“These mountains are breathtaking — utterly different than anything we have seen. The peaks and forests and “tone” fulfill almost every ideal I have had of what ‘my’ mountains could be. The cold ice crashes down tremendous cliffs to the very edge of deep, somber forests. No dust here — all is snow, ice, clean black rock and mossy earth covered with thick vegetation — all cool and calm and very strong in the primal aspect. These are great mountains we dream about.”
Ansel Adams, the great American photographer, wrote this letter in 1928 after having visited the Rocky Mountains in western Canada. It would be his only photographic expedition outside the United States.
Adams, who died in 1984, was invited to the Rockies by the director of the Sierra Club, whose mandate was to preserve wilderness areas in the United States. In exchange for the free trip, he would be the official and unpaid photographer.
He was already a rising star in photography, having taken stunning photographs of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California.
Since 1901, the year before his birth, the Sierra Club had organized annual wilderness trips for its members, and now its destination would be Mount Robson Provincial Park and neighboring Jasper National Park in the Rockies of Alberta.
The 130 participants would hike up mountains and visit lakes, glaciers and waterfalls for a month between July and August, when weather conditions were optimum.
It was during this outing that Adams began to find his voice as a serious creative photographer and produce images that foreshadow the majestic mountain images for which he would be famous.
The photographs he took in Canada are reproduced in a newly-published book, Ansel Adams in the Canadian Rockies (Little, Brown and Company).
A foreward, written by the current director of the Sierra Club, Michael Brune, places the 1928 trip in perspective.
The photographs, all in black and white, are magnificent, the work of a man who was at one with nature.
Mount Edith Cavell is snow-clad, its peak clear of clouds. A line of climbers, clad in dark clothes, snakes up a slope covered deep in snow. A rugged formation, known as The Ramparts, towers over a field. A solitary man stands on the edge of a glacier, looking at a bare ridge. A tall evergreen tree rises against the backdrop of Mumm Peak. A mammoth torrent of water cascades down Emperor Falls. The summit of Resplendent Mountain exudes an unmistakable aura of remoteness.The slopes of several peaks spill into Kinney Lake. Amid cloudy skies, Mount Robson rises above Adolphus Lake.
Judging by these photographs, the scenery must have been impressive to participants on this trip. “It was the unanimous opinion of the members of the party that this outing was one of the most unique and enjoyable the (Sierra) Club has ever taken,” wrote its director in a bulletin in August 1928.
Thanks to Adams, the ethereal beauty of the Canadian Rockies is preserved in this handsome and timeless coffee-table volume.