"This then is a book of mountaineering, not presenting the Canadian Rockies in their entirety — no single volume will ever do that — but including many of the finest things. It is also a book of mountain travel, under conditions such as perhaps the European traveller experienced in the Alps during the Eighteenth Century. Finally, it is a book of mountain history; for here is Geography in the making, and with a tradition behind it — a story that has never been properly gathered together, and whose details, in part at least, are gone forever." — from the Preface by J. Monroe Thorington

Cloth bound in slipcase. Archival illustrations, photos and maps throughout; 4 panoramic, fold-out plates and 1 large map. Limited to 200 copies.

Completely re-edited, re-designed and containing with an impressive collection of archival photos and maps, The Glittering Mountains of Canada is a must-read for anyone interested in mountain literature. The book's position in the pantheon of outdoor writing as a "classic" is only further enhanced and supported by the passionate Foreword by well-known mountain historian and environmental writer Robert William Sandford, who urges the contemporary reader to embrace Thorington's belief in the importance of landscape and the poetry of place. This is a book that deserves to be read and appreciated alongside the work of Wallace Stegner, Henry David Thoreau and Sid Marty.

J. Monroe Thorington (1895-1989) was an American ophthalmologist who first came to the Canadian Rockies in 1914. He became a prominent mountaineer, climbing extensively in the Rockies and completing 52 first ascents in the Rockies and Selkirks. Following explorations and numerous first ascents by J. Norman Collie in the first decade of the 20th century, the area around the Columbia Icefield had been ignored for some time until Thorington's visits. In 1923, together with W.S. Ladd and famed guide Conrad Kain, Thorington completed the second ascent of Mount Columbia, the third ascent of Mount Athabasca and first ascents of Mount Saskatchewan and North Twin Peak.

J. Monroe Thorington's profile page

Robert William Sandford is the EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations "Water for Life" Decade and also sits on the Advisory Committee for the prestigious Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy. He is a director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, an associate of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan and a fellow of the Biogeoscience Institute at the University of Calgary. As well, he sits on the advisory board of Living Lakes Canada and is co-chair of the Forum for Leadership on Water and a member of the Advisory Panel for the RBC Blue Water Project. In 2011 he was invited to be an advisor on water issues by the InterAction Council, a global public policy think tank composed of more than 20 former national leaders, including Jean Chrétien, Bill Clinton and Vicente Fox.

Robert is the author of some 20 books on the history, heritage and landscape of the Canadian Rockies, including Water, Weather and the Mountain West (RMB, 2007), The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns (RMB, 2008), Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes (RMB, 2009), Ethical Water: Learning to Value What Matters Most (RMB, 2011), Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Fresh Water (RMB, 2012), Saving Lake Winnipeg (RMB, 2013), Flood Forecast: Climate Risk and Resiliency in Canada (RMB, 2014), and Storm Warning: Water and Climate Security in a Changing World (RMB, 2015). He is also the co-author of The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer (RMB, 2015) and The Climate Nexus: Water, Food, Energy and Biodiversity (RMB, 2015). Robert lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Robert William Sandford's profile page