2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Alberta made by members of the Japanese Alpine Club guided by Heinrich Fuhrer and Hans Kohler and lead by Yuko Maki. The party was outfitted by Fred Brewster and George Camp was camp cook. They climbed the peak on July 21, reaching the top at 7:35 p.m. where they left an ice axe with the initials MTH (for the Marquis Mori Tatsu Hokokawa, the expedition’s patron) in the summit cairn. For many years a rumour circulated that the axe was made of silver.
The second ascent was completed in 1948 by Americans Fred Ayers and John Oberlin. They brought the “silver” ice axe back to the American Alpine Club in New York. The shaft of the ice axe had been broken and the broken piece was recovered in 1969 by a Japanese party. The two parts were put together in Japan in 1997. Through the efforts of Greg Horne and Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society (JYHS) members including Edith Gourley and Lori Anne Perlin, the ice axe is now exhibited in Jasper-Yellowhead Museum & Archives.
In 2017 the JYMA became aware of a replica ice axe presented to the Japanese Alpine Club by John Oberlin in 1949 as well as a photo album of the Mount Alberta expeditions. JYHS President Warren Waxer wrote to Paul Geddes to express interest in obtaining these items and, in 2018, Paul Geddes and Sach Masuda brought the ice axe to the museum. Later, the Mount Alberta photo album was donated by Junko Haga. Due to the trust and camaraderie of the Japanese, American and Canadian mountaineering communities the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives has become the repository of all the significant artefacts of this legendary.
We hope to share the story far and wide this Centennial year.
2018.83.02.02 Expedition members on Mount Alberta Heinrich Fuhrer, Tanezo Hayakawa, Yukio Maki, Hans Kohler and Seiichi Hashimoto. 1925
