Pyramid Mountain in '55

Fort Saskatchewan

In those days, I had a summer job in Sherritt Gordon's hydrometalurgy research lab in the town of Fort Saskatchewan near Edmonton.

Fort Saskatchewan was normally an average rural town adapting to the influx of strangers come to work in the recently built nickel refinery.

Fort Saskatchewan

Drinking was segregated in Edmonton. It was illegal for men and women to drink alcohol in the same public place. The Fort Hotel where I lived was quiet on weekdays but it got pretty wild every weekend as hundreds of couples from Edmonton crowded into the 900 place beer parlour.

The other hotel, Brant's also filled its huge tavern every Saturday. That means that the town's population more than doubled on weekends. It often got rough so the town's single policeman was assisted 12 strong armed deputies to help him keep the peace on weekends.

Fort Saskatchewan

My 1936 Chevy jalopy was OK to go to Edmonton but I could not trust it to go as far as the Rockies.

Riding the rails

It was more convenient to ride an empty freight car overnight from Edmonton to Jasper where I spent many weekends.

Most weekends I went for the climbing but I also went often to party with the staff of the Jasper Park Lodge. At that time, it was fashionable for young people with the right connections to spend the summer working as hotel staff in the major Banff and Jasper hotels.

Parents did not know but these summer jobs blazed the way for the sexual permissivity of the '60s. Some of the wild "bushing" parties we had were really worth the 300 km trip!

Mt. Pyramid

This time I was going up Pyramid Mountain with my friend Derek Boddy. Here is Pyramid seen from the road from Edmonton.

Mt. Pyramid

And Pyramid seen from the town of Jasper.

Mt. Pyramid

And again, beautiful Pyramid Mountain perfectly mirrored in peaceful Pyramid Lake.

Mt. Pyramid

Almost there. It was an easy climb up the south ridge so we did not rope up. We used the rope on the way down the west face where we had to rappel in a couple of places.

Mt. Pyramid

On the top with Derek Boddy, it was a nice feeling and the view was great! Unfortunately Derek killed himself on Whistler Mountain a few years later. It's not fair for Derek was a much better climber than I was.

Mt. Pyramid

Beyond personal achievement, the complex feelings of being on the top range from tenderness when looking at the cosy human environment in the valleys like the town of Jasper beyond Pyramid and Crescent Lakes...

Mt. Pyramid

...to the hard challenge of the fragility of man's niche in the universe that can be felt looking north at Mount Buttress across the valley.