If you鈥檝e ever hiked, skied or explored the peaks of Western Canada chances are you鈥檝e heard about Willi Pfisterer.
The former mountain guide, avalanche specialist, and Jasper National Park warden was originally from Austria, but came to Canada in the 1950s to conquer the Rockies. He ended up staying and became an integral part of mountain safety in Western Canada and the Yukon鈥攇uiding climbers up to the highest peaks and rescuing them from perilous situations.
Throughout his long life in the West, Willi became one of the founding members of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides and the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association. He also helped advance snow and avalanche programs while working in Jasper National Park. On top of all that, Willi climbed approximately 1,600 peaks and was involved in more than 700 mountain rescues, doing everything from avalanche extrication to writing up the paperwork for management.
All of his responsibilities allowed him to rack up tons of exciting, yet sometimes devastating stories.
The mountain man died at the age of 83 in the summer of 2010, however, his daughter Susanna Pfisterer wants his tales to live on. Working with her father, Susanna spent many years putting together 50 Percent of Mountaineering is Uphill: The life of Canadian mountain rescue pioneer Willi Pfisterer.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 go out of his way to publicize himself, but when he retired a lot of people asked him when he was going to write his book,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e always brushed it off and basically said he didn鈥檛 think he would ever write one.鈥�
She added that even a few authors had approached her dad about writing his story.听 鈥淗e thought the only people who would be interested were a couple of old wardens,鈥� she said.
After being away from home for years, Susanna moved back to Jasper in 2004 with her two young kids. 鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 doing all that well at that point. I was here for a couple of years and I just told him we can鈥檛 lose this stuff. I said let鈥檚 write a book for the grandkids,鈥� Susanna said.
He finally agreed.
鈥淚 said we鈥檒l do it how you would have done it and we鈥檒l work on it together as much as we can and we鈥檒l just see what happens from there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f it just goes within the family that鈥檚 fine, but he knew right from the beginning that I鈥檇 be interested in getting it published.鈥�
In her father鈥檚 final years, the two spent many hours rehashing Willi鈥檚 mountain memories.
鈥淗e was pretty sick at this point, but it kind of brought him back to life to talk about all those stories,鈥� Susanna said.听
Willi only lived to hear the first two chapters of the book. After his death, Susanna took on the project alone.
鈥淚 wrote it from his perspective鈥攊t鈥檚 written like he鈥檚 the one talking,鈥� Susanna said. 鈥淚 took whatever I could and tried to keep as much of his personality and funny ways of saying things.鈥�听 The book is stacked full of educational and human-interest stories that are accompanied by more than 100 of Willi鈥檚 personal photographs.
鈥淵ou actually do end up learning a little about things you should know before going into the mountains, but he鈥檒l also talk about the mistakes they made or things they learned along the way,鈥� Susanna said. 鈥淪ome of the stories are funny and some are sad.鈥�
While Susanna hopes the book resonates well with the people who knew her father personally, she said in the end whatever praise the book receives or doesn鈥檛 isn鈥檛 important.
鈥淭he number one reason why I did this was for my family鈥攖hat鈥檚 what it really comes down to, 鈥漵he said. 鈥淚f others like the stories then that will be good too.鈥�
This is Susanna鈥檚 first book and whether or not she鈥檒l ever put together another is still undecided, but she said the process was something she enjoyed.
鈥淚 loved sitting and putting it all together,鈥�听 she said. 鈥淣ow I鈥檓 just nervous about putting it all out there鈥攊t鈥檚 a little overwhelming.鈥�
Susanna will be launching her book at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives on May 14 at 7 p.m.
鈥淚 think my dad would be proud and happy to have it all out there, but like me I think he would be a little uncomfortable. It was never his purpose to grab attention,鈥� she said.
Kayla Byrne [email protected]
