This Wild Spirit

In 1912, Mary Vaux, a botanist, glaciologist, painter, and photographer, wrote about her mountain adventures: "A day on the trail, or a scramble over the glacier, or even with a quiet day in camp to get things in order for the morrow's conquests? Some how when once this wild spirit enters the blood...I can hardly wait to be off again." Vaux's compulsion was shared by many women whose intellects, imaginations, and spirits rose to the challenge of the mountains between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. This Wild Spirit explores a sampling of women's creative responses--in fiction and travel writing, photographs and paintings, embroidery and beadwork, letters and diaries, poetry and posters--to their experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. This popular book traces women's creative and cultural legacies in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. In 1912, Mary Vaux, a botanist, glaciologist, painter, and photographer, wrote about her life's passion: "A day on the trail, or a scramble over the glacier, or even with a quiet day in camp to get things in order for the morrow's conquests? Some how when once this wild spirit enters the blood...I can hardly wait to be off again." Vaux's compulsion was one shared by many women whose intellects, imaginations, and spirits rose to the challenge of the mountains between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. This Wild Spirit explores a sampling of women's creative responses in photographs and painting, embroidery and beadwork, novels and travel writing, letters and diaries, poetry, plays, and posters to their experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. This Wild Spirit is a portable archive of the best writing that women have done about the golden age of discovery and adventure in the Canadian Rockies. It's a remarkable book. Read it in a national park campground, late at night, as the bears wander by." -Ben Gadd 18 colour photographs, 66 B&W photographs, 2 maps, bibliography, index "In addition to providing interesting and valuable views of the early Canadian Rockies, This Wild Spirit provides an almost equally valuable overview of that small, interrelated group of women who traveled west for their own reasons....[T]his collection is a valuable addition to any shelf of Rocky mountain history. The insights and observations are enjoyable and memorable reminders of a special time in the European 'discovery' of the blue Canadian Rockies." "The assorted journal entries, essays, letters, photos, drawings, paintings--even the script of a play--all illustrate the pluck and determination required by women who wanted to push the conventions of the time in pursuit of adventure and knowledge. In an era when independent travel by women was virtually unheard of, these pioneers achieved a series of significant milestones, from botanical fieldwork to cross-cultural friendships to the traversing of glaciers and high passes...often while wearing an ankle-length dress and bustle." "The editor has made an excellent selection for this book, providing a most readable and inspiring account of women and their relationship to the mountains." "Skidmore...examines women's encounters with the Rocky Mountains by investigating a diverse collection of material spanning the years from 1887 to 1993, most of which dates from the years 1907 to 1912....[She] has created an important resource and gives voice to the women who were drawn to the Rockies....Skidmore shows that women sought out the Rocky mountains for their own reasons, and on their own terms." "[This Wild Spirit] is both a good read and a welcome contribution to the history of Canadian Mountain literature....The collected materials of these women botanists, painters, essayists, novelists, photographers, glaciologists, geologists, teachers, physicians, hikers, climbers, cooks and lodge managers constitute a necessary and enlightening base camp, from which I ardently hope Skidmore will attempt an ascent on volume two, tracing the period from 19