Peaks and People

Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Gateway to the Rockies exhibition: We want your input and feedback on a permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Over the next few weeks, we will reveal concepts and stories that we may include in the exhibition. Tell us what you think of those concepts and stories and let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. After you have had an opportunity to review the storyline that has been posted here, you will have an option to complete a survey. It is available under the title "Gateway to the Rockies." You are also welcome to add comments at any time as you are reading. Later in June, you can look forward to more information and stori...

Alpine Artists is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated.  Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Cave Avenue Artists exhibition: F. M. Bell-Smith, [Trestles at the Loop] (previously Kicking Horse Pass); 1890, Watercolour on paper, Collection of Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies Painting the Parks The national parks, and particularly the mountain parks, have and wil...

The idea of this design concept is to use artworks to demonstrate names of places in the Canadian Rockies named for or by the Palliser Expedition and there are many! The Palliser Expedition is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. Hot on the heels of the fur trade came the inquiring minds of adventurers and scientific explorers assessing the land for natural resources and settlement. John Palliser and his men left ...

Conceptual design for Heli-skiing section of the Gateway exhibition - visitors will be able to sit in the helicopter, don headphones, watch listen to an audio-visual presentation Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Heli-Skiing exhibition: The story of heli-skiing and Hans Gmoser is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. There was no other invention that changed the very...

Design Concept for Age of the Auto and Jim Brewster Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Brewster exhibition: Age of the Auto and the story of Jim Brewster is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. Jim Brewster had the vision to see the opportunities that the automobile could open to Canadian Rockies visitors, but he also cared about his community. He became “Canada’s Mountain King...

Elizabeth Rummel at Skoki Lodge, 1944, (V554 / 894 (PA), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies  The story of early skiing in the Canadian Rockies and of people such as Lizzie Rummel is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. Elizabeth von Rummel (Lizzie Rummel) (1897 – 1980), born into aristocracy in turn-of-the-century Germany, came with her family to live and work on a ranch in the Alberta foothills to escape lif...

Design Concept for Skiing in the Canadian Rockies Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Early Skiing exhibition: The story of early skiing in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is just one of the several sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. When skiers first arrived in Banff to ski into the backcountry to Mount Assiniboine, the locals thought they were crazy. In the early 1900s, snowshoes were the p...

The story of Mary Schäffer is just one of the several stories in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. No-one may know I went among those hills with a broken heart and only on the high places could I learn that I and mine were very close together. We dare not tell those beautiful thoughts, they like to say “explorer” of me, no, only a hunter of peace. —Mary Warren, [1928] One of the Canadian Rockies' most compelling stories is that of a young Philade...

Mary Vaux at Illecillewaet Glacier, 1898. Vaux family fond, (v653-ng-456), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies The story of Mary Vaux and Charles Walcott is just one of the many stories in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.  We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. The Canadian Rockies drew affluent and cultured Americans from the east coast. Mary Morris Vaux Walcott (1860 – 1940) was an American scientist and artist. She explored the backcountry of Alberta and British Columbia b...

Design concept for Inquiring Minds - this could change to look more like an ice cave in a glacier Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Inquiring Minds exhibition: Inquiring Minds is just one of the sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. The latter half of the 19 th century, the era of romanticism, brought the inquiring minds of scientists and naturalists and the artistic eyes of painters an...

The story of J.B. Harkin is just one of the many stories in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.  We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. “The Parks shall be made use of in a manner that leaves them unimpaired for future generations.” J. B. Harkin, 1947. Yousuf Karsh photographer. J. B. Harkin fonds (V84) In 1911, when he was appointed the first commissioner of Canada’s new Dominion Parks Branch, James Bernard Harkin was handed the formidable task of creating a national parks servi...

Design Concept for Conservation and Parks Listen to Michale Lang (Executive Director, Whyte Museum), discussing the Parks and Conservation exhibition: The story of Canada's National Parks is just one of the sections in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated. Canada’s National Parks were established for the people of Canada. J.B. Harkin was a leader in ensuring that a declaration of public rights and the principle of conservation were enshr...

E.W. "Bill" Peyto, 1902, Fear Brothers, Photographer, Bill Peyto fonds, (NA66-465), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies  "I've guided all kinds of people into the mountains. At first they are hesitant, maybe with a healthy fear of bears or other animals. Some get frustrated just trying to get out of town, and for some it's all those things that Tom mentions, but once they are well outfitted and in the real wilderness they seem to open up like a high alpine meadow," – Bill Peyto The story of Bill Peyto is just one of the many stories in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.  We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibit...

“You’ll never leave the mountains as long as you live.” -- A.B. Rogers to Tom Wilson Tom Wilson, 1929, Fred Brewster fonds, (V86 / PA178-99) Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies The story of Tom Wilson is just one of the many stories in the new Gateway to the Rockies exhibition being developed by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We want your input and feedback on this permanent (ten year life) exhibition that we are planning to open at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in the spring of 2012. Tell us what you think of this and the other concepts and stories featured here. Let us know how you think we could make this exhibition more interesting. Please keep in mind that this is a draft of the storyline, not the finished product. As the stories develop, information will be updated.  Born in Ontario in 1859, Tom Wilson made his way west to become one of the most respected guides in the Canadian Rockies. He became the first white man to see Lake Louise. ...