Phyllis Beatrice Munday (née James; 24 September 1894 – 11 April 1990) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

. She was famed for being the first woman to reach the summit 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 ...

(with Annette Buck) in 1924, and with her husband Don for discovering

Mount Waddington Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Although it is lower than Mount Fairweather and Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between Alaska ...

, and exploring the area around it via the

Franklin River The Franklin River is a major perennial river located in the Central Highlands (Tasmania), Central Highlands and Western Tasmania, western regions of Tasmania, Australia. The river is located in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at ...

and the

Homathko River The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...

. Munday was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1972 for her work with the

Girl Guides of Canada Girl Guides of Canada (GGC; ) is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1928. Histo ...

and

St. John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primarily staffed by volunte ...

, as well as for her mountaineering career.

Mount Munday Mount Munday is one of the principal summits of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It is in elevation and stands in the Waddington Range six kilometres southeast of Mount Waddington , which is the highest sum ...

is named after Don and Phyllis Munday, and Baby Munday Peak is named for their daughter Edith.

Early life

Phyllis Beatrice James was born on 24 September 1894 in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now Sri Lanka). Her parents, Frank and Beatrice James, were members of the upper class, as Frank managed

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

for the

Lipton Lipton is a brand named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, Tom Lipton, who started an eponymous grocery retail business in the United Kingdom in 1871. The brand was used for various consumer goods sold in Lipton stores, including tea from 1 ...

and Ridgways companies. The family departed Ceylon in 1901, and moved to England and Manitoba before settling on the western shore of

Kootenay Lake Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed ...

in 1903. Phyllis and her sister Betty enjoyed their opportunities for exploration in the Kootenays, but Frank disliked the instability of the mining business, and in 1907 the family sought to emigrate 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 ...

. The family traveled Vancouver by steamship and train, intending to continue on to New Zealand, but they instead stayed in Vancouver. In 1912 she climbed

Grouse Mountain Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges in the District Municipality of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. With a maximum elevation of over 1,200 m (4,100 ft) at its peak, the mountain is t ...

with her

Girl Guide Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of The Girl Guides ...

company. In 1915, at 21, Phyllis joined the

British Columbia Mountaineering Club The British Columbia Mountaineering Club (BCMC) is a mountaineering organization, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded on October 28, 1907 as the Vancouver Mountaineering Club, it became one of the centres of Canadian Mountaineering, part ...

and began going on club trips to such places as

Mount Seymour Mount Seymour is a mountain located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a part of the North Shore Mountains, rising to the north from the shores of Burrard Inlet and Indian Ar ...

, The Lions, Mount Tantalus and

Mount Garibaldi Mount Garibaldi (, ) is a dormant stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has a maximum elevation of and rises above the surrounding landscape on the east side of the Cheakamus Ri ...

Meeting Don

Phyllis met her future husband in 1918. While on a mountaineering trip an incident occurred which, in Don's words, "lends itself readily to being given a romantic aspect." Don lost his footing on a glacial moraine, and was in danger of slipping into a crevasse. Phyllis jumped to help him restore his balance, and in so doing lost hers. Don managed to grab and steady her until she could regain her feet. They married in February 1920, spending their honeymoon in a cabin on Dam Mountain near Vancouver. Their daughter, Edith was born in 1921, and at 11 weeks she was carried to the top of Crown Mountain. From 1923 to 1926 the Mundays lived in a tent, and then a cabin on

where Don worked cutting a trail from Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver, British Columbia to the summit, while Phyllis ran the Alpine Lodge, serving hot drinks and meals to hikers.

Exploration of the Waddington Range

In 1925, while on a trip to

Mount Arrowsmith Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region and as of September 18, 2009 is designated part of hectare ...

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

, Don and Phyllis Munday spotted what they believed to be a peak taller than

, the then accepted tallest peak entirely within

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. In the words of Don Munday: "The compass showed the alluring peak stood along a line passing a little east of

Bute Inlet Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is long from the estuaries of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers at the head of the inlet, to the mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages a ...

and perhaps 150 miles away, where blank spaces on the map left ample room for many nameless mountains."Munday p4 While there is some debate as to whether the peak they saw was indeed Mount Waddington (in fact, Don Munday himself observed that the feat is impossible), they almost certainly saw a peak in the

Waddington Range The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is the highest area of the Pacif ...

, and this led the Mundays to explore that area, and discover the mountain in fact. Over the next decade, the Munday's mounted several expeditions into the area in an attempt to climb it. Known to them as "The Mystery Mountain", in 1927 the height was measured at 13,260 feet (by triangulation by BC Land Surveyor J.T. Underhill),Munday p.124 and the Canadian Geographic Board gave it the name Mount Waddington after Alfred Waddington who was a proponent of a railway through the

valley. They reached the lower summit in 1928, deeming the main summit too risky.

Significant events

* 1894 born in Sri Lanka * 1916 founded the Girl Guide movement in

* 1920 established the first St. John Ambulance brigade in North Vancouver, British Columbia * 1938 honorary lifetime membership in 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, ...

* 1972 inducted into the

* 1998 stamp imprinted in her honour

First ascents

* 1922 Parapet Peak * 1922 Isosceles Peak * 1923

Blackcomb Peak Blackcomb Peak ( Ucwalmícwts: Tsíqten) is a mountain located east of Whistler, British Columbia that forms the boundary between the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort and Garibaldi Provincial Park. Like Whistler Mountain, it is located on the edge ...

* 1923 Overlord Mountain * 1924 Foley Peak * 1930

* 1931 Jubilee Mountain * 193
Sockeye Peak
* 1933

Combatant Mountain Combatant Mountain, also called Mount Combatant, is a summit in British Columbia, Canada. Description Combatant Mountain is located in the Waddington Range of the Coast Mountains, in a remote wilderness area that few visit. Combatant Mountain i ...

* 1936 Silverthrone Mountain * 1937 Mount Sir Richard * 1942

Mount Queen Bess Mount Queen Bess is one of the principal summits of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of southern British Columbia. It stands west of Chilko Lake and to the south of Tatlayoko Lake, and crowns a peak-studded ridge to the north of the ...

* 1946 Reliance Mountain

Honors

*Honorary member,

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains (New Hampshire), White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., wit ...

Kathryn Bridge, ''A Passion for Mountains: The Lives of Don and Phyllis Munday'' (2006), p. 8 *Honorary member,

Ladies' Alpine Club The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London, England in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975. History In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the Alps m ...

of Great Britain (1936) *Honorary member,

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 26,000 members. The club is housed in the American Mountaineering Center (AMC) in Golden, Colorado. Through its members, the AAC advocates for American climbers d ...

(1967)

Notes

References

* * *
Munday
at ''100 Canadian Heroines. Famous and Forgotten Faces.'' By Merna Forster;

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

, pp 187 – 190 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munday, Phyllis 1894 births 1990 deaths Members of the Order of Canada Canadian mountain climbers Canadian female climbers 20th-century Canadian sportswomen