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Yamnuska Mountain Adventures is a mountaineering school and mountain adventure company located in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. The company was founded in 1975.
The company was named after Mount Yamnuska, a First Nations name (Stoney) that translates to "flat-faced mountain". Mount Yamnuska is also a popular rock climbing destination.
Yamnuska Inc. mountaineering school was created in 1975 as part of the YMCA's outdoor education centre in Seebe, Alberta, about 80 km west of Calgary. [1] Programs included backpacking, rock climbing and mountaineering.
Early instructors included James Blench, Barry Blanchard, Dwayne Congdon, Chris Miller, Marni Virtue and Sharon Wood - Barry Blanchard is still involved with the organization. The 'Wilderness Program' left the YMCA and 'Yamnuska Mountain School', a non-profit society directed by Bruce Elkin, was formed. It was based out of the garages of Bruce Elkin and Barry Blanchard's in Canmore, Alberta.
The next years saw a steady evolution, as instruction in mountaineering, rock and ice climbing became the core activities additionally, the 3 month Mountain Skills Semester became an annual event (the Mountain Skills Semester was created in 1980 and it is still offered by the company twice a year, Spring and Fall). In the early 80's the outdoor adventure instructional market was growing. This prompted Yamnuska Mountain School to transition to a for-profit company in late 1985 which was owned by James Blench and Marni Virtue. In 1989, David Begg,a New Zealand guide, became the owner of the company. [1]
In 2005, the company was re-branded as Yamnuska Mountain Adventures to reflect the growth in the program offerings that were then part of the business. Between 2010 and 2017 and after over 20 years of leadership under David Begg, the company transferred ownership to Len Youden, Jesse de Montigny and Dave Stark. Len Youden had been a past guest of Yamnuska Mountain Adventures and transitioned from the larger corporate world into the adventure tourism industry. Jesse de Montigny (current managing director) and Dave Stark (current Director of Risk Management) were both long term employees and ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guides with Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. During the volatility of the 2020-2022 COVID-19 years, Len Youden transferred the remainder of his ownership to Tim Ricci (IFMGA/ACMG Mountain Guide and current Director of Operations), Paul McDougall, Tom Ebbern, Greg Sylvestre and David Howard. Barry Blanchard continues to work at Yamnuska Mountain Adventures as an associate director and ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide.
Individuals, groups, corporations and military organizations from all over the world continue to choose Yamnuska Mountain Adventures as their provider. Yamnuska Mountain Adventures has become known as the leader in the industry with excellent program delivery, high levels of risk management and excellent customer service.
All of Yamnuska Mountain Adventures climbing, skiing and hiking guides are trained and certified by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). The ACMG is a member-country of the International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations which is often known by its French acronym (UIAGM). Yamnuska Mountain Adventure's guides operate within the strict Scope of Practice of the ACMG.
In 1993, Yamnuska Mountain Adventures was the second largest employer of Certified Mountain Guides in North America. [2] It is expected that this is true to today.
The very exacting standards to which Yamnuska Mountain Adventure's guides are held should not obscure the fact that the guides are the heart and soul of the company. Yamnuska Mountain Adventure's guides have been responsible for many new routes in the Canadian Rockies and abroad, such as by Barry Blanchard.
John Lauchlan Award [3]
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures is an annual supporter of the JLA, an award designed to assist expeditions of Canadian mountaineers and explorers. The criteria for the award includes Innovation, Canadian, Exploratory, Environmentally Sensitive, Bold, Lightweight & self-contained, and Non-commercial.
Climber’s Access Society of Alberta (CASA)
The purpose of the Climbers’ Access Society is to provide and preserve public access for climbers to the montane and alpine regions as well as related and surrounding wilderness of the Rocky Mountain Cordillera and Eastern Slope foothills of Alberta. CASA aims to aid in the conservation of montane, alpine and other wilderness areas of Alberta, while supporting their use by the climbing, hiking or other soft tread public. Yamnuska Mountain Adventures supports this organization.
Canmore Knuckle Basher Ice Climbing Festival [4]
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures sponsored the Knuckle Basher 2010 Ice Climbing Festival. Yamnuska guides ran the skills clinics.
Banff Youth Climbing Competition
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures sponsored different categories from 2007 - 2010. The competition hosts young climbers from Western Canada.
The Association of Bow Valley Climbers (TABVAR)
TABVAR was founded in 1994, for the purpose of raising and distributing funds to help with the material costs incurred in the installation of fixed hardware on and maintenance of climbs in the Bow Valley and adjacent areas. Yamnuska Mountain Adventures supports this organization.
Banded Peak Challenge [5]
The Banded Peak Challenge was created in 2000 and raises money for The Easter Seals Camp Horizon in Bragg Creek, AB, Canada
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures has provided financial support for the Avalanche Canada Foundation whose mission is to minimize public risk in avalanche terrain by raising funds to support public avalanche safety initiatives and related research.
Yamnuska Mountain Adventures has sponsored the Award for Best Book - Mountain Exposition. [6] The Banff Mountain Book Festival is an annual book festival that celebrates mountain literature. The Mountain Exposition category includes guidebooks and "how-to" books dealing with physical activity in a mountain area.
Southern Ontario Ice Climbing Festival (SOICF)
The SOICF has been supported by Yamnuska Mountain Adventures with guides and equipment on their field instructional and experiential climbing days.
Canmore Indoor Climbing Society (CICS)
CICS are the organizers of Canmore's Junior indoor climbing team. Yamnuska Mountain Adventures has supported CICS with outdoor climbing days for the athletes.
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Mount Temple is a mountain in Banff National Park of the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada.
The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is an annual prize of £3,000 awarded by the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust to an author or authors for "an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature". The prize was established in 1983 in memory of British climbers Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, both of whom wrote books about their mountaineering expeditions, after their deaths on the northeast ridge of Mount Everest in 1982. It can be awarded for a piece of fiction or non-fiction, poetry or drama, although the work must have been written in English. The prize is announced at the annual Kendal Mountain Festival.
The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in North America's Rocky Mountains. Located within the Canadian Rocky Mountains astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and partly in the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 square kilometres (125 sq mi) in area, 100 to 365 metres in depth and receives up to 7 metres (280 in) of snowfall per year.
The Three Sisters are a trio of peaks near Canmore, Alberta, Canada. They are known individually as Big Sister, Middle Sister and Little Sister.
Barry Blanchard is one of North America's top alpine climbers, noted for pushing the standards of highly technical, high-risk alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas.
Mark Twight is an American climber, writer and the founder of Gym Jones. He rose to prominence as a mountaineer in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a series of difficult, dangerous alpine climbs in various ranges around the world. His radical, light-weight approach to alpinism has seen him regarded as an influential figure in the single-push movement.
The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for the Manitoba Free Press. Byron Harmon, whose 6500+ photographs of the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century provide the best glimpse of the area at that time, was official photographer to the club at its founding. The club is the leading organization in Canada devoted to climbing, mountain culture, and issues related to alpine pursuits and ecology. It is also the Canadian regulatory organization for climbing competition, sanctioning local, regional and national events, and assembling, coaching and supporting the national team.
Steve House is an American professional alpinist and mountain guide, and winner of the 2006 Piolet d'Or.
Johann Wolfgang "Hans" Gmoser, CM was a founder of modern mountaineering in Canada. Born in Austria in 1932, he came to Canada in 1951, and was a major driving force behind the growing popularity of climbing, skiing and guiding.
The Elk Lakes cabin is an alpine hut located between the French and Italian Military Groups in the Canadian Rockies. It resides near the Continental Divide in Elk Lakes Provincial Park, British Columbia. It is 62 km south of the Trans-Canada Highway in Kananaskis Country, Alberta and 104 km north of Sparwood, British Columbia. The area has hiking trails, and provides access to mountaineering objectives. In winter, ice climbs and skiing terrain with much powder abound. Elk Lakes terrain is similar to that near the Elizabeth Parker hut. The hut is maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada.
The Abbot Pass hut was an alpine hut located at an altitude of 2,925 metres (9,596 ft) in Abbot Pass in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. It was nestled between Mount Victoria and Mount Lefroy, straddling the Great Divide, which, in this region, defines the boundary between Banff National Park in Alberta and Yoho National Park in British Columbia. While close to the border, the hut lay entirely in Banff National Park, and was the second-highest permanently habitable structure in Canada. The hut was maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada.
A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or lead individuals or small groups who require this advanced expertise. This professional class of guides arose in the middle of the 19th century when alpine climbing became recognized as a sport.
The Banff Mountain Book Festival is an annual book festival held at the Banff Centre in Banff, Canada.
Expedition climbing, is a type of mountaineering that uses a series of well-stocked camps on the mountain that lead to the summit, and which are supplied by teams of mountain porters. In addition, expedition climbing can also employ multiple 'climbing teams' to work on the climbing route—not all of whom are expected to make the summit—and allows the use of supports such as fixed ropes, aluminum ladders, supplementary oxygen, and sherpa climbers. By its nature, expedition climbing often requires weeks to complete a given climbing route, and months of pre-planning given the greater scale of people and equipment that need to be coordinated for the climb.
Outdoor Research is a Seattle-based manufacturer of technical apparel and gear for outdoor sports, including alpinism, rock and ice climbing, backpacking, paddling, and backcountry skiing and snowboarding.
Scott Backes is an American mountaineer. Backes has been called "one of the leading alpine mountain climbers in the United States." He was born in 1957 and has lived most of his life in Minnesota.
Roger Payne was a British mountaineer. He was formerly general secretary of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and a qualified mountain guide from 1983, taking part in over 20 expeditions to the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges, including K2 and the north face of Changabang. He was an avalanche instructor and climbed in the Alps every year from 1977.
Mountain Madness is a Seattle-based mountaineering and trekking company. The company specializes in mountain adventure travel and has a training school for mountain and rock climbing.
Marc-André Leclerc was a Canadian rock climber, ice and mixed climber, and alpinist. He is known for his solo ascents–often in winter–of major ice and alpine climbing routes. In 2016, he completed the first winter solo ascents of both Torre Egger in Patagonia and of the Emperor Face of Mount Robson in Canada. In 2018, he was killed in an avalanche on the Mendenhall Towers in Alaska.