ACC editor's picks: the top five stories of 2017
Editor's note: With so much uncertainty and change across the globe, we're riding the "let's focus on the GOOD things that happened in 2017" wave by featuring some of the exciting news and big impacts our members have made in Canada's mountain community this year.
Thanks to all those who take the time to make a difference out there. Wishing everybody happy times in the hills in 2018!
Dec, 2019: This post has been updated with the name of the new hut on Vancouver Island changed to Hišimy̓awiƛ [Hi-SHIM-ya-wit].
#5. 2017 MONTH-BY-MONTH HUT MAINTENANCE REVIEW
Silver Spray Cabin. Photo by Nicole Larson.
For The Alpine Club of Canada's maintenance team, 2017 was full of success and challenges. The winter season had lower than normal temperatures, which resulted in an increased consumption of firewood and the need for the maintenance team to re-stock firewood at several locations during the winter months, which we don't always do in a normal year.
The ACC's Nicole Larson writes about each of this year's many maintenance and hut upgrade activities, broken down month by month.
#4. ACC PARTNERS WITH THE ROYAL CANADIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
ACC President Neil Bosch, Zac Robinson (VP for Mountain Culture), Lael Parrott (VP for Access and Environment) and David Hik (Mountain Culture Committee member and RCGS Fellow) travelled to Ottawa to meet with Aaron Kylie, Senior Editor of Canadian Geographic to discuss and plan joint projects arising from the MOU and these three broad objectives.
Some big news for the ACC and Canada's mountain community: in June 2017, the ACC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Royal Canadian Geographic Society (RCGS) that lays out a path for the two organizations to work together on mountain projects.
We are excited about the potential of this partnership to increase Canadian’s awareness of mountain environments and of the ACC’s role in exploration and conservation of our mountains.
Click the button below to learn some of the details of our newest partnership.
#3. 2017 ACC ENVIRONMENT GRANT SUPPORTS CARIBOU CONSERVATION WITH CPAWS
Woodland caribou. Photo by Ted Simonett, Wildlands League.
Every year the ACC awards a number of financial grants to help our community members get outside, follow their dreams and protect the environment. The ACC’s Environment Grant provides support for the protection and preservation of mountain and climbing environments, including the preservation of alpine flora and fauna in their natural habitat.
This year we were proud to contribute $2,500 through the Environment Grant towards caribou conservation in Alberta's northern boreal forests. Read about the work they completed and how you can help contribute to the preservation of Alberta's remaining caribou herds in the face of development in our northern landscapes.
#2. THE MOUNTAIN LEGACY PROJECT
Check out http://explore.mountainlegacy.ca/stations/261 for the location and an overlay view of this image repeated in 2010. B&W inset courtesy of LAC/BAC and MLP.
For 20 years the Mountain Legacy Project (MLP) has been using repeat photography to examine landscape level change in the Canadian mountain west. Using historical mountain images of amazing fidelity, MLP teams seek to determine the location they were taken from, go to the same place, and rephotograph the images as accurately as possible. They then align and analyze the historic and modern images and make them available for use by scholars, students, government agencies, NGOs, schools, the public at large – in fact, anyone interested in exploring Canada’s mountain heights.
ACC member Mary Sanseverino describes the purpose and challenges of the project in this beautifully illustrated post.
#1. PHOTO GALLERY OF THE HIŠIMY̓AWIƛ BUILD, 2017
Guests have great views of Triple Peak from inside the hut. Photo by Chris George.
The Hišimy̓awiƛ build is one of the most immediately visible outcomes of the work the ACC does across the country. ACC Vancouver Island member Chris Jensen submitted this article with a photo gallery by Chris George on the progress of the building of the ACC’s newest hut. Once complete (in the summer of 2018), Hišimy̓awiƛ will expand the western edge of the ACC’s hut network by more than 150km.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Vancouver Island Section in the new year.