CAPABLE CLIMBER PLUNGES TO DEATH, SPARKING
DEBATE OVER MOUNTAINEERING
BY JACKIE GOLD
BANFF CRAG & CANYON STAFF
Philip S. Abbot was widely regarded as one of the most capable
mountaineers of the United States when he arrived in the Canadian
Rockies in 1895. Part of an expedition of the Appalachian
Mountain Club, Abbot was with the group to take part in what
was to be a fun and potentially historical climbing expedition.
Educated at Harvard University, Abbot was an employee
of the Wisconsin Central Railway. After arriving in the Rockies
Abbot, together with Charles S. Thompson and Charles Fay completed
the first known ascent of Mount Hector, before tackling Mount
Stephen, which had been first ascended eight years earlier
in 1887 by JJ. McArthur. From there the group travelled
to the Selkirk range to continue their climbing trip. Over
the summer they unsuccessfully tried to climb Mount Lefroy
twice. Charles Fay wrote later that, “the fates were
against us, and we withdrew, with a feeling that Lefroy was
our debtor."
The group members returned home, with the uncompleted
challenge of climbing Mount Lefroy in the back of their minds. They
brewed about their failed attempts throughout the winter of
1895‑96, and returned to the Rockies the following summer.
In the early morning of Aug. 3, 1896, Fay, Thompson and Abbot,
guided by George Little, paddled across Lake Louise, heading
for their nemesis, Mount Lefroy. After reaching what
is now known as Abbot Pass, which was first reached by Samuel
Alien and Yule Carryer in 1894, the group began to prepare
for their climb. "Abbot had scanned the western
side of Lefroy, now for the first time clearly revealed to
us, and joyfully exclaimed, “The peak is ours!" Fay
later wrote.
"His enthusiasm found ample expression in that ever happy
smile, his beaming eyes and his quiet remark." Climbing
in this day and age was more dangerous, lacking the equipment
taken for granted by most climbers of the modern age. Lacking
crampons and other equipment, the group spent hours cutting
out steps and on loose ribs of rocks. Serious climbing
was involved in that final 600 metres. They approached
the summit at 5:30 p.m., and things were going well when disaster
struck. Abbot, who was leading the climb, unroped to
climb ahead of the group unhindered and alone.
Fay later wrote that, "A moment later Little, whose attention
was for the moment diverted to another portion of the crag,
was conscious that something had fallen swiftly past him and
I knew only too well what it must have been."
“Thompson and I, standing at the base of the cliff,
saw our dear friend falling backwards and headforemost.” They “saw
him strike the upper margin of the ice slope within 15 feet
of us, turn over completely, and instantly begin rolling down
its steep incline.”
Abbot died shortly after the group reached the area he came
to a stop at. The first climbing fatality in North America,
Abbots death resulted in a great deal of attention from the
press. Mountaineers, and in particular Charles Fay, were
forced to defend the sport they had grown to love.
In defence of moun taineering Fay wrote that, "the
gain there-from for the general and the individual life in
an age of
growing carefulness for ease and luxury must be held to
outweigh the deplorable losses.”
Abbot's family later requested that an expedition,
guided by Peter Sarbach the first of the Swiss guides to come
to work in the Canadian Rockies, try for the summit of Mount
Lefroy. A year after Abbot's accident they achieved their goal,
and so honoured the memory and spirit of a great mountaineer.
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