![The founders of the Alpine Club of Canada. First meeting at Winnipeg. Left to right, back row: Rev. Thurlow Fraser, L.D. Armstrong, Tom Martin, W.H. Belford, Rev. Alex Gordon. Middle row: Miss Jean Parker, J. Stanley Wills, S.H. Mitchell, L.Q. Coleman. Front row: J.W. Kelly, W. J. Taylor, A.O. Wheeler, Mrs. H.J. Parker, E.A. Haggen, Rev. J.C. Herdman, Dr. A.S. [sic] Coleman, Dean Paget, W. Brewster. Picture is taken in front of Y.M.C.A., Portage Ave.](/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/acc-founders.jpg)
The founders of the Alpine Club of Canada. First meeting at Winnipeg. Left to right, back row: Rev. Thurlow Fraser, L.D. Armstrong, Tom Martin, W.H. Belford, Rev. Alex Gordon. Middle row: Miss Jean Parker, J. Stanley Wills, S.H. Mitchell, L.Q. Coleman. Front row: J.W. Kelly, W. J. Taylor, A.O. Wheeler, Mrs. H.J. Parker, E.A. Haggen, Rev. J.C. Herdman, Dr. A.S. [sic] Coleman, Dean Paget, W. Brewster. Picture is taken in front of Y.M.C.A., Portage Ave. University of Toronto Library
Founded 1906 Winnipeg
The inaugural meeting was held in Winnipeg, arranged by Wheeler and Elizabeth Parker [1856–1944], with the support of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
It was his work among the magnificent peaks of the Selkirks that prompted pioneer surveyor A.O. Wheeler to conceive the notion of an “Alpine Club of Canada” similar to ones that already existed in Britain and the U.S. By this means, he hoped, Canadians would take advantage of one of their most valuable assets. The Railway notwithstanding, most found their country too big for them and their mountains “as remote as Afghanistan.”
In 1906, Wheeler met in Winnipeg with other like minded individuals to make the Alpine Club of Canada a reality and, in the process, become its first president. The Club’s aims, as spelled out in its Constitution, were sixfold: 1) promotion of scientific study and exploration of Canadian alpine and glacial regions, 2) cultivation of art in relation to mountain scenery, 3) education of Canadians to an appreciation of their mountain heritage, 4) encouragement of the mountain craft and the opening of new regions as a national playground, 5) preservation of the natural beauties of the mountain places and of the fauna and flora in their habitat, 6) interchange of literature with other alpine and geographical organizations.
To promote aims 3 and 4, the Club instituted its annual summer camp. Over and above these aims, the Camp provided the only opportunity for members, along with specially invited guests from mountaineering organizations in the U.S. and abroad, to meet together. This “meeting together” took on formal expression in the Annual Meetings incorporated into the Camps’ program.[1]
To promote aim 6, the Club started the Canadian Alpine Journal in 1907.
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Alpine Club of Canada, minute book, 1906-1914. V14/AC 041M/7 (1906–1914).
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Executive papers (1906–1924).
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Club records (1906–1924).
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Clubhouse register (1910–1913).
- — Member’s register, Banff Clubhouse (M200 / AC 0M / 126) (1910–1913). Whyte Museum
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Notice of the Alpine Club of Canada, Eighth Annual Camp, 1913, to be held at Mount Robson, on the great Divide, Summit of Robson Pass (AC 0 129) (1913).
- — Inventory of the Alpine Club of Canada Collection (1986).
- Mount Robson attempt proposed 1906 ACC organized
- 1909 ACC Camp – Lake O’Hara
- 1911 Alpine Club of Canada–Smithsonian Robson Expedition
- 1913 Alpine Club of Canada Camp at Mount Robson
- 1924 ACC Camp – Mount Robson
- 1926 ACC Camp – Tonquin Valley
- 1. Andrews, Mary. “Passport to Paradise: The Alpine Club of Canada Summer Camps.” British Columbia Historical News, Vol. 24 No. 2 Spring (1991):19-27. University of British Columbia Library [accessed 3 January 2026]