The Yale Lake Louise Club (or Yale Lake Louise group) was a small, informal group of Yale University students and alumni who explored the Canadian Rockies in the 1890s. They gave themselves the “club” moniker during the 1894 expedition.

Core members. Walter Wilcox (Washington, D.C.); wealthy student, prolific author and photographer; wrote Camping in the Canadian Rockies (1896), which popularized the region to American tourists. Samuel E.S. Allen (Philadelphia); visionary climber and cartographer; drove the group’s mapping efforts and named many iconic features (including the Valley of the Ten Peaks) using Stoney Nakoda words learned from their guides. L.F. Frissell joined Wilcox and Allen for the 1894 season and participated in the first ascent of Mount Temple (3,544 m); the first peak over 11,000 ft climbed in the Canadian Rockies.

William Twin. William Twin was employed by the group as primary guide and horse packer. His relationship with them was professional but marked by the typical friction between Victorian-era sportsmen and Indigenous experts. Twin led them through dense bush and across high passes they could not have navigated alone. After the students spent a frustrating day failing to spot game, Twin chided them: “You no see goat, you no got eyes”; highlighting the difference between recreational landscape appreciation and his survival-based observational skills. Allen in particular respected the Stoney language, incorporating it into his maps (Wenkchemna, Wiwaxy, Hungabee).