailed trail guide and interesting anecdotes from his own experiences. Each volume is rounded out with maps and colour photographs - both historical and contemporary - to further stimulate the imagination.

Life of the Trail 1: Historic Hikes in Eastern Banff National Park follows the trails of David Thompson, Walter Wilcox, the Palliser Expedition, James Carnegie Earl of Southesk, Bill Peyto and A.P. Coleman. Along the way, the reader will journey from the Kootenay Plains to Lake Minnewanka, discovering the stories behind routes through the mountain towns of Banff and Lake Louise and along the Red Deer, Ptarmigan and Skoki valleys.

Life of the Trail 2: Historic Hikes in Northern Yoho National Park follows the trails of fur traders La Gasse and Le Blanc, the Palliser Expedition, Tom Wilson, J.J. McArthur, Professor Jean Habel, Walter Wilcox, C.S. Thompson, David Thompson, Jimmy Simpson and Jack Brewster. Along the way, the reader will journey past pristine lakes and glaciers that have become legendary throughout the world, discovering the stories behind routes through the mountain towns of Lake Louise and Field; over Howse, Amiskwi, Bow and Burgess passes; and along Yoho, Emerald and Castleguard rivers.

EMERSON SANFORD, originally from Nova Scotia, first visited the mountains of western Canada in the summer of 1961. Eleven years later, he moved to Alberta, and has been hiking ever since. After beginning to backpack seriously with his teenaged daughters in 1990, he began to wonder who cut the trails and how their routing had been determined. Since then, not only has he delved through printed material about the trails, he has also solo hiked every historic route and most long trails between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes - over 3000 km in the past five years! Emerson now lives in Canmore with his wife, Cheryl.

JANICE SANFORD BECK is the author of the best-selling No Ordinary Woman: the Story of Mary Schäffer Warren (Rocky Mountain Books). She has also written the introduction to the latest edition of Mary T. S. Schäffer's Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies (Rocky Mountain Books) and, with Cheryl Sanford, recently researched the Mary Schäffer Warren portion of the Glenbow Musuem's new permanent exhibit, Mavericks. Janice is presently masquerading as a flatlander, making her home in Saskatoon with her partner, Shawn, and their two children.

Following upon the success of the first book in the "Popular Day Hikes" series - Gillean Daffern's Popular Day Hikes 1: Kananaskis Country - Rocky Mountain Books is thrilled to offer this companion volume focusing upon the splendour of the Canadian Rockies. "Popular Day Hikes" is a series of books written for visitors and locals looking to hike scenic trails from wellestablished staging areas. These factual, attractive guides feature detailed maps and colour photographs throughout.

TONY DAFFERN is a climber, hiker and ski mountaineer with over 40 years of experience in mountain ranges in many parts of the world. A civil engineer by training, Tony has spent vast amounts of time hiking and travelling throughout the mountain ranges of western Canada, researching trails and meeting with other hikers to discuss and discover the best that Canadian hiking has to offer.

In 1901, naturalist George Bird Grinnell took note of an extensive network of mountains, ridges, valleys, lakes and rivers on both sides of the Continental Divide from northern Montana into southern British Columbia and Alberta. Disregarding political boundaries, he named it "The Crown of the Continent." Grinnell was obviously inspired by the region's majestic landscape and the wildlife it sustained. He also recognized the need to conserve it. But while "Crown of the Continent" speaks eloquently of the region's beauty with more than a passing nod to European monarchy and history, the Blackfeet name carries a more vital and universal meaning: 'Mo'kakiikin', the 'backbone of the world.' At the heart of this complex landscape lies the Castle Wilderness.

The book is divided into two main sections. The Meaning of Place: Why the Castle Matters gives an overview of the area's culture, natural history, climate, flora and fauna, as well as explanations of present day uses and developments. The Trail Guide part of the book presents maps, photos and descriptions of the trails, explaining where, when and how to enjoy the Castle with insight and care.

ROBERT KERSHAW is a freelance communications consultant, writer and photographer. After graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Communications Studies, Rob moved to Pincher Creek where he worked as a ranch hand and co-owned a small communications company that published the Waterton-Glacier Views, a weekly newspaper concerned with community development, conservation and environmental issues. Rob is presently living with his wife and partner, Emily Paulos, in Oakland, California, where he is a teaching associate at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

Coastal Beauty and Central Beauty are follow-ups to three previous volumes on wildflowers written by Neil Jennings and published by Rocky Mountain Books. All five books include exceptional photographs and interesting information about each plant. For ease of reference, the books are arranged by flower colour and by plant family. A complete index is included, using both the common and the scientific names for all plants.

Coastal Beauty explores the wildflowers and flowering shrubs commonly found in the coastal regions of British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, and also Coastal Washington and Oregon.

Central Beauty explores the wildflowers and flowering shrubs commonly found in the portions of British Columbia typically known as the southern interior - very roughly an east/west line drawn through Williams Lake, B.C. The southern limit of the area extends well into the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana.

NEIL L. JENNINGS is an ardent fly fisher, hiker and photographer who loves "getting down in the dirt" pursuing his keen interest in wildflowers. For 22 years he was a co-owner of Country Pleasures, a fly-fishing retailer in Calgary. He fly-fishes extensively, both in fresh and saltwater, and his angling pursuits usually lead him to wildflower investigations in a variety of environments. He has taught fly-fishing-related courses in Calgary for over 20 years, and his photographs and writings on the subject have appeared in a number of outdoor magazines. Neil has previously written three books on western wildflowers - Uncommon Beauty, Alpine Beauty and Prairie Beauty, all published by Rocky Mountain Books. He is also the author of Behind the Counter, a book on fly-fishing, also published by Rocky Mountain Books. Neil lives in Calgary, Alberta, with Linda, his wife of over 30 years. They spend a lot of time outdoors together chasing fish, flowers and, as often as possible, grandchildren.

". . . years ago the Dominion of Canada, stretching as it does over thousands of miles,
covered with dense forests, watered by unnumbered rivers, and dotted over with countless lakes, was a land in many places as difficult of access as Siberia; and its Rocky Mountains, the back-bone of the continent, were almost unknown."
- Stutfield & Collie

First published in 1903, Climbs & Exploration in the Canadian Rockies details the mountaineering adventures of Hugh Stutfield and J. Norman Collie while the two were together during various explorations in the area north of Lake Louise, Alberta. Between 1898 and 1902, Stutfield and Collie journeyed through the mountain towns, valleys and passes of the Rockies, where Collie completed numerous first ascents and discovered fresh views of Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefields.

J. NORMAN COLLIE (1859 - 1942) began his impressive climbing career on the Isle of Skye, later making first ascents in the Alps and Caucasus and climbing with a British expedition in the Himalayas. Collie first journeyed to Canada in 1897, returning for further climbing adventures in 1898, 1900, 1902, 1910 and 1911, making 21 first ascents in the Canadian Rockies and naming many of western Canada's major peaks. Collie died in 1942 from pneumonia, after falling into Storr Loch (Scotland) on a day of fishing. Very little is known of HUGH E.M. STUTFIELD (1858 - 1929).

More than 200,000 copies sold!

This latest edition of GPS Made Easy has been revised to reflect the increased accuracy provided by WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS and NDGPS coverage, the availability of downloadable maps and the use of computers, PDAs and Pocket PCs with GPS receivers, the status of national GPS systems, and the emergence of GPS and dead-reckoning technology. GPS Made Easy tells you all you need to know about using hand-held GPS receivers for accurate navigation in the outdoors:

• how GPS works

• how Differential GSP (DGPS) and WAAS work

• common features of GPS receivers

• practical, step-by-step examples of GPS use in the wilderness

• how to use a GPS receiver with electronic and paper maps

• practical examples using the UTM and Latitude/Longitude grids

• using computer-based electronic maps with a GPS receiver

• using a vehicle GPS receiver

• a chapter on GPS-enhanced devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and more

• explanation of UPS, OSGB, MGRS and Maidenhead grids

"Buy this book before you buy your GPS. It will teach you what questions to ask and what the answers mean . . . there's no better way to learn the ins and outs of GPS." - News Tribune, Tacoma, WA

"If you travel far from the beaten path, or in regions without obvious points of reference, GPS can be a tremendous source of security. Letham's book can explain how to make the most of that global navigation system . . . it's a one-stop source of information." - Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

LAWRENCE LETHAM, a registered patent attorney, electrical engineer and outdoor enthusiast, has long been fascinated by maps and the art of navigation. ALEX LETHAM, a bioengineer and now first-year medical student, mountain bikes, hikes, kayaks and snowboards regularly. Both live in Arizona and love their GPS receivers.

In Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives, 120 outstanding individuals representing a who's who of international exploration recall the indelible moment in their youth when the dream that launched their remarkable lives was born. As they recount the turning points to fulfilling those dreams-often overcoming enormous physical, emotional or other obstacles-we learn how incredibly inspirational their lives are.

Included are Meave and Louise Leakey, Buzz Aldrin, Robert Ballard, balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Lucy discoverer Don Johanson, Jack Horner, Sue Hendrickson, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the Ra's Capt. Norman Baker, George Bass, Eugenie Clark, Richard Fisher, Trieste's Don Walsh and Nobel laureate Charles H. Townes.

That 24 of these dynamic individuals are Canadian-such as paleontologists Philip Currie and Eva Koppelhus; Survivorman Les Stroud; Sea Hunter Jim Delgado; National Geographic explorer-in-residence Wade Davis; veteran climber Pat Morrow; circumnavigators-by-human-power-alone Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei; photographers Pat and Rosemarie Keough; and naturalist Robert Bateman-is testament to Canada's significant contribution to world exploration.


Jason Schoonover is the author of the adventure thrillers Thai Gold, Opium Dream and The Manila Galleon. He has a B.A. in English and history and has been widely published throughout North America since 1973, mainly as a travel writer in newspapers and magazines. He was elected a Fellow of The Explorers Club in 1986 and currently makes his home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Neil Jennings started getting serious about fly-fishing in 1973 and has fished that way exclusively ever since. From 1982 through 2003 he was a partner/owner in a retail fly-fishing shop in Calgary, Alberta. During that time Neil was behind the counter, answering questions and giving advice to thousands of flyfishers, from "wannabes" to seriously talented anglers. Over the years, Neil learned a lot about fly-fishing, some of it by good example and some of it by bad. This book is a distillation of the best of that experience. 

Jennings offers tips, tricks, shortcuts and techniques. Whatever one's experience level, there are things in this book that readers will find useful or thought provoking. One of the wonderful things about fly-fishing is that you have an opportunity to learn new things all the time.

Jennings is an avid outdoorsman who regularly hikes the backcountry with a fly rod, camera and tripod, recording the beauty of southern Alberta and British Columbia. His photographs and writings have appeared in numerous outdoors magazines and he is the author of Trout Flies of Alberta and Southeastern British Columbia and Uncommon Beauty: Wildflowers and Flowering Shrubs of Southern Alberta and Southeastern British Columbia.

A young grizzly named Ned and his mother, Betty Lou, struggle with human encroachment on their habitat. Despite his mother's guidance, Ned becomes habituated to humans and encounters a predictable fate. But the bears experience many funny encounters and insightful moments along the way, and their story teaches readers about the natural world. Ned is a fun story that will enlighten and delight young and old alike, and because of its timeless theme, the book will remain relevant for years to come.

Joe Pavelka (M.A.) is the author of It's Not About Time: Rediscovering leisure in a changing world (Creative Bound Inc. 2000). He is coordinator of the ecotourism and outdoor leadership program at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Lynne Huras studied art and art history at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College. For more information, please visit www.sillygoatstudio.ca.

The RMB Alliance is a new and developing series of clear, passionate and accessible lectures bringing together writers, thinkers, artists, planners and outdoor enthusiasts in the pursuit of ecological stability and common-sense environmental stewardship.

Growing populations, increasing industrial use and heavy agricultural demand are beginning to tax water supplies in many regions of Canada's west. Future economic and social development will depend upon how much we know about our surface and ground water resources, and how effectively we manage them-especially in the face of climate change.

The message to take home from this eloquent book is that it is time to dispel the myth of limitless abundance of water in Canada and throughout North America, that although our technologically sophisticated society is fuelled and lubricated largely by petroleum, it ultimately runs on plain water. 
In his conclusion to this authoritative book, Robert Sandford, chair of the United Nations water initiative in Canada, offers a realistic picture of the various issues and threats related to the availability and quality of fresh water that Canada will face in the future, and how we can effectively address them.

Robert Sandford is the author or editor of some 20 books on the history and heritage of the Canadian west. He began his work with UN-linked initiatives as chair of the UN International Year of Mountains in 2002, and he also chaired the UN International Year of Fresh Water and Wonder of Water Initiative in Canada in 2003/04. He is also director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, a research and public-policy arm of the University of Lethbridge.

Mount Assiniboine: Images in Art highlights a century of landscape art inspired by the Mount Assiniboine area of the Canadian Rockies from 1899 to 2006. The book includes a preface by Robert Sandford and an introduction discussing the history of exploration of the region, early ascents of Mount Assiniboine, the development of tourism, and the significant art this majestic peak has inspired. Illustrations in the introduction include four black-and-white archival photographs, along with five colour reproductions of Mary Vaux Walcott's stunning watercolours of wildflowers sketched in the area. The main text presents 42 colour plates illustrating a wide variety of styles and media from 23 artists including A.P. Coleman, Carl Rungius, James Simpson, Belmore Browne, Barbara and A.C. Leighton, Catharine and Peter Whyte, W.J. Phillips and A.Y. Jackson. Of these, only seven have been previously published. The colour plates are organized into three sections: approaching Assiniboine from the northwest; east of Assiniboine; and Mount Assiniboine itself. Each section is introduced with a black-and-white archival photograph and a quotation. The book concludes with a list of artists, endnotes, a full bibliography and an index.

Jane Lytton Gooch teaches in the English department at the University of British Columbia. Her enjoyment of hiking in the Rockies and a lifelong interest in art and letters come together in this book. A resident of Vancouver, she is a graduate of UBC and has a doctorate in Renaissance drama from the University of Toronto. Jane is also the author of Artists of the Rockies: Inspiration of Lake O'Hara.

Mountain Classics Collection

"There is a wonderful fascination about mountains. Their massive grandeur, majesty of lofty height, splendour of striking outline-crag and pinnacle and precipice-seem to appeal both to the intellect and to the inmost soul of man, and to compel a mingled reverence and love …" -James Outram

First published in 1923, In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies is Outram's record of his adventures and exploits in the early years of the 20th century among the massive mountains straddling the Alberta/British Columbia boundary. Throughout his time in western Canada, Outram crossed paths with numerous colourful characters-Swiss guides, hunters, cowboys and outfitters, as well as previous climbers and explorers, whose journeys he discusses at length. It is this comprehensive detailing, not only of Outram's own climbs but also those of mountaineers who preceded him, that gives In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies the air of a grand overview of the early years of climbing in western Canada.

With its many references also to burgeoning alpine towns in both Alberta and British Columbia, this third volume in the Mountain Classics Collection is an open invitation for readers, climbers and adventurers to follow in the footsteps of this avid early mountaineer and passionate outdoorsman into the rugged, beautiful landscape of the western Canadian mountains.

Born in 1864 in London, England, James Outram was a Church of England clergyman, mountaineer, author, businessman, militia officer and Orangeman who came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century after travelling and climbing throughout Europe. As a relatively new climber, Outram made numerous impressive ascents in the Rockies and Columbias in 1900, 1901 and 1902. In 1925, after years living in Calgary, Alberta, he retired in Victoria, B.C.

The much-anticipated sequel to the Alan Kane classic Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, this book contains approximately 60 new scrambles in Waterton, Castle- Crown and Kananaskis.

The author outlines several different routes to each summit and includes alternate and easier descents. Encompassing a range of levels of difficulty, More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies will appeal to anyone familiar with the first book as well as to hikers looking for a more challenging route to the top of a mountain.

In addition to route descriptions, the book contains general information on scrambling, suggested trips for specific conditions, details about each specific area, and single-day, multi-peak trips.

Andrew Nugara was born in Rugby, England, and moved to Canada in 1979. He earned bachelor degrees in Music Performance and Education from the University of Calgary and presently teaches high school mathematics in Calgary, Alberta. In 2001, he discovered the magnificent Canadian Rockies, and since then he has completed over 300 mountain ascents.

Trekking the Continental Divide from the U.S. border to Kakwa Lake is a demanding adventure. In this revised and updated guidebook devoted to Canada's 1,200-kilometre Great Divide Trail (GDT), Dustin Lynx helps hikers piece together the myriad individual routes that form a continuous trail along the Divide.

Outlining the six major sections of the GDT, Lynx breaks the trail into 20-kilometre segments and describes the terrain and condition of each segment. These segments can be used to plan shorter trips along the GDT. Lynx's indispensable pre-trip planning advice will help long-distance hikers overcome daunting logistical challenges such as re-supply, navigation and access.

Over five months in 1994, Dustin Lynx hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, 4,300 kilometres from Mexico to Canada. During that time, he walked a marathon distance each day. Two summers later, he hiked the GDT. Now, as a father of two children, Dustin is busy walking the fulfilling path of parenthood, but he continues his forays on the GDT from his front door in Canmore, Alberta.

From the author of the hugely popular Kananaskis Country Trail Guides and Canmore & Kananaskis Country: Short Walks for Inquiring Minds comes a book of popular day hikes in one of southern Alberta's most-loved outdoor recreation areas. Kananaskis Country covers over 4,000 square hectares of the Canadian Rockies south and east of Banff National Park, and is a favourite destination for outdoors enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.

This book features 34 hikes, and the descriptions focus on quality trails with easy access and good staging areas. Factual and informative, Popular Day Hikes is complete with maps and colour photographs and is sure to satisfy locals and visitors alike.

Gillean Daffern needs no introduction. Author of the definitive guidebooks to hiking in Kananaskis Country, she is also the recipient of the Banff Mountain Festival's Summit of Excellence Award.

Praise for Gillean Daffern's books:

"Well-researched, accurate and in-depth information."
      -Canadian Alpine Journal

"Provides enough information to keep Kananaskis visitors busy for years." 
      -Calgary Herald

Experience the majestic beauty of the mountains with Canmore, Kananaskis, and the Canadian Rockies, a stunning photography book that gives a teasing peek at what it's like to live, work and play in this beautiful outdoor area. Pam Doyle's photographs depict people and wildlife enjoying this marvelous and spectacular wonderland along the eastern slopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains, and her scenic images give viewers a feel for the Bow Valley in all its glory.

Ideal for tourists and residents alike, Canmore, Kananaskis, and the Canadian Rockies is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to take home a bit of mountain magic. 

Pam Doyle is a photographer and reporter at the Canmore Leader weekly newspaper. She has worked at newspapers throughout western Canada and has freelanced to the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Maclean's magazine and Explore magazine. She has had photography exhibits in Canmore, Winnipeg and, most recently, Japan.

Alpine Beauty explores the wildflowers and flowering shrubs commonly found in the subalpine and alpine environments in the Rocky Mountains of western Canada. Due to harsh weather conditions, the plants that exist at higher elevations are generally different than those at lower elevations. In this environment, low shrub and herb communities become the rule.

Neil L. Jennings is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking in the backcountry with a fly rod, a camera and a tripod, recording the beauty of the landscape in southern Alberta and British Columbia. He and his wife, Linda, spend a lot of time outdoors together, chasing fish, flowers and, as often as possible, grandchildren.

Prairie Beauty explores the wildflowers and flowering shrubs commonly found in the prairie environment of western Canada. Written for the enjoyment of all who venture outside and wish to identify the wild flowering plants they encounter, the book is directed at readers with little or no background in things botanical.

Neil L. Jennings is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking in the backcountry with a fly rod, a camera and a tripod, recording the beauty of the landscape in southern Alberta and British Columbia. He and his wife, Linda, spend a lot of time outdoors together, chasing fish, flowers and, as often as possible, grandchildren.

Sea Kayak Strokes is a concise manual for learning and improving paddling skills. Alderson's tips will help you paddle faster and with less effort, turn your kayak with greater ease, and keep your head above water using quick and effective bracing techniques. 

Alderson describes how the forces of wind and water affect directional control of a kayak, providing information on how to choose the most effective stroke at the right time. You won't have to struggle in the wind if you use the strokes that let the wind do some of the work for you. Learn to save your energy and keep your kayak moving when waves and current are trying to push you around. 

Sea Kayak Strokes is a teaching and learning guide with sensible text and clear illustrations-an invaluable resource for paddlers and instructors.

A leader at the national level, Doug Alderson has been a contributing member of Paddle Canada (formerly CRCA) since the inception of the national sea kayaking program. Formerly a Coach-3 in the British Canoe Union system, he is currently chairman of Paddle Canada's Sea Kayak Program Development Committee. As a senior instructor trainer, Alderson is responsible for training paddlers and certifying instructors at all levels from sea to sea to sea. He is the author of three other kayaking books, including Sea Kayak Around Vancouver Island (Rocky Mountain Books).

Everything you need to know to explore the backcountry on horseback is in the Alberta Backcountry Equestrian One-Day Trail Guide. Jam-packed with interpretive notes on wildlife, plants, geology, local history and even horse language, this book tells you where to go, how to get there and what to do to have a successful one-day ride.

Every trail, trailhead and campground has been personally researched (and photographed) from an equestrian's point of view, with a focus on safety. In addition to detailed trail information and maps, there are also tips from a formidable array of experts, mountain men par excellence and seasoned outfitters with years of experience. Whether you're a novice or an experienced rider, this intriguing book-updated following recent flooding-is for you.

Pam Asheton, a former riding instructor with the British Horse Society, lives on a ranch outside Cochrane, Alberta. She is a regular trail rider and a backcountry aficionado. Her writing has appeared in Alberta Country, Canadian Cowboy Country, Western Horseman and the Cochrane Eagle.

"We seemed to have reached that horizon, and the limit of all endurance, to sit with folded hands and listen calmly to the stories of the hills we so longed to see, the hills which had lured and beckoned us for years before this long list of men had ever set foot in the country." 
     - Mary T.S. Schäffer

Mary T.S. Schäffer was an avid explorer and one of the first non-Native women to venture into the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where few women-or men-had gone before.

First published in 1911, Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is Schäffer's story of her adventures in the traditionally male-dominated world of climbing and exploration. It also sheds light on Native and non-Native relations at the early part of the 20th century. Full of daring adventure and romantic depictions of camp life, set against the grand backdrop of Canada's mountain landscapes, the book introduces readers to various characters from the annals of Canadian mountaineering history, including Arthur Philemon Coleman, Billy Warren, Sid Unwin, Bill Peyto and Jimmy Simpson.

Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is certain to entertain and enlighten 21st-century readers, historians, hikers and climbers.

Mary T.S. Schäffer was an artist, photographer, writer, world traveller and, above all, explorer. She overcame the limited expectations of women at the turn of the 19th century in order to follow her dreams. Although she died in 1937, her story continues to inspire young people, women in particular.

The towering peaks of the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains rival the European Alps in fame. When travelling or climbing, hiking or skiing in these areas, have you ever wondered where the names of the peaks, rivers and lakes came from, or who named them and why? In Canadian Mountain Place Names, the authors have used their scope of knowledge and expertise, along with many outside sources, to compile an entertaining and informative treatise on the toponymy of this increasingly popular alpine region. 

Originally published as Place Names of the Canadian Alps, this new edition is completely revised and updated. Illustrated with Glen Boles' and Roger Laurilla's stunning photographs, as well as Boles' intricate line drawings, this book is a must-have not only for avid mountaineers, skiers and hikers, but also for locals and visitors with an interest in these regions. For the authors, this book has been a labour of love: for the mountains, as well as for all those who care about the mountains and are curious about the names bestowed on the geographic features surrounding them.

Artist and photographer Glen Boles has climbed extensively throughout North America and Europe, but his first love is the Canadian Rockies, where he has summited over 450 peaks, often by difficult new routes. Many of his climbs were first ascents. 

Raised in Revelstoke, B.C., Roger Laurilla was exposed to the mountains at an early age. His images have been published in such magazines as Canadian Geographic, British Columbia Magazine, Ski Canada, Powder Magazine and Back Country. 

Honoured by mountaineering societies at home and abroad, William Putnam is a highly decorated veteran of the 10th Mountain Division (Second World War). He has been frequenting the world's mountains and writing about mountaineering history for most of his life.

Artist and photographer Glen Boles has climbed extensively all over North America and in Europe, but his first love is the Canadian Rockies, where he has summited over 450 peaks, often by a difficult new route. Many were first ascents. Over the years Glen has become familiar with all facets of climbing, from expedition climbing to mountain rescue. 

Boles' interest in photography and drawing has enriched his mountain experiences and made him well known throughout the North American climbing community. Although his work has appeared in many publications, this is the first book devoted totally to his black-and-white art.


Glen Boles was born in St. Stephen, NB, in 1934. He moved to Calgary in 1953 and was introduced to mountaineering and skiing in 1957. He has since completed climbs on close to 600 peaks, mostly in the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains. Glen is an honorary member of the Calgary Mountain Club, the Alpine Club of Canada and the American Alpine Club. He is also the recipient of the Bill March "Summit of Excellence" Award.

This illustrated journey describes a lifetime of mountain experiences, from childhood to fatherhood, in the Canadian Rockies. Using words, artwork and photography, Lorne Perry reveals a life lived, at times on the edge, as he overcomes the effects of a savage grizzly attack to wander the mountains again. 

In Drawing from the Mountain, readers who have spent time in the Rockies, or any wild place, will find resonance and a bit of soul music.

Lorne Perry has lived near the Rocky Mountains since he was a baby. The prairie coulees, riverbanks and foothills were his playground until, as a young man, he signed up for a rock-climbing school. Things were never the same after that. With a degree in fine arts and subsequent training in design, Perry has worked variously as an archaeological photographer in Ethiopia, an artist in Bermuda and, for the last 18 years, as an exhibit designer in Alberta.

Mountain rescue in western Canada developed through the Canadian Pacific Railway's use of Swiss guides to enhance the Canadian 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.

The Canadian Rockies
New and Old Trails
Arthur Philemon Coleman
foreword by Chic Scott

"There is a cleanness and virginity, an exquisite loneliness, about many of the Rocky Mountain peaks and valleys that has a peculiar charm. There is the feeling of having made a new discovery, of having caught Nature unawares at her work of creation." - Arthur Philemon Coleman

Arthur Philemon Coleman was a passionate Canadian and one of the first to truly discover the beauty and majesty of this country's mountain ranges as an explorer, geologist and mountaineer. In 1884, before the railway traversed the Rocky and Columbia mountains, Coleman headed west on the first of what would be eight mountaineering expeditions, making his way on foot and pack horse, with Native guides and without, over passes in Alberta and British Columbia. 
First published in 1911, this new edition gives modern-day readers a glimpse of the early days of mountaineering in the Canadian west. It paints a sympathetic picture of the rugged men and women who opened the region and of the hardships they endured. In his travels he encountered some of the main characters in Canadian mountaineering history, including Mary Schäffer, Joby Beaver, Frank Sibbald, Reverend George Kinney and Adolphus Moberly.

Arthur Philemon Coleman was born in Lachute, Quebec, on April 4, 1852. For most of his professional life he taught at Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, and spent a great deal of time adventuring throughout western Canada. In all, Coleman-and his Morley, Alberta-based brother, Lucius Quincy Coleman-made eight successive trips to the Canadian Rockies. Coleman was in his 80s on his last trip. He died in 1939 never having climbed Mount Robson, the object of his mountaineering obsession.

Canadian rock climbing was born on the big flat face of Yamnuska. For more than 50 years aspiring youth and grizzled veterans have been putting up new routes on the south-facing slab that faces the sun and attracts climbers every month of the year. In the first-ever climbing guide to the "Yam," you will find 115 routes described in detail and accompanied by maps and photographs.

Yamnuska holds a special place in the hearts of people who seek adventure. Climbs range in grade from 5.5 through 5.12, and styles encompass the very bold to the more conservative. The cliff is steeped in history. There is a spiritual nature that is hard to explain, but many climbers have shared this feeling after a day scaling her lofty heights. Partnerships develop between friends and the mountain that can last a lifetime.

Andy Genereux experienced rock climbing for the first time on Mount Yamnuska during an early spring snowstorm in 1975. This small adventure would eventually lead to a 30-year climbing career, with extensive involvement in new route exploration throughout the Canadian Rockies. Over this period he has become a leading proponent of the local climbing scene. Andy has established well over 500 climbs, including 20-plus on Yamnuska. Throughout his career he has returned time and again to this regal cliff to scale her many great routes.

When first published in 2003, Bouldering in the Canadian Rockies was the only book of its kind available. Now, three years later, the original comprehensive edition has been updated and expanded to include all the latest information on this hot sport. 

With more than 50 pages of new material as well as new images and topos, this second edition of Bouldering in the Canadian Rockies is an even more comprehensive guide to the best bouldering areas. These include: the Glenwood Erratic, Frank Slide, Big Rock, the Beddington area, White Buddha, Big Choss, Rundle Boulders, EEOR, Grassi Lakes, Jura Creek, Takakkaw Falls, Cathedral Forest, Weeping Boulders, Laporte's Leap, The Love Den, Tonquin Boulders, The White Rabbit Boulders and the Cadomin area.

Marcus Norman has been pursuing all forms of climbing in the Canadian Rockies for over 15 years. This obsessive-compulsive drive has led him to establish boulder problems around the world, from the jungles of Thailand to the snowy foothills of the Himalayas.

This sixth edition of Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies features dozens of new routes and is illustrated with more than 300 topos, maps and photos. It also updates information from the previous five editions. With more than 10,000 copies sold to date, Sports Climbs is the guide the climbing community reaches for when it heads to the hills. 

Sport climbing is one of the most popular types of rock climbing in North America. It is gymnastic, safe and sociable, and it provides a natural progression for those who have learned the sport on climbing walls. In this new edition, the authors have added several new crags and many new climbs, totalling over 1,600 bolt-protected routes in the Bow Corridor from the Front Ranges west of Calgary to Canmore and from Banff to Lake Louise. 

This sport-climbing guide complements our traditional climbing guide, Bow Valley Rock, our alpine climbing guide, Selected Alpine Climbs in the Canadian Rockies, and our scrambling guide, Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. 

Jon Jones started rock climbing on the gritstone edges of his native England at the age of 15. He moved to Calgary in 1967 and has been active in the local climbing scene ever since. A recently retired university geology instructor, he now spends his time rock climbing in the Rockies, the Okanagan and, when winter arrives, in Australia.

John Martin grew up in Calgary and has been climbing in the Rockies since 1963. He has been active in guidebook writing since 1985. This is his 10th book with Rocky Mountain Books.

Don and Phyllis Munday are western Canada's most famous mountaineering couple. Active members of the Alpine Club of Canada, they climbed for almost four decades throughout the Pacific Northwest as well as in the Selkirks and the Rocky Mountains.

The Mundays are chiefly renowned for their tenacity, environmental awareness and scientific contributions in exploring and documenting the little-known Coastal Range, including Mount Waddington (the highest mountain wholly within British Columbia), which they ascended in 1928. Their joint climbs from the 1920s through 1940s included scaling 100-plus mountains; more than 25 were first ascents.

Phyllis and Don took thousands of photographs, drew maps and kept careful records of their climbing and exploration adventures. A Passion for Mountains features a broad selection of their photographs and maps, and incorporates Don and Phyllis's own words to describe most of their ascents. Everyone, climbers and non-climbers alike, will enjoy this wonderful lifelong adventure story.

Victoria-based archivist and historian Kathryn Bridge knows how to tell a good story. Her award-winning books about pioneering personalities rely on original diaries, letters, journals and historical photos to bring the biographies to life. Her interest in the mountains began while playing in the alpine meadows of Mount Revelstoke as a youngster.

Big dreams, dashed hopes and romance are at the heart of this biography of Norma and George Pocaterra. The story begins in 1903 when George Pocaterra left Italy and came to the Canadian Rockies with hopes of striking it rich.

George is best known for establishing the Buffalo Head Ranch in the foothills of Alberta. He developed a close friendship with members of the Stoney Indians, and was one of the first non-Natives to explore much of what is now called Kananaskis Country. 

In 1933, he returned to Italy, where he met and fell in love with Norma Piper, a young Calgary singer who had moved to Italy to study opera. They eventually married, and George took over the management of Norma's rising operatic career. 

World War II forced a return to Canada in 1939. In Calgary, Norma became part of the local music scene, giving concerts and teaching singing at Mount Royal College. In 1955, she started her own studio and over the next 25 years became one of Calgary's most loved music teachers. George, meanwhile, continued with his coal-mining ventures, although he suffered bitter disappointments.

Drawing on personal diaries and correspondence, the authors have created an intimate portrait of these remarkable Albertans who became, each in their own way, legends in their lifetimes.

Jennifer Hamblin is a reference librarian at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta. She holds a Master of Library Science from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts in history from McMaster University. She first became interested in the Pocaterras when she was asked to arrange and describe their personal papers while she was working as an archivist for the Glenbow.

David Finch enjoys researching the history of the West in canoes, with a backpack and in libraries and archives. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including R. M. Patterson: A Life of Great Adventure and Hell's Half Acre: Early Days in the Great Alberta Oil Patch.

Bill Mason slips his canoe into the early morning calm and it cuts silently through the water, disappearing into the mist … This is not a shot in one of Mason’s famous films—it is just another day of commuting to the office. 

Bill Mason: Wilderness Artist is the story of Canada’s most famous canoeing artist. The camera lens and the pallet knife were his instruments. The wild places were his inspiration.
 
Bill’s first film for the National Film Board of Canada, Paddle to the Sea, won 11 awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1968. His work was nominated again in 1970 in the same category for his documentary Blake. By the mid-1970s Bill had become one of Canada’s most successful documentary filmmakers. 

Bill Mason: Wilderness Artist examines Bill’s entire artistic career—his photography, cartoons, books and films. Created with the full cooperation of the Mason family, this book provides insight into a man driven by a passion for nature.

Author KEN BUCK was Bill Mason’s friend and canoeing partner, as well as the man who filmed him in Waterwalker and other films. From the making of Paddle to the Sea and the instructional paddling films, this book tells all. 

Risk-taker Steve De Maio explores risk in this eclectic collection of climbing essays and poetry written over a 20-year period. Starting with the “Hard Years” of his youth when he was out of work and moving through to the present, De Maio’s stories can be sombre, humorous or just plain outrageous. Yet throughout this collection, the author examines the theme of risk: what it is, how it can be managed and how his attitude toward it has changed over time.

STEVE DE MAIO has been a risk-taker for most of his life, exhibiting an early penchant for tree climbing, aerial-rope and bike stunts before the age of 10. He began rock climbing at age 14 and since then has made over 150 first ascents in North America, some of which have never been repeated. 

Powder Pioneers
Ski Stories from the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains
Chic Scott

Discover the rich ski history of the Canadian Rocky and Columbia mountains with award-winning author and historian Chic Scott. He covers all aspects of the sport, ranging from the ski jumpers at Revelstoke in the 1920s to the birth of ski lodges and ski resorts to the heli-skiers, loppet racers and snowboarders of today. This is the perfect book to dip into on cold winter nights.

CHIC SCOTT has devoted over 40 years to ski adventure and is personally familiar with many of the tales he tells. His other titles with Rocky Mountain Books include Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering, Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies, Summits & Icefields: Alpine Ski Tours in the Canadian Rockies and Summits & Icefields: Alpine Ski Tours in the Columbia Mountains. 

Unroped scrambling over so-called easy terrain is one of the most potentially dangerous recreational activities. Every year, scramblers are injured or killed in preventable accidents. A Hiker’s Guide to Scrambling Safely educates new scramblers in the inherent risks, required climbing skills and mountain knowledge required for safety in the mountains.

TOM MORIN fell in love with mountaineering as a teenager. His explorations have taken him to some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes in western Canada.

If you find yourself in the Bow Valley for only a few days, or even an afternoon or evening, you can climb good rock a short walk from the road. The outskirts of Canmore offer some of the best-developed sport climbing in the Canadian Rockies, and you can be tying-in minutes from the parking areas. This book is perfect for when you are weathered off the high peaks or are travelling to or from more distant destinations. Grassi Lakes, the East End of Mount Rundle (EEOR) and Ha Ling Peak, along with the accessible amenities of this active mountain town, make for a perfect stopover.

DAVE DORNIAN is a writer and sport climber who lives in Calgary. He has been commuting to Canmore on a weekly basis to climb since the 1970s.  CHRIS MILLER is a certified member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. For more than a decade he has lived less than 10 minutes from the climbs described in this book.

Calgary Goes Skiing tells the story of the Calgary Ski Club. From its origins in 1920 with Scandinavian ski jumpers in Elbow Park to the family racing club of the 1960s to today’s adult recreation club, it’s all here. This is the colourful story of the city’s ski pioneers who helped establish the sport in Calgary and Banff National Park.

DAVID MITTELSTADT holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Western Ontario and works in Calgary as a historian and heritage consultant.

Experience life as a park warden in Canada’s national parks with Close Calls on High Walls, a moving memoir from a former warden.

“The mountains beckon from behind their mantle of clouds. . . . So pick up your pack and take the Alpenstock in hand. Who knows, in one of those quiet valleys we may even find those candle flames ablaze, where that old Guardian wandered so many years ago.”

Mike Schintz grew up along the Highwood River in southern Alberta and migrated to Banff where he hired on as a warden. The Parks Service took him from Newfoundland to the west coast, and from close encounters with bears and the angry waters of Lake Ontario to exciting scenes with wild horses and dramatic rescues on remote peaks. Close Calls on High Walls captures the stories of park wardens with passion, insight and humour.

Discover a cornucopia of short, quick-to-read items about people, animals, events and places in Waterton and Glacier National Parks. Waterton & Glacier in a Snap! has details, trivia and information you’ll refer to again and again. Waterton & Glacier in a Snap! is the culmination of research collected in the US and Canada for more than a decade. The engaging text by historians Ray Djuff and Chris Morrison is highlighted by many stunning photographs. In Waterton & Glacier in a Snap! the authors have created a reference book with a twist, setting a fun, fast pace for readers. Where else could you find out about the maker of the parks’ famous red buses? Or put your finger on the number of flower, animal, fish and insect species found in both these mountain parks? Or learn why there are geographical places named for people who never visited the parks? Or find out why so many German artists came to Glacier in its first two decades?

Paddling Through History
Sea Kayak Vancouver and Victoria
Aileen Stalker and Andrew Nolan

Experience inner-city paddling with a guide that tells the story of BC’s biggest city from water level. Explore history with the tales behind the people, bridges, lighthouses, museums and watercraft that come to life in this guide, which also includes a section on Victoria. Paddling through History explains place names, geology and other highlights, and is illustrated with maps and photos.

“If the first person who lands gets to name the spot, Vancouver should be called Snauq for the First Nations village that was in the Kitsilano area or Khwaykhway (whoi-whoi) for the village in Stanley Park. . . .“

For the experienced and novice alike, this comprehensive guide leads paddlers through some of the best kayaking waters on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Twenty trips are outlined, covering prime paddling destinations within Barkley and Clayoquot sounds, including the Deer Group, the Broken Group Islands, and Vargas, Flores and Meares islands. Each trip is headed with important information on tides, currents, safety considerations and launching. Included in each route description is practical information on the different land jurisdictions, campsites, suitable landings and paddling conditions.Sidebars embellish the history of shipwrecks, examine the Nuu-chah-nulth people and introduce interesting characters like Salal Joe and Fred Tibbs. Others detail some of the natural history of the west coast with topics ranging from grey whales to barnacles. This edition also provides well-researched information on the parks in the area, including Pacific Rim National Park and several parks within the BC Parks system

This paddling guide to Desolation Sound and the Strait of Georgia provides historical travel information on a part of the Inner Passage between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. Follow the Marine Trail up the east coast of Vancouver Island with perhaps a digression to Hornby or Denman islands. Or tackle the savage inflow-outflow winds of Jervis Inlet to reach the jewel of Princess Louisa Inlet. An avid sea kayaker and canoeist since 1969, Heather Harbord has paddled extensively, including the Gulf Islands and the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver and Cortes Island. She has also paddled much of the West Coast of Vancouver Island, as well as the Queen Charlotte Islands. Heather was the first president of the Sea Kayak Association of BC.

This valuable how-to guide will be much appreciated by outdoor enthusiasts who want better-quality photographs to record their wilderness experiences. The author starts with the basics, offering suggestions on choosing a suitable camera and accessories. Helpful insights are given into both landscape and action photography, with an emphasis on how to avoid the pitfalls. Enhanced by many full-colour illustrations, the book also includes tips from well-known photographers such as Pat Morrow and Galen Rowell.

Philip Smith is a professional mountain photographer who sells his work all across North America.

This climber’s guide and history of all 54 of the 11,000-foot peaks in the Canadian Rockies celebrates in words and images these breathtaking summits and the wilderness settings in which many are located. It captures and distills the lively and frequently forgotten accounts of the pioneering ascents and their various routes.

Each entry provides a vivid description of each peak, an extensive history of its first ascents, and a detailed description of one or two moderate to intermediate routes, including access and approach information. The text is liberally illustrated with route and climbing photos, both contemporary and historical, and area maps.

Bill Corbett is a Calgary writer whose previous books include Day Trips from Calgary. He has climbed all 54 of the 11,000-foot peaks in the Canadian Rockies.