Phyllis Munday | |
---|---|
Born | 24 September 1894 |
Died | 11 April 1990 (aged 95) |
Occupation | Mountaineer |
Awards |
Phyllis Beatrice Munday CM (née James; 24 September 1894 – 11 April 1990) was a Canadian mountaineer, explorer, naturalist and humanitarian. She was famed for being the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson (with Annette Buck) in 1924, and with her husband Don for discovering Mount Waddington, and exploring the area around it via the Franklin River and the Homathko River. [1] Munday was awarded the Order of Canada in 1972 for her work with the Girl Guides of Canada and St. John Ambulance, as well as for her mountaineering career.
Mount Munday is named after Don and Phyllis Munday, and Baby Munday Peak is named for their daughter Edith. [2]
Phyllis Beatrice James was born on 24 September 1894 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Her parents, Frank and Beatrice James, were members of the upper class, as Frank managed tea plantations for the Lipton and Ridgways companies. The family departed Ceylon in 1901, and moved to England and Manitoba before settling on the western shore of Kootenay Lake in 1903. Phyllis and her sister Betty enjoyed their opportunities for exploration in the Kootenays, but Frank disliked the instability of the mining business, and in 1907 the family sought to emigrate to New Zealand. The family traveled Vancouver by steamship and train, intending to continue on to New Zealand, but they instead stayed in Vancouver. [3] : 1–6
In 1912 she climbed Grouse Mountain with her Girl Guide company.
In 1915, at 21, Phyllis joined the British Columbia Mountaineering Club and began going on club trips to such places as Mount Seymour, The Lions, Mount Tantalus and Mount Garibaldi.[ citation needed ]
Phyllis met her future husband in 1918. While on a mountaineering trip an incident occurred which, in Don's words, "lends itself readily to being given a romantic aspect." [4] Don lost his footing on a glacial moraine, and was in danger of slipping into a crevasse. Phyllis jumped to help him restore his balance, and in so doing lost hers. Don managed to grab and steady her until she could regain her feet.
They married in February 1920, spending their honeymoon in a cabin on Dam Mountain near Vancouver. Their daughter, Edith was born in 1921, and at 11 weeks she was carried to the top of Crown Mountain.
From 1923 to 1926 the Mundays lived in a tent, and then a cabin on Grouse Mountain where Don worked cutting a trail from Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver, British Columbia to the summit, while Phyllis ran the Alpine Lodge, serving hot drinks and meals to hikers.
In 1925, while on a trip to Mount Arrowsmith, Vancouver Island, Don and Phyllis Munday spotted what they believed to be a peak taller than Mount Robson, the then accepted tallest peak entirely within British Columbia. [1] In the words of Don Munday: "The compass showed the alluring peak stood along a line passing a little east of Bute Inlet and perhaps 150 miles away, where blank spaces on the map left ample room for many nameless mountains." [5] While there is some debate as to whether the peak they saw was indeed Mount Waddington (in fact, Don Munday himself observed that the feat is impossible [6] ), they almost certainly saw a peak in the Waddington Range, and this led the Mundays to explore that area, and discover the mountain in fact.
Over the next decade, the Munday's mounted several expeditions into the area in an attempt to climb it. [1] Known to them as "The Mystery Mountain", in 1927 the height was measured at 13,260 feet (by triangulation by BC Land Surveyor J.T. Underhill [7] ), [8] and the Canadian Geographic Board gave it the name Mount Waddington after Alfred Waddington who was a proponent of a railway through the Homathko River valley. They reached the lower summit in 1928, deeming the main summit too risky.
Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Although it is lower than Mount Fairweather and Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between Alaska and British Columbia, Mount Waddington is the highest peak that lies entirely within British Columbia. It and the subrange which surround it, known as the Waddington Range, stand at the heart of the Pacific Ranges, a remote and extremely rugged set of mountains and river valleys.
The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi) in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is the highest area of the Pacific Ranges and of the Coast Mountains, being crowned by its namesake Mount Waddington 4,019 m (13,186 ft). The Waddington Range is also extremely rugged and more a complex of peaks than a single icefield, in contrast to the other huge icefield-massifs of the southern Coast Mountains, which are not so peak-studded and tend to have more contiguous icemasses.
Mount Queen Bess is one of the principal summits of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of southern British Columbia. It stands west of Chilko Lake and to the south of Tatlayoko Lake, and crowns a peak-studded ridge to the north of the Homathko Icefield.
Mount Munday is one of the principal summits of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It is 3,356 m (11,010 ft) in elevation and stands in the Waddington Range six kilometres southeast of Mount Waddington 4,019 m (13,186 ft), which is the highest summit in the Coast Mountains.
Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region and as of September 18, 2009 is designated part of 1,300 ha hectare Mt. Arrowsmith Massif Regional Park.
Mount Silverthrone, officially named Silverthrone Mountain, is a mountain in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, located over 320 km (200 mi) northwest of the city of Vancouver and about 50 km (30 mi) west of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest peak in the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, which is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle.
Walter Alfred Don Munday (1890–1950) was a Canadian explorer, naturalist and mountaineer famous for his explorations of the Coast Mountains with his wife Phyllis, and especially for the exploration of the Waddington Range.
Elfrida Mary Pigou was a prominent Canadian mountaineer and pioneer with many first ascents to her credit. She was born in Vernon, British Columbia, the daughter of Meynell Henry Pigou and his wife Lilian Maud Mackenzie and spent her childhood in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1931. In 1949 she began a climbing career in the mountainous regions of BC and Washington state that made her perhaps the most distinguished female climber of her generation in Canada.
The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975.
Mount Bute, also known as Bute Mountain, is a 2,810-metre (9,220-foot) mountain located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Situated at the southern extreme of the Homathko Icefield, Mount Bute has an impressive 800-metre sheer granite west face, and Bute Glacier dominates the north aspect. This imposing mountain is visible from Waddington Harbour at the head of Bute Inlet, in a remote wilderness area that few visit. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Grenville, 13.0 km (8.1 mi) to the east-northeast. Mount Grenville is the highest summit of the icefield. Mount Bute is 63.0 km (39.1 mi) southeast of Mount Waddington, the highest peak of the entire Coast Mountains range.
Neal Marshall Carter was a Canadian marine biologist, cartographer, photographer, mountaineer and surveyor. He is most famous for his explorations in British Columbia, especially in the Coast Mountains where he made several first ascents.
Baby Munday Peak is a 2,250-meter-elevation (7,382-foot) mountain summit located in the Cheam Range of British Columbia, Canada.
Grenelle Mountain is a 3,047-metre (9,997-foot) mountain summit located in British Columbia, Canada.
Bravo Peak is a 3,105-metre (10,187-foot) summit located in British Columbia, Canada.
Mount Carr is a 2,590-metre (8,497-foot) mountain summit located in British Columbia, Canada.
Isosceles Peak is a 2,488-metre (8,163-foot) mountain summit located in British Columbia, Canada.
Phyllis's Engine is a 2,517-metre (8,258-foot) granite pinnacle located in British Columbia, Canada.
Jubilee Mountain is a 2,751-metre (9,026-foot) mountain summit in British Columbia, Canada.
Combatant Mountain, also called Mount Combatant, is a 3,762-metre (12,343-foot) summit in British Columbia, Canada.
Henry Snow Hall Jr. was a mountaineer, a long-time benefactor of the American Alpine Club and patron of American mountaineering. He was a generous supporter of the Boston Museum of Science and for 40 years he was one of the Museum's trustees.