D. L. Stephen

Edward Feuz Jr.

An intimate look at the life and climbs of Swiss alpine guide Edward Feuz Jr., patriarch of Canadian alpinism and genuine lover of mountains. As a young Swiss boy, Edward Feuz Jr. (1884-1981) developed an insatiable passion for climbing. In time, he traded his Lausbub reputation for that of a responsible Swiss guide and was eventually drawn to Canada in the footsteps of his father, Edward Feuz Sr. (1859-1944), who was one of the first Swiss guides hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1898 to develop the alpinism in western Canada. Handsome and charismatic, Edward (while still in training for his trade) was instantly smitten with the Canadian landscape -- and so were his guests. They raved about the young man who showed such exceptional skills. He guided them all -- professors, women of independent means, students, newspaper people, a Hindu holy man, and even Sherlock Holmes -- through untrailed forests, across roaring streams, up icy glaciers, and to the tops of rocky summits. Young and old, they were all enchanted, and so they returned time and again -- to the mountains and to their friend Edward. Edward Feuz Jr.: A Story of Enchantment transports the modern reader back to a simpler time, when mountaineering in North America was less about pushing personal limits and more about the splendour of grand vistas, wide open spaces, and the opening of the West.