tops, to high passes, to glaciers and distant valley; and every night brings to the giant fireside a weary but happy company, keen to hear some new adventure of the heights. Here, climbers from the Alps, the Caucasus, the Kuwenzori, the Himalaya and other mountain regions have told their tales to listening ears, giving both knowledge and inspiration. It is an unforgettable picture that of the camp-fire with its huge red coals glowing, its flames flapping and its myriad sparks flying upward in the velvet darkness, the guardian mountains standing round about, and the forests silent with the essential silence of windless night; and over all, the silent starry sky. The only sound in these remote nooks of the mountain wildernesses is the sound of human speech and song.
Every year sees mountaineers and travellers of ripe experience under canvas as members of the A.C.C. Dr. Longstaff, whose name is a household word in mountaineering circles the world over, has actively identified himself with the Canadian Club and has heartily given his services in this enterprise of making mountaineers of young Canadians.
Some tribute is due to the lady climbers, who have always "made good" on glacier and peak. The unfailing record is of pluck, endurance, and of those qualities that go to make successful mountaineers, Miss Canada is a "lady of the snows" indeed, and of mountain summits where blow the exulting gales.
The Club has its Club House at Banff, situated among the pines on the side of Sulphur Mountain, some 250 feet higher than the C.P.R. Hotel, where there is an unrivalled view of the Bow Valley and the surrounding mountains. The house is handsome and commodious with wide verandahs, and contains on the first floor, a large assembly room with French windows, offices, a cosy hall, kitchen, and large canvas-covered dining-room annexed; on the second floor, library, smoking-room, and apartments for those in charge. The sleeping accommodation is in tents furnished with all necessaries except bedding. The Club House is open from early June until late September, and the rates are $2.00 per day. Only members of the Club are accommodated. No doubt when Banff becomes a resort for winter sports and the membership warrants, the place will be enlarged and kept open during the year.
From the valley below, the Club House, with its red roof and white tents, shows picturesquely and conspicuously in the forest on the face of the mountain. It is on the high road to the Government Baths from where the wide pony-trail leads to the summit; and about three-quarters of a mile away is the Middle Sulphur Spring, still without a bath-house. There is plenty of good rockclimbing in Banff including some outstanding mountains, among them Mt. Aylmer (10.364 ft.), Mt. Cascade (9.625 feet), Mt. Rundle (9,665 ft.); and Mt. Edith (8,370 ft.) up the railway line. Altogether, the Club House and its beautiful situation, its spacious rooms and cosy fireplaces, is a pleasant place of rendezvous for the Club, and delightful evenings with story and song and dance are spent there by members coming from East and West, from the Old Country and the New.
The Alpine Club has given an immense impetus to mountaineering among Canadians, and it bids fair to become a national sport.
