Conrad Kain (10 August 1883, Nasswald – 2 February 1934,

Cranbrook, British Columbia Cranbrook ( ) is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 10 km southwest of the confluence of the Kootenay River and the St. Mary River (British Columbia), St. Mary's River. It is the largest urban centre in the region ...

) was an Austrian

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

who guided extensively in Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and was responsible for the first ascents of more than 60 routes in British Columbia. He is particularly known for pioneering climbs in the

Purcell Mountains The Purcell Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. They are a subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which includes the Selkirk, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountains. They are located on the west side of the Rocky Mo ...

and the first ascents of

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of ...

(1913),

Mount Louis Mount Louis is a mountain summit located in southeast Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Sawback Range which is a subset of the Canadian Rockies. The mountain was named in 1886 after Louis B. Stewart who surveyed in the ...

(1916) and

Bugaboo Spire Bugaboo Spire is a peak in Bugaboo mountain range in Canada, located between the Vowell and Crescent glaciers, just under 2 km West of the ACC's Conrad Kain hut. It is known for its alpine climbing. The Spire was first climbed by Conrad ...

(1916).

Life

Kain was born in poverty in a small village in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. His father was a miner who died when Kain was 8. In his youth he worked as a goatherd in the Rax Alps and from 1898 to 1904 he worked at stone quarries in Veitsch and Hirschwang. His free time he spent climbing, and by 1904 he guided his first clients, becoming an officially recognized professional guide in 1906. He guided his clients not only in Austria (including the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( ), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Va ...

), but also in Switzerland and France, including the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

La Meije La Meije is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isère '' départements''. It overlooks the nearby village of La Grave, a mountaineering centre and ski resort, well known for its off-pis ...

and several first ascents.Timetable of Kain's life
at www.conradkain.com. Dissatisfied with his life in Austria, he planned to emigrate and in 1908 he took lessons in English in Vienna for that purpose. In June 1909 he moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with the promise of employment as the

Alpine Club of Canada The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, ...

's first professional guide, changing his name from Konrad to Conrad. In the summer of 1910 he surveyed the

and in 1911 he explored the Banff area, making a number of first ascents already. In 1912 he joined an exploration in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

, after which he returned to Austria where he spent several months with his mother. He then traveled to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where he was a guide in the winter of 1913. He was encouraged to return to Canada again to be a guide for two mountaineering camps, one based at

Lake O'Hara Lake O'Hara is a lake at an elevation of in the alpine area of Yoho National Park, in the province of British Columbia, on the western side of the Continental Divide, Great Divide with the province of Alberta and Banff National Park to the east. ...

camp and another at Robson Pass. The next three years he would guide respective summers in both Canada and New Zealand, completing many first ascents in both countries. Conrad Kain is credited with 69

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

s in Canada alone, including Resplendent Mountain and Whitehorn Mountain (1911), Nasswald Peak (named after his hometown) and

(1913),

Mount Farnham Mount Farnham is British Columbia's 17th highest peak, and 21st most prominent. It was named after Paulding Farnham from New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City ...

(1915),

, Howser Spire and

(1916), North Twin Peak and Mount Saskatchewan (1923), Mount Hooker and Mount Fraser (1924) and Peyto Peak and Trapper Peak (1933). Between 1914 and 1916 he made about 30 first ascents in New Zealand as well. While he considered his climb of Bugaboo Spire the most challenging, and it was considered the most difficult alpine climb in Canada until the 1940s, his most notable first ascent was that of

in July 1913. He guided :de:Albert MacCarthy and

William Wasbrough Foster Major-General William Wasbrough Foster, CMG, DSO, VD (1 October 1875 – 2 December 1954) was a noted mountaineer, Conservative Party politician, businessman, and chief constable in British Columbia, Canada, in addition to his distinguished m ...

over the northeast face by hacking hundreds of steps and famously told his clients at the top "Gentlemen, that's so far as I can take you." During the ascent, Kain was under the assumption that Mount Robson had been climbed in 1909 by

George Kinney George Kinney was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1883 Belmont Stakes. Background George Kinney was bred in Tennessee by Captain James Franklin at Kennesaw Stud. His dam was Kathleen, a daughter of the great sire ...

and Curly Phillips, but on their return to the campsite at Robson Pass, Phillips, who was outfitter of the expedition, revealed that he and Kinney had actually fallen short of reaching the summit in their heroic effort over the west face four years before. Conrad Kain climbed

for the last time on his 50th birthday. He fell ill in October of that year in Wilmer, British Columbia, and died six months later of

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the Human brain, brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, aphasia, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include se ...

in a hospital in Cranbrook. The marker on his grave in Cranbrook reads "A guide of great spirit".

Legacy

Kain wrote an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

titled ''Where the Clouds Can Go'' where he describes his tough years while growing up in Austria as well as his 25 years working variously as a guide for The Alpine Club of Canada, a hunter outfitter, and an assistant to Arthur O. Wheeler for the Geographic Survey of Canada. In 1911, A. O. Wheeler named Mount Kain after him, when Kain had pointed at the mountain and exclaimed "Ach, that is my peak!" a few days after he had come to Wheeler's rescue after slipping on a descent from Lynx Mountain. Near the Bugaboos there is the Conrad Group, with the Conrad Icefield, Conrad Glacier and with Mount Conrad (3271 m

as highest point. The latter previously unclimbed peak was the last mountain Kain climbed (in September 1933). Since 1970, the

maintains an Mountain hut, alpine hut named Conrad Kain hut centrally located in the Bugaboos, where Kain made many first ascents. In New Zealand there is also a Mount Conrad (2,598 m) named after him, lying in the Liebig Range above the Murchison Glacier in the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...

.J.M.T.
Conrad Kain, 1833-1934 In Memoriam
American Alpine Journal Vol 2, p.236 (1934) To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kain's arrival in Canada, the Conrad Kain Centennial Society was formed in the upper Columbia Valley in 2007 to celebrate his achievements and to develop legacy projects in his memory.

References

External links

Conrad Kain Centennial Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kain, Conrad 1883 births 1934 deaths Alpine guides Austrian mountain climbers Canadian mountain climbers People from Neunkirchen District, Austria Sportspeople from Lower Austria Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Canada