Ken Jones

A pioneering Canadian mountain guide and ski mountaineer whose life was woven into Golden, Lake Louise, and the Skoki valley. He was widely recognized as the first Canadian-born certified mountain guide, a central figure in early skiing and ski touring at Lake Louise and Skoki Lodge, and a teacher and mentor to generations of Columbia Valley skiers. Born near Golden, BC, he died in 2004 at age 93 or 94 in Nanton, Alberta.

Early life: Jones grew up on a “stump ranch”; a hard-scrabble homestead in the Columbia Valley near Golden. He worked young to pay for schooling, hunted with outfitter Bill Harrison and famed guide Conrad Kain (whom he later called “the best guide I ever knew”), and went to school with the children of Swiss guides stationed in Golden. He studied medicine at McGill until the Depression cut off his funds; he completed engineering and biology degrees by correspondence while working in the mountains. His family narrowly escaped the Titanic disaster when his mother couldn’t book passage while returning from England with him as a baby.

Becoming a guide: In the early 1930s he apprenticed under Swiss guides; Christian Hasler and the Feuz brothers; at Lake Louise and Golden, doing camp work (cooking, packing, trail work) before transitioning to formal guiding. In 1933 he worked with Walter Feuz, guided Katie Gardiner into Wolverine Pass, and participated in first ascents such as Foster Peak. By the mid-1930s the CPR Swiss guides certified him as the first Canadian-born mountain guide; a milestone in a profession previously dominated by Europeans. In 1935, when a climber fell on Mount Assiniboine and the official guides were exhausted, Ken led the rescue; he became a regular at Alpine Club of Canada camps as both cook and guide.

Lake Louise: He worked winters at the Chateau Lake Louise and in the Yoho Valley on snow removal and ski-related jobs, spending long evenings with the Swiss guides (he jokingly called them the “Old Swiss Cheeses”; “so full of hot air”). He competed in cross-country, jumping, slalom, and downhill, and took part in the 1939 Canadian Championships with Stan Peyto. Between 1937 and 1941 he was active as a ski guide between Lake Louise and Skoki Lodge.

Skoki Lodge: Jones’s legend is strongest at Skoki. In 1936 he helped put the roof on a lodge expansion; that same year Earl Spencer sent him to find a 60-foot ridge pole. He spent eight days locating, cutting, and dragging the log from near Douglas Lake to Skoki. When he reached what is now Jones Pass with the log; a few hundred metres from the lodge; the pass was named in his honour. He regularly hauled 60–90 pound loads from the Lake Louise train station to Skoki while leading guests on skis, cooked, guided ski tours, and introduced guests to ski touring and ski mountaineering. He won the Skoki Club cross-country race in 1938. He served as manager of Skoki Lodge from about 1960 to 1964.

Broader career: He worked in Yukon mining and at the Base Metals Monarch Mine near Field, BC; trained as a WWII pilot but partial deafness kept him from flying; instead he helped train the Scottish Lovat Scouts in mountain and ski warfare in the Rockies; built log structures; studied polar bears in Churchill. He long wanted to meet Erling Strom of Assiniboine Lodge; when they connected, Strom employed him. In 1967, after lobbying by Strom and Lizzie Rummel, Ken was appointed the first warden of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, a position he held until 1974.

Legacy: Lizzie Rummel described him as “a real guide, he takes people out, has them do more than they ever thought possible, and brings them home laughing.” The Lake Louise Ski Resort used to hosts the Ken Jones Classic ski mountaineering race in his memory. Jones Peak in the Mummery Icefield was named for him by Andy Kauffman. His diaries and some 3,287 photographs are held in the Ken Jones fonds at the Whyte Museum (Banff). Ken Jones, Mountain Man (Lorne and Kim Tetarenko) collects his stories. The Golden Nordic Club and ACMG records cite him as a major influence on local skiing and Canadian guiding.