Initiative links mountain passions

Zac Robinson

From left, University of Alberta physical education and recreation dean, Kerry Mummery, associate dean of research, John Spence and alpine historian Zac Robinson, enjoy a moment of higher education on the summit of Mt. Athabasca.

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The pursuit of climbing mountains, says Zac Robinson, an avid mountaineer who serves on the Alpine Club of Canada’s executive committee, is steeped in a rich and varied connection to the physical sciences as well as to the creative arts and some of the finest adventure writing ever produced.

“A lot of the early climbers were scientists, artists, writers, poets too,” Robinson said. “There is much about the mountaineering activity that is rooted in that aesthetic of romanticism and literature.”

As the son of respected Manitoulin Island native artist Michael Robinson – a Métis whose aboriginal-themed works are treasured in collections at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Royal Ontario Museum – Robinson is also keenly interested in the roles aboriginal peoples played in shaping Canada’s mountain history. For example, the eastern-based Iroquois’ sophisticated understanding of Canada’s mountain landscapes made them indispensible to the fur company explorers who would ultimately be credited for ‘discovering’ many high alpine passes in the Rockies.

It’s just such historical interests, combined with his role as assistant professor in the University of Alberta’s faculty of physical education and recreation, that led Robinson to join 24 other U of A faculty members in developing an initiative than celebrates their wide-ranging mountain-related passions and fields of study.

The recently launched Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative (CMSI) brings together educators from four of the university’s faculties – agriculture, life and environmental sciences, arts, physical education and recreation and science – with the ultimate hope of establishing the U of A as a internationally-recognized centre for mountain studies.

The key, explained English and film studies professor Stephen Slemon, a part-time Canmore resident and ‘recreational mountain guy’, is to create cross-faculty learning experiences for educators and students that also incorporate the general mountain community.

“There are lots of centres that look at mountain studies, but nobody has put together collective studies of mountains; a mountain centre dedicated to mountain activities in relation to one another, in combination with student training and community inclusiveness,” Slemon said. “The University of Alberta’s established capacity to work in northern studies is something that applies easily to mountains and mountain culture and mountain activities.”

The idea for the initiative – which the group hopes to evolve into a formal institute – was sparked in 2009, when the members realized the university already had within its ranks a substantial number of faculty members from different fields who shared expertise and interest in various mountain related studies.

“The glacier water guy was desperate to know about the human history of the mountains,” Slemon said. “Everybody was fine in singularity with what they were already doing, but we all find it so cool to see what the other guy is doing.”

The subsequent Summit Series lectures, which ran through the 2009/10 school semesters, featured three presenters from different study backgrounds at each of four events.

“We lined up one physical scientist with a physical education faculty member and a mountain literature expert,” Slemon said. “The result was a love-in. People came from the community and got really excited. This just came alive.”

Thus far, Robinson pointed out, the CMSI is an informal collective that is open and committed to collaboration with other individuals, groups and institutions. At the community level, Banff’s Whyte Museum, the Eleanor Luxton Foundation, Parks Canada, the ACC and the Banff Centre are among a dozen committed partners of the CMSI. The recent website launch (www.mountains.ualberta.ca ) immediately generated response from across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

For biologist David Hik, who participated in the Banff Centre-hosted International Year of Mountains conference in 2002, the CMSI is a natural evolution that could have not just regional, but national, value.

“Ever since IYM I’ve thought we need to have a focal point in mountain studies,” Hik said. “Mountains studies are generally neglected in Canada. There was an IYM for a reason; the United Nations didn’t just do it for fun. There was consensus around the world that mountain issues needed to be addressed, but what progress has been made? Are we close to finding better ways, to finding solutions?”

Canadian mountain researchers are proportionally small compared to other mountain nations, with most science happening in the valley bottom where people are concentrated, while very little is conducted in the higher mountain regions where freshwater originates.

“That’s unfortunate, given the great significance of how mountain glaciers support agriculture, communities and cities downstream,” Hik said. “We just haven’t placed much emphasis on mountain studies.”

The CMSI, Hik hopes, will strengthen the existing network of people in Canada who are already focussed on mountain studies by combining their knowledge. Toward that end, the CMSI is organizing the Thinking Mountains 2012 conference to take place at the Edmonton campus in December.

“We’re really excited to collaborate with anybody,” Robinson said. “That’s a big part of what we want to do, get this interdisciplinary conversation going. And there are big issues that connect us all – climate change, adaptation, indigenous agencies.”

Within the U of A, many such connections are already established. For 17 years, Hik has been taking students to the Yukon’s St. Elias Mountains to study plant-herbivore-climate interactions in alpine and tundra ecosystems. As part of the phys ed and recreation program, Robinson has organized extended backpacking trips throughout Banff and Jasper national parks, and also general mountaineering courses on the Wapta Icefield under the instruction of Association of Canadian Mountain Guides professional guides. He’s also collaborated with Parks Canada staff, parks historians and managers and archivists.

“Students have come from various disciplines across the campus, each bringing their own unique perspective to the learning process,” Robinson said. “It’s this type of interdisciplinary, hands-on, engaged learning experience that we’re seeking to formalize. We’re looking at taking that model and tweaking it into a full-borne certificate.”

Through the CMSI, such in-the-field learning opportunities would be opened up to students from various faculties interested in pursuing a certificate program – a small area of specialization embedded within a larger degree program.

“We think we’re witnessing the birth of a discipline, and one that is too long in coming into being,” Slemon said. “We are really excited.”