Letter to ACC Local Chapters
The Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society along with the Alpine Club of Canada are looking forward to acknowledging and celebrating the centennial of the remarkable first ascent of Mount Alberta. On July 21st, 1925, six intrepid Japanese climbers, accompanied by two Swiss guides, successfully climbed this formidable 3619m peak. One hundred years later the climb and the stories surrounding it inspire and entertain us.
Events planned for the celebration include a welcome BBQ on July 20th, guided hikes up Tangle Ridge on July 20th and 22nd, presentations on the history of Mt Alberta on July 20th and 21st and a ceremony on July 21st with a lunch following.
From the time of the first accent until now the Japanese Alpine Club has had a warm and meaningful relationship with the Rockies and the Alpine Club of Canada. This has been strengthened by several events but in particular a ceremonial joining of the two pieces of the legendary Mt. Alberta ice axe. This was followed by a grand celebration that recognized the 75th anniversary of the climb in 2000. At present, over 20 members of the JAC will be travelling to Jasper to celebrate with us and renew this lasting bond of friendship and we plan to give them a warm welcome.
With this letter we would like to cordially invite all chapter members to the celebration.
As well we would like to ask assistance of your chapter in our effort to leave a legacy of this event. Working with the UpLift! Jasper mural festival our committee will facilitate and fund a mural honouring the first ascent of Mt Alberta. Now in their third year, the UpLift! festival has created several murals in Jasper. The festival attracts top talent from the mural world and the results are captivating. While the name of the festival, UpLift! was chosen to enliven the community, its name and purpose have never been more appropriate.
We have attached some information on the UpLift! Jasper mural festival and hope that your chapter may be able to contribute at some level. Any help is greatly appreciated.
For this particular mural we ask you to address cheques to The Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society (P.O. Box 42 Jasper AB T0E1E0 or etransfer to manager@jaspermuseum.org this way we will be able to issue a tax receipt.
We also sincerely hope you are able to visit Jasper this summer be it for our Mt Alberta celebration or at some other time. When you come please stop by the Museum. We would love to show you our exhibit of Mt. Alberta history including the legendary “silver” ice axe.
Thank you
Warren Waxer
Mt. Alberta Centennial Committee
Mount Alberta
History of the Ascent
It was a picture of Mt. Alberta in a 1921 climbing guide book with the caption “ A formidable unclimbed peak” that caught the attention of a few Japanese adventurers. Marquis Mori Tatsu Hosokawa saw the picture while on a ski trip with his close friend Crown Prince Michi and his aide-de-camp, ski-guide, and accomplished climber, Yuko Maki. He was so moved by the image that he suggested that this would be a worthy expedition for a Japanese team. Maki soon assembled a team of 5 prominent members of the Ski Club of Japan.
In July 1925 the team docked at Vancouver and proceeded by rail to Jasper. Yuko Maki, Masanobu Hatano, Seiichi Hashimoto, Nagakazu Okabe, Yukio Mita and Tanezo Hayakawa were met by outfitter Fred Brewster and three Swiss climbing guides. Brewster supplied 39 horses to haul supplies to the base of the mountain for the month-long expedition.
The mountain had remained unclimbed because of its difficulty. At 3619m (11,874ft) Mt. Alberta is the 5th highest peak in the Winston Churchill Range. The Japanese team were tested every step of the way and impressed the Swiss guides with their physical and mental fitness. One guide remarked “anyone who was not mentally very well balanced … would have difficulty facing these airy heights. The Japanese did all this as if it were their daily work” even employing the unconventional “human ladder” technique to overcome a 5m overhang.
On July 21st 7:30PM, after 16 hours of climbing the 9-man team stood on the summit, elated, and exhausted. Maki noted “not a word was spoken, but doubtless everyone felt victorious . There were no banzais or bravos”.
The team hastily constructed a rock summit cairn housing a tomato tin holding the expedition’s details. They then ceremoniously planted the monogrammed ice axe, the Marquis had given to them, in the centre. After spending an uncomfortable night on a ledge just below the summit, the team began the 15 hour down-climb to their base camp for a three-day rest.
With weather deteriorating, the team returned to Jasper ending the 25-day expedition. The Japanese team took the first train to Vancouver for an ocean voyage to Japan. The Swiss guides finished the summer climbing season in Jasper before returning to Switzerland.
Word of this remarkable first ascent spread around the climbing world but that might have been the end of the story if it wasn’t for the ice axe left on the summit. Through storytelling and possibly a bit of mischief, the summit ice axe, given by patron Marquis Mori Tatsu Hosokawa, became a gift from Crown Prince Michi and miraculously turned to pure silver.
When Prince Michi ascended to the throne as Emperor Hirohito a year later the story took on a life of its own, attracting groups to this imposing and remote mountain.
The next climbers to summit were Americans Fred Ayers and John Oberlin who were told to bring silver polish. On July 28, 1948, following the Japanese route to the summit where they yelled in joy “the axe, the axe!”. Digging down through the snow it became apparent this was not a silver axe but a standard Swiss-made axe. While they didn’t know the significance of the initials MTH they thought the axe should be removed and preserved. As well, because Ayer needed to sacrifice his ice axe as an anchor at a particularly difficult notch, they could use the axe on the descent. The ice axe was well-frozen into ice and rock and the pair broke the shaft just above the ferrule. Three quarters of an axe was better than none.
They also retrieved the summit register, a piece of weathered paper in a tomato tin. Along with the names of the climbers of the 1925 team was the simple phrase “We came from Japan so far called by this great charming mountain.”
The summit axe languished in a back office in the headquarters of the American Alpine Club for the next 44 years until 1992 when it came to the attention of Jasper Park Warden Greg Horne. After much lobbying and pleading by Greg and Edith Gourley, Historian for the Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society, the top half of the axe was sent to Jasper.
On the 40th anniversary of the original climb the Nagano High School Boys Alpine Club came to the Rockies to repeat the climb. They were successful and retrieved the base of the ice axe from the cairn. For the 1997 AGM of the Japanese Alpine Club (JAC), a Canadian delegation was invited to bring the top portion and for the first time in 72 years the axe was made whole.
A similar ceremony was held in Canada in 2000 on the 75th anniversary of the climb. It was a grand affair with dignitaries from the Japanese and Canadian government, the JAC and the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC). As well, close to 100 trekkers came from Japan to participate in various guided hikes throughout the Western mountains.
The two pieces of the original axe and a replica gift axe now proudly reside on display at the Jasper Museum. As well, artifacts and photo albums donated by Junko Haga (climber Yukio Mita’s daughter) have given the display depth and context.
Of the exhibit JAC President Atsuo Saito proclaimed ” It is said that the ice axe represents the soul of a climber. This ice axe symbolizes the history and tradition of the climbing of Mt. Alberta and is going to be exhibited here forever”.
About the 75th anniversary celebration and meeting of the JAC and ACC he commented “I strongly hope that the two clubs will cement their everlasting friendship through this historic event and cherish it forever. I believe this is the responsibility for us who have inherited the great tradition left by our predecessors.”
In 1925 Yuko Maki and his intrepid team started something and today the relationship of the Japanese and Canadian Alpine Clubs remains strong as we approach the 100th anniversary of this defining event.