Chapter 4

Between the Climbs: 1910 to 1912

In March 1910 Arthur Wheeler forwarded $100 to George Kinney, "voted by the Alpine Club as a slight recognition of your feat in making the ascent of Mt. Robson. In sending this I can assure you that we all feel very deeply and appreciate very greatly the credit you have brought to the Club through performing this feat, and we only wish that we were in a position to acknowledge it in a more generous manner. I might say that I have not yet seen any official account of this climb and I am certainly of the opinion that one should appear in some recognized Alpine publication, if only as a matter of record." [Alpine Club of Canada 1906-1924]

"Words cannot express my gratitude to you and the Alpine Club," Kinney replied, "for the very generous and hearty way with which you have treated me and I appreciate the spirit of the gift even more than I do its monetary value. Were it not for the fact that my trip of last summer ran my finances to a very low ebb, I would have immediately turned the money back into the treasury of the club for I know how surely money is needed for it." Kinney also replied to Wheeler's concern "with reference to my operation." A school-girl in Keremenos had suffered severe burns, and a skin graft was necessary. Kinney volunteered "to donate the needed cuticle. I sat on the table so that my left leg above the knee would be handy as the little girl was given an anesthetic. She suffered severely in having her wounds dressed and I helped to hold her. When her wounds were ready the Dr. sliced off a few inches of my hide and then grafted it with her wound, repeating this process till he had taken some twenty four square inches off my leg. As I had taken no anesthetic it hurt some while the Dr. was carving me."[Alpine Club of Canada 1906-1924]

At the ACC's annual general meeting and camp in 1910 in Consolation Valley, Kinney shared the place of honor with Tom G. Longstaff, a celebrated mountaineer who had explored in the Himalaya. "Rev. George Kinney is with difficulty persuaded to talk of his great Robson achievements. One evening he is made the recipient of a purse from some of the Vancouver members of the club, who took this way of expressing their gratitude to the man who brought glory to the Alpine Club of Canada and performed one of the greatest feats in the whole of history of mountaineering. Congratulatory addresses are given by Mr Wheeler, Dr Longstaff and others. [Alpine Club of Canada 1910] At the meeting Kinney was elected one of three advisors to the ACC, and his residence listed as Keremeos, B.C. [Alpine Club of Canada 1906-1914]

Kinney was invited to lecture before the Canadian Club in Vancouver, the Appalachian Club in Boston, the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Mortimore 1950] In his speech to the Canadian Club, Kinney effused about the economic prospects for western Canada. "It will be only a matter of a few years before we have the great fleets of China and Japan, as well as of the United States and Canada, carrying the commerce of nations across the great Pacific," he wrote. "I say from my heart we have not yet touched on one of our greatest assets, our wealth of mountain and scenery. We in British Columbia have here many Switzerlands. We should have great parks all along this mountain region. I believe it is to the interest of our nation, not only to British Columbia but to Canada, to protect the game and forests and flora and all such of those great mountain features. I believe that as we appreciate our mountains, as we stand in awe of their grandeur, as we behold their beauties, we may in or hearts become men indeed. They are aids to a better manhood and to nation building." [Kinney 1913]

In 1911, Wheeler arranged the collaboration of the Smithsonian Institution for a scientific expedition to the Mount Robson region. Conrad Kain of Austria was the expedition guide, Byron Harmon of Banff was the official photographer, and Phillips and Kinney were among the assistants. The expedition circled Mount Robson, but Wheeler allowed no attempts at climbing, to the chagrin of Kain and Kinney In 1934, after Kain's death, Kinney wrote to Thorington about the expedition: "I first met Conrad at the meets of the Canadian Alpine Club. Then in 1911 as you know he was our official guide during our Mount Robson expedition. He and I and Byron Harmon had many things in common, and had each been especially promised by Mr. Wheeler, as the main attraction to us, that we should have a chance to climb Mount Robson. Conrad had his own reasons. Harmon wanted photographs, and I wanted pictures that I had failed to get on my climb. We often talked over and planned for that event. The whether (sic) was perfect. We had time on our hands. Day after day we were taken on trips for survey work on peak after peak. But never a word about our climbing Mt. Robson. When I asked Wheeler about it he always sidetracked me with some imminent plan he had. [Kinney 1934] Kain expressed his own reasons: "Ever since I came to Canada and the Rockies, it was my constant wish to climb the highest peak." [Kain 1913] [Kain 1915]

Kain made a thorough reconnaissance of Mount Robson, "and picked out what he claimed to be the proper route of ascent." [Wheeler 1912]. The proper route was on the other side of the mountain from Kinney's. "Seen from our point of view, [Kinney's] route looked impossible, and certainly one of great peril," Wheeler wrote. "The great wonder is that they returned alive, and, had the day not been cloudy and the snow not remained in good condition throughout it, there might have been a different tale to tell, as the opportunities for avalanching are here excessive. Kinney took a desperate last chance and succeeded." Wheeler added, "He has been criticized rather severely by practical mountaineers for taking on so extremely dangerous a climb a companion who had no previous experience. Had it been any other man the criticism would hold good, but Phillips is a natural athlete and quite the equal of Kinney as a mountaineer." [Wheeler 1912]. In setting Phillips equal to Kinney, Wheeler in effect stated that the Canadian Rockies' highest peak had been climbed via an impossible route by two novice bushwackers. "Thinking over the situation," William Taylor surmises, "Wheeler must have considered the slap-dash nature of Kinney's attempt. It had none of the hallmarks of a carefully planned expedition. Few climbers of any standing would have tried the ascent without a Swiss guide. And here was Kinney, accompanied only by an unknown trail guide. He had neither a reliable witness nor a photograph. No, it was not good enough!" [Taylor 1984]

Wheeler measured the height of Robson to be 13,068 feet, a reduction from surveyor James McEvoy's 1898 measurement of 13,700 feet. [McEvoy 1900]

As Wheeler noted, criticism of Kinney's climb was starting to appear. After the 1913 climb, Elizabeth Parker called Kinney's route "the most dangerous climb ever made in Canada, the upper reaches being by a route that guides and experienced men condemn." [Parker 1914] Late in 1911, according to Wheeler's biographer Esther Fraser, word reached Wheeler that "Rev. Mr. Kinney had not reached the actual summit of Mount Robson. It is intriguing to speculate about how the news reached Club officials," Fraser continues. "Wheeler's first letter came from Club President Patterson of Toronto. Dr. Coleman and Mumm also conveyed the news to the Club director." (While writing her book, Fraser had access to Arthur Wheeler's personal papers, which are in the possession of Wheeler's grandson.) [Fraser 1978]

Late in 1911, Phillips and Kain, who had become friends during the Smithsonian/ACC expedition, were trapping furs in the wilderness north of Mount Robson. [Phillips 1914] Fraser continues her speculations. "During those days of isolation, Phillips undoubtedly shared his secret. He and Kinney had reached a point within a few yards of the summit in bad weather and it was too dangerous to complete the ascent. Conrad considered their feat remarkable, but would have been reluctant to have it falsely recorded as an official first ascent of the great peak. He may have been the first to write Wheeler about the incident, but this is doubtful. It would be difficult for Wheeler to accept the fact that a man of the cloth, a class traditionally held in the highest esteem by Wheelers, could perpetuate such a deception. More likely Conrad broke the news to some of his good friends in the English Club. Wheeler and Club officials discussed the matter and one senses that Wheeler's views as to the best solution prevailed: a crack Canadian team under the auspices of the Club must make the ascent and remain discreetly quiet about the previous claim to avoid unfavourable publicity. Immediately Wheeler went to work soliciting the necessary public support and that of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for the Robson camp in 1913."

SPIRAL ROAD - DIGITAL BANFF