The Guiding Spirit

The first professional mountain guides to be employed in North America were all Italians: Guiseppe Petigax and Lorenzo Croux of Courmeyer, Antonio Maguinaz and Andrea Pellissier of Valtournanche and Erminio Botta of Beilla, all in the retinue of Luigi Amadeo of Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi whose successful expedition to Mount Saint Elias in 1896 became an Alaskan and mountaineering legend. The next summer, Professor H.B. Dixon followed his example and engaged Peter Sarbach to accompany him on several weeks of climbing in the “Canadian Alps”. It was the obvious success of this particular act which prompted the Vaux brothers, distinguished amateur scientists of Philadelphia, to suggest again in 1898 that the Canadian Pacific Railway should engage some Swiss guides to be available for their patrons in the mountain regions the company was seeking to exploit. This is the story of those men, who prided themselves not merely on being guides, but on being Swiss guides. These men carved out a unique niche in the loyalties they both earned and gave. Their words often indicated conflict, hardship and unhappiness; but their actions were those of persons engaged in a rewarding vocation, who had found an emotional satisfaction in life that few of us are privileged to enjoy. Here then is the story of the CPR’s Swiss guides as written by Andrew J. Kauffman and William L. Putnam. Over many years of mountaineering adventures in Canada, they interviewed Edward Feuz Jr., (Uncle Ed) and researched the archives for the facts and stories of which this book is composed. This is a story of mountain adventure in a newly awakening country — western Canada — a story which will be hard to put down once begun!