Cyril Geoffrey Wates was born in Brixton in 1883 and immigrated to Canada working for the City of Edmonton Municipal Telephone System from 1909-1946. He was a man of many interests including music, mountaineering, astronomy, and writing. Wates joined the Alpine Club of Canada in 1916 and participated in 20 summer camps and climbed more than 50 peaks, including the first ascent of Mount Geikie in 1924. He was chairman of the Edmonton Section in 1925 and from 1932-1935. He was also responsible for the publication of an Alpine Club songbook, Songs of Canadian climbers, and the construction of the Memorial Hut in the Tonquin Valley, now named the Wates-Gibson Hut. Wates was also an outstanding amateur astronomer, building several telescopes, including one he presented to the University of Alberta. In 1938 he served as President of the Edmonton Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Wates wrote articles about mountaineering, astronomy, and even a series of science fiction short stories, published in Amazing Stories, 1927-1930. Wates married twice, first to Alice Reeves from 1923 until her death in 1943 and then to Helen Burns, from 1944 until his death in 1946.