Search Results - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Abstract: "All these faces that appear in close-up in the news or in the press are also men. The name of Lionel Terray, one of the most famous living mountaineers, comes back periodically in conversations, because he participated in a rescue or because he helped to conquer a great world summit like Annapurna or the Makalu. In The Conquerors of the Useless , it is the whole mountain and its secrets that it reveals to us without emphasis and especially without pretension. We see how a little boy can already sense his vocation and soon to live only for the mountain; how this passion led him from the Alps to the Himalayas, from Canada to Peru. Each story of his prodigious ascensions will fascinate those who know the mountain only through the cable car. Indeed, this book that Lionel Terray wrote entirely himself using notes and stories in which he fixed his memories throughout his career, was written for them. The Conquerors of the Useless is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the heroic fate of the last survivors of the Knights race. " (from publisher's website)

Contents: Decouverte de la montagne; Premieres conquetes; La guerre des Alpes; Je rencontre Lachenal; La face nord de l'Eiger; Guide de grandes courses; L'Annapurna; Sur les sommets du monde

Notes: EVE-DELACROIX PRIZE OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY 1962; French edition signed by Lionel Terray; Newsclipping tucked inside entitled "La mort de Lionel Terray a stufefie les membres du Ski Club"

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Abstract: Mountaineers will find in this little volume the authentic account of the ascents in the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks which made the name of E. W. D. Holway so well known to the climbing fraternity not many years ago. Readers who may never have seen a mountain will enjoy the book simply as the true tale of a remarkable man whogave up commercial pursuits to become a professor of botany and an explorer of little-known Alpine ranges. The book is composed largely of Mr. Holway’s intimate letters and diaries which tell his story with an engaging touch that continually makes light of the dangers, difficulties and hardships inseparable from pioneer work. The trials and tribulations of “backpacking” are graphically portrayed by the author. The book was designed to cover, as a part of a well-rounded biography, the mountaineering experiences of its subject. We think that the task has been well done and commend the work to the attention of readers interested in the Canadian Alps. Mr. Palmer’s book, with an introduction by the late Professor J. Arthur Harris, former head of the Department of Botany at the University of Minnesota, is enriched with illustrations of many of the peaks referred to in the text. It is very well printed and attractive in format. (From American Alpine Club)

Contents: Preface; A pioneer of the Canadian Alps; Earliest climbs; The maturity of mountaineer; The first expedition into the Cariboos; Conclusion; Supplementary letters; List of ascents and explorations by Edward W.D. Holway; Mountaineering papers by Edward W.D. Holway

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