An Ode to ACC Volunteers
Volunteers are quite the special breed, donating one of life’s most precious assets: time. They’re there for beliefs beyond monetary reward, and we can’t thank them enough for it! They are the ACC’s heart and soul.
With several sections across Canada, there’s countless events and operations that span across these unique communities. There’s a lot going on, with so many hidden heroes, so we need your help finding out who they are!
Is there a shining member in your community that you wish would accept some darn recognition for the hard work they do? Well, this is your chance to shine some light on them - read on below to see our categories and nomination criteria.
Deadline for our 2021 awards is December 31st, 2021.
We confess, our volunteer award process has not been entirely intuitive for those who don’t know what to look for. To help with that, our Awards Committee Chair (Isabelle Daigneault) has made a handy chart explaining the award structure.
Award descriptions along with a few examples of the most recent winners can be found below.
Make sure to nominate anyone you know that may fit the bill! You have until Dec 31st for 2021 nominations.
Don Forest Award:
An award for distinguished service to the club in matters other than mountaineering.
2020 - Alex Perel
Alex Perel has faithfully volunteered with the ACC Toronto Section for over 10 years. Throughout that time, Alex has been an integral part of the Section Executive and the Board of Directors during and after their incorporation, which included serving as Section Chair between 2015 and 2018. As Section Chair, Alex played monumental roles in the reconstruction of the Bon Echo hut and in advocating for climbing access in Ontario. Alex spearheaded the very successful annual Toronto Section screenings of the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour and Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. A graduate of the North Face Summer Mountaineering Leadership Course, Alex has been an instrumental trip leader for mountaineering, ice climbing and rock climbing trips and instructional clinics, as well as serving as a Bon Echo custodian. Alex’s devotion to leadership training and mentoring has been a great benefit to many climbers in our community.
Eric Brooks Leader Award:
A mountaineering and ski mountaineering award for strong commitment to learning and applying technical and leader skill.
2020 - Marie Tison
Marie is a long serving leader in the club and is, in most years, the leader who does the most outings. She leads outings in several areas, including hikes, ice climbing and will support other leaders in rock climbing events. She does both single day and multi-day outings.
Every year, Marie participates and leads outings at all our major events, including Winter'Fest (Ice Climbing), New Members and Members weekends (rock climbing and hiking) and does several outings outside of the events for multi-day and single day outings.
Marie is very appreciated by the members who participate in her outings. She is well informed, makes sure that safety protocols are observed at all times and the feedback from the members is always very positive. She manages her groups very effectively.
Her dedication to the club goes beyond just organising events, as she attends the annual meeting every year and challenges the executive group with good questions, ensuring that the group works to improve the member experience. She is more than happy to present her adventures when we need a speaker for an event, something many people are not able to do.
Silver Rope for Leadership Award:
A mountaineering and ski mountaineering award for excellence in leadership and technical ability.
Peter Amann
Peter has been a proud member of the Alpine Club of Canada since 1977. He continues to work with the local Jasper-Hinton section, which he helped start in the early 1990s. He was the local president/chair for almost twenty years. The General Mountaineering Camps were a part of his summers for 25 years, starting with his first camp in 1988 under the mentorship of Don Vockroth. In the past, Peter worked on the ACC North Face Winter Leadership Program for ten years. The Mountain Heritage program at Jasper Park Lodge led to his involvement with the ACC Mt. Alberta Project in 2000. Currently, he works with the ACC Safety and Leadership Committee, and continues to work as Trip Coordinator for the Jasper-Hinton section. Peter was the Patron of the 2017 Mountain Guide’s Ball.
Peter’s interest in remote alpine traverses has led to many guided trips throughout the Rockies and Interior ranges with a preference for visiting the less-travelled areas and offering this experience to his clients. Memorable trips include several first ascents in the Jasper area and the Interior ranges.
Distinguished Service Award:
An award for distinguished service to the club in matters other than mountaineering.
2020 - Darrel Newman
Since joining the Ottawa Section of the Alpine Club of Canada Darrel Newman has been the mainstay of our local hiking activities. Darrel has served the section variously as Hiking and Skiing Coordinator and as a perennial member of the Hiking Committee. Darrel’s main playground has been the Gatineau Hills where he consistently leads 20 or more club activities a year in all seasons.
Darrel has also introduced ACC members to the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York with many people owing their first accent of an Adirondack 46-R to Darrel and has dedicated time over the years as a mentor to many of our new leaders. Darrel served in the Royal Canadian Airforce as a navigator and has carried that skill over to the club by teaching back country navigation courses to members most every year. Sometimes those keen navigational skills did not always transfer to the outings he was leading but we suspect that if he was ever lost it was purely intentional and added to the fun of the outing.
A O Wheeler Legacy Award:
For outstanding and varied contributions to The Alpine Club of Canada over many years.
2016 - Ruthie Oltmann
As Life Member Ruthie Oltmann states in her 2011 book Ruthie’s Trails she has lived a life of adventure. For over forty years Ruthie has consistently made contributions to Canadian Mountain Culture, within both the ACC and the larger mountain community, and for that the ACC is proud to award her the Club’s highest member award.
Ruthie Oltmann was awarded The Alpine Club of Canada’s A.O. Wheeler Legacy Award in 2016 and the Distinguished Service Award in 1997.
Honorary Membership:
An honour for contributions in Canadian mountaineering.
2020 - Helmut Microys
After immigrating from Austria to Canada in 1955, Helmut studied civil engineering at the University of Toronto, obtaining a PhD in 1972. He quickly became recognized for outstanding climbing and mountaineering abilities. Helmut was selected to lead the Mount Ontario climb during Canada’s 1967 centennial expedition to the Yukon. After several attempts, the team succeeded in a 40-hour epic.
During the 60s and 70s, Helmut and various partners put up no fewer than ~120 recorded first ascents along the Niagara Escarpment and at Bon Echo, many at an advanced climbing standard for the period. Helmut has climbed more than 700 summits, split roughly equally between the Canadian Rockies and the Alps. He has several Rockies first ascents to his credit, including the first recorded solo traverse of the principal peaks of the Sir Donald group in 1966.
Helmut served on both the UIAA Safety Commission as the Canadian representative and the ACC Safety Committee from 1974 to 2004, a period of 30 years – a remarkable contribution. For the early part of this period, he also represented the AAC and American mountaineering clubs. His credentials (skilled climber and mountaineer, PhD-level engineering background, fluency in German and knowledge of European culture) made him an ideal fit for these assignments.
Helmut contributed to research, testing, standards development and technical publications regarding climbing and mountaineering safety on a wide variety of topics. This included development of materiel and testing standards for climbing ropes, carabiners, helmets, ice screws, crampons, nuts and rock anchors. He took a particular interest in promotion of safe belay techniques as well as corrosion of fixed anchors in sea water environments. He published safety-related articles in the ACC Gazette, ACC Journal and AAC Journal. Beginning in 1981, Helmut also represented the ACC at many of the annual UIAA General Assembly meetings held around the globe, personally bearing much of the expense.
Helmut received the ACC Distinguished Service Award in 1990, recognizing his contributions to climbing safety at both the national and section levels. He was made an Honorary Member of the ACC in 2021 in recognition of his extraordinary life time contributions to Canadian mountaineering.
President’s Award:
A special award to recognize extraordinary services to The Alpine Club of Canada.
2015 - Peter Aitchison
Peter Aitchison was a longtime member of the Manitoba Section. In the early seventies he helped to re-establish the Manitoba Section, serving as section president and vice-president for many years. Among Peter’s numerous contributions to the Section, he will be remembered for having mentored many, many climbers, for having discovered several new climbing cliffs in the Manitoba/Northwest Ontario area, for having made several new ascents in this area and for being the leader of the first ascent of Mount Manitoba in the Yukon. Peter died tragically on August 7, 2013, while climbing Mount Victoria.
Peter was awarded The Alpine Club of Canada’s President’s Award posthumously in 2015.
Nominate a volunteer!
The ACC Volunteer Awards are intended to recognize those of our members who have made significant contributions in furthering the aims and goals of the Alpine Club of Canada and Canadian mountaineering in general. These Awards are one small way that we hope to show them our appreciation.
