Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada

Discover Canada’s mountains as you’ve never seen them before with gorgeous photography from the Mountain Legacy Project accompanied by gripping essays from mountaineers, artists, and mountain researchers.

In Mountain Voices, alpinists, activists, artists, and mountain researchers share the ways Canadian mountains have impacted their lives. Each contributor brings a unique and fascinating perspective to the mountain landscape with short essays accompanied by a pair of photographs from the remarkable archive of the Mountain Legacy Project, illustrating the history, geography, and lasting inspiration of the mountains.

Mountain Voices draws on the vast bank of historic and repeat photographs produced by the Mountain Legacy Project, the world’s largest systematic and comprehensive collection of mountain photographs, spanning more than a century. From fragile glass plate negatives to modern, high-resolution photography, these images document a mountain landscape during times of drastic change.

Mountain Voices features a diverse array of voices, including Indigenous activists, employees of Canada’s national parks, interdisciplinary scientists dedicated to mountains, alpine adventurers, and historians captivated by tales of mountain pasts. Mountain Voices brings the landscape to life through the passion and devotion of those who love it deeply.

With contributions by: Leanne Allison, Renellta Arluk, Rick Arthur, Catrin Brown, Bruce Cockburn, Alison Criscitiello, Joanna Croston, Jill Delaney, Winston Delorne, Julie Fortin, Paulette M. Fox, Will Gadd, Ben Gadd, Eric Higgs, David Hik, Aerin Jacob, David P. Jones, Gùdia (Mary Jane) Jonson, Michelle Koppes, Roger Laurilla, Nikita Lopoukhine, Bruce Mayer, Bernadette McDonald, Ella Molnar-Piché, Pat Morrow, Peter Murphy, Liza Piper, Graeme Pole, Martin F. Price, Sara Renner, Jeanine Rhemtulla, Chris Rhodes, Zac Robinson, Mary Sanseverino, Chic Scott, Rain Scott, Stephen Slemon, William Snow, Karen Sorensen, Ellie Stephenson, Robert D. Turner, Nancy J. Turner, Robert Vranich, Kristen Walsh, Meghan J. Ward, Rob Watt, Cliff White, Andy Williams, Carmen Wong, Ken Wylie

About the Editors

Eric Higgs is a professor in the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, and director of the Mountain Legacy Project.

Zac Robinson is an associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta.

Mary Sanseverino is teaching professor emerita, Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria.

Kristen Walsh is a research associate with the Mountain Legacy Project.

Mountain Voices is a formidable collection by people who know mountains—their soaring beauty, powerful natural forces, and sacred mysteries—as much as they can ever be known.

—John Geiger, author of The Third Man Factor and CEO, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society / Canadian Geographic

The stories are personal and universal. The paired images are humbling. Together they make a profound case for stewardship of these alpine environments.

—Carine Salvy, Executive Director, The Alpine Club of Canada

In 1907, the first object of the Alpine Club of Canada was “the promotion of scientific study” of areas then thought to change over eons. After a drift towards emphasized athleticism, mountaineering must return to that prophetic object and, as illustrated in Mountain Voices, bring back from the peaks photographs and stories of rapid and extensive change within mere decades. Mountain lovers, read and see in these pages the changes our modern habits have wrought. Learn. Advocate.

—Peter Muir, president, UIAA: International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation