P052 A Story of Enchantment

Writers Radio

Edward Feuz Jr : A Story of Enchantment is part biography, part personal memoir. It is remarkable in telling the story of client and guide from the point of view of the client, not as journal accounts of mountains climbed, but in remembrance of an enduring life-long friendship. It is full of anecdotes and history.
In 1899 Christian Haesler and Eduard Feuz, mountain guides from Interlaken, Switzerland signed the first seasonal contracts with the Canadian Pacific Railroad to spend the summer guiding in the Canadian Rockies and Selkirk Mountains. This program was part of a CPR campaign to advertise their hotels and back country lodges, reached by travelling to the mountains on their trains.
Other guides followed, and a second generation, including Edward Feuz, Jr.
Donna Stephen tells Edward's story, from his youth in Interlaken to his death, at age 96, and beyond. Edward Feuz Jr. was perhaps the most renowned of the Swiss guides hired by the CPR; he also worked as a private guide. Edward is credited with over a hundred first ascents and new climbing routes, he was never involved with a fatal accident.
Donna Stephen's parents were in love with mountains. They were married in the Canadian Rockies and spent every summer learning how to climb from the Swiss Guides who worked at Lake Louise. This became a lifelong passion which they shared with their daughters, Donna and Cindy. The Stephen family visited every summer and Edward Feuz Jr. took them under his wing. Both girls became climbers, taught by the best.
I’m always amazed by individuals who dedicate part of their lives to commemorating someone whom they admire, not as a job, not for money, grants, or prestige, not to commemorate an ancestor, but in appreciation and gratitude.
Edward Feuz Jr : A Story of Enchantment was published by Rocky Mountain Books and may be ordered from your favourite bookstore or library. It was a finalist for The Jon Whyte Award – Mountain Literature (non-fiction) at the 2022 Banff Mountain Book Competition.

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