Talking Tonquin Valley

In a valley behind Mt. Edith Cavell
Stretches the Tonquin pass
A wide and very long valley
Home to many fishing camps and bears
Filled with trails for the pack horses
The Alpine Club of Canada in 1970
Their annual summer climbing camp
My sister Yvonne made me her guest
The club having lowered the age
To sixteen for membership.

At last a sport in common
Between the elder and myself
Swimming and skiing a big no go
The love of the mountains
United our interests at last
With a stop in Banff for
Helmet, harness and ice-axe
We headed to the trail head
Oh, happiness the pack horses would
Carry all our belongings for the week
While we walked the
Fourteen miles into camp.

I remember the concern that
Fourteen miles loomed long in my mind
But the day passed pleasantly
The trail not steep, the forest friendly
Halfway we met a little white-haired lady
Her younger companion sat resting with her
I didn't know then as we paused to greet
She was a mountaineering legend
Phil Munday now in her eighties
Wrecked her knees in the coastal range
Carrying heavy loads in pioneering
And legendary climbs.

The memories that filter
Through my present mind
Are sparse and fleeting
I found the mountain air
Cold at either end of the day
Lived in a borrowed down jacket
My biggest use of time spent
Talking to Walter, a climber
Businessman from Toronto
Older and happy to engage in lively manner
The optimistic mind of sixteen years
I don't remember the subjects but
We kept in touch by letter long afterward
He found my optimistic mind
Ready to tackle the world
I found him kind in reply and manner
And the hours sped by with
A few mountain climbs
Between conversations.

Every day the stories of exploits
From the expert climbers in high camp
Would filter down to be reviewed
Mulled or added to
While we in the main valley camp
Strolled through our adventures
With no such tales to boast
One day we climbed a local peak
Imposing in its height
My memory of it being
A four a.m. rise before the sun
The day's length the greatest challenge
We played hide and seek as we climbed
The Rockies filled with loose rocks
The greatest danger being
The climber above and the rocks dislodged.
I wore my helmet.

One day we went to a glacier
To practice ice and snow drills
The crevasse hidden dangers
To the unwary with snow covered fissures
A trap hidden from view
Being the youngest person there
I was lowered into a modest
Crevasse not too wide
Hanging on the end of a rope
After an imaginary fall
The climbers working above
Setting up a definite rescue
While I waited in my ice palace
Writing the names of those I loved
Onto the icy wall that resisted
Any of my intentions.

Mid-point a small group of us
Dawned packs and set off to
Another valley with a cabin by a lake
The trail through the Tonquin
Meandered in alpine meadows
Beside small smiling creeks and marsh
Past fishing camps with horses in corral
To a small lake with
Alpine Club cabin of unimaginable
Luxury for its location
That night a thunderstorm
Shook me awake as I slept in the loft
Loud and menacing as I lay there
Deciding if I should be afraid
But fell to sleep before I could decide.

The next day we climbed
The large glacier that led
To a high peak whose name
Unremembered but the snow
Laden valley was the beginning
Headwaters of the mighty Fraser
With many miles to travel
In seaward direction
My imagination finding delight
That such humble and mysterious
Source of greatness  beneath our feet.

On the last day
We arrived back at the car park
To find the horses had bolted
Frightened by a bear
With our belongings held hostage.
My sister and I found our cousin
Who hosted us for the night
In the morning's light the horses
And our packs were recovered
Leaving only the drive home
Our final task together
With three mountain peaks I was
A new Alpine club member
If only for a year.