CONTENTS
Foreword
Conrad Kain, Guide and Mountaineer
Chic Scott
Acknowledgements
Maps
Austria; the Canadian Rockies and Columbias; the Southern Alps of
New Zealand
Introduction
Letters from the Archives
Part One
A Young Guide in Europe, 1906–1909
Part Two
Your Friend in the Western Woods, 1909–1912
Part Three
The Wanderer, 1912–1916
Part Four
With Greetings, From Wilmer, 1920–1933
Epilogue
The Kain-Malek Correspondence: Provenance, 1934–2005
Don Bourdon
Bibliography
Index
"Zac Robinson's edition of Conrad Kain: Letters from a Wandering Mountain Guide, 1906-1933 is an important new work. It is imbued with a level of intimacy that was edited out of Kain's classic biography, Where the Clouds Can Go. Robinson's erudite annotations and freshly discovered photos help shed new light on the life and times of one of our country's greatest mountain guides and raconteurs." -- Pat Morrow Chairman of the Conrad Kain Centennial Society "Simple, beautiful, and thoughtfully handled volume of letters. Though the content is historical in nature, the typography feels fresh and of this time--a nice complement to the old full-bleed photographs. The synopsis of events on the part openers provides a helpful overview of each section." -- Renate Gokl Juror, AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show
Conrad Kain, mountaineer (b 10 Aug 1883 at Nasswald, Austria; d 2 Feb 1934 at Cranbrook, BC). Conrad Kain is considered one of the most daring climbers of his generation. Dubbed "Canada's First Super-Guide," Kain was a rogue guide that did more demanding climbs than the Swiss Guides. Kain was born in Austria to a poor family that lived in dire circumstances. His father died when he was a young boy, and he did much to support his family as a goatherder and quarryman, poaching animals when money was tight. Kain discovered early on that his real passion was being in the mountains, climbing and guiding. He received his guiding certificate (or "Fuhrerbuch") in 1906 when he was 23 years old. Source: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/conrad-kain Zac Robinson is a historian and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He currently serves as Vice-President for Mountain Culture for the Alpine Club of Canada. Maria Koch studied and graduated at the University of Würzburg in West Germany and taught high school there until she emigrated to Canada in 1957. In 1964, she resumed her teaching career at the University of Alberta as a lecturer of German. She taught at the UofA for twenty-seven years until retirement. Originally from Germany John Koch attended the University of Würzburg and emigrated to Canada in 1954. After further studies at the University of British Columbia, where he obtained a masters degree in social work, John worked in the social welfare and health-care fields in the provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and, since 1964, Alberta. John retired in 1987, and since has written and published books on German history, as well as Martin Nordegg: The Uncommon Immigrant (1997) and most recently No Escape: My Young Years Under Hitler's Shadow (2004). John and Maria currently live in Edmonton.
"Zac Robinson’s edition of Conrad Kain: Letters from a Wandering
Mountain Guide, 1906–1933 is an important new work. It is imbued
with a level of intimacy that was edited out of Kain’s classic
biography, Where the Clouds Can Go. Robinson's erudite annotations
and freshly discovered photos help shed new light on the life and
times of one of our country's greatest mountain guides and
raconteurs."
*Chairman of the Conrad Kain Centennial Society*
“… A must have book for those interested in Conrad Kain, 1st
generation Canadian mountaineering and Canadian mountain culture.
Conrad Kain: Letters from a Wandering Mountain Guide, 1906-1933 has
a splendid assortment of maps and photographs, but the prize jewel
of the book are the many letters (142) written by Conrad Kain.… The
letters to Amelie are touching and tender, informative and
insightful, historic and charming. .. [T]he Robinson and Bourdon
contributions are like exquisite book ends within which the
evocative letters make for the literary centrepiece.” [Full review
at: http://www.conradkain.com/news/book-review-ron-dart]
*Ron Dart*
"Conrad Kain is a compelling title from University of Alberta
Press. Kain is renowned among Canadian mountaineers as a pioneering
guide so accomplished they named a British Columbia peak for him,
Mount Conrad. He escaped grinding poverty as a miner’s son in rural
Austria and travelled the world from Honolulu to Ulaanbaatar....
Conrad Kain: Letters From A Wandering Mountain Guide takes readers
page by page through a man’s life and thoughts. It is a dark and
absorbing narrative." [Full review at
http://www.blacklocks.ca/book-review-the-unhappy-traveler]
*Blacklock's Reporter*
"In a culture that enjoys as many romantic figures as there are
mountain peaks on the horizon as viewed from a lofty summit, Conrad
Kain holds a special place in the historical landscape of western
Canada's mountains. Robinson...makes no secret of his affection for
Kain, and that's a good thing, because he handles the letters Kain
wrote throughout his adult life while guiding in Canada and New
Zealand to his dear friend in Austria, Amelie Malek, with the care
and reverence they so richly deserve."
*Alpine Club of Canada Gazette*
"Conrad Kain was arguably the pre-eminent mountain guide in Canada
in the early years of the 20th century and left a legacy of first
ascents and epic climbs in his native Austria, in his adopted home
in North America (e.g., Mount Robson), and in New Zealand’s
Southern Alps.... Robinson has ordered the letters chronologically
and throughout the book has skillfully annotated them to fill in
gaps or provide context.... From his letters, it’s obvious that
Kain loved climbing mountains for the physical challenge, to meet
interesting people, to make a living, and for opportunities to
travel around the world, but most especially because of his
all-consuming love of the natural world." Vol. 129, No. 1 (2015)
[Full review at
http://canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn]
*The Canadian Field-Naturalist*
"Simple, beautiful, and thoughtfully handled volume of letters.
Though the content is historical in nature, the typography feels
fresh and of this time--a nice complement to the old full-bleed
photographs. The synopsis of events on the part openers provides a
helpful overview of each section."
*Juror, AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show*
"... in the letters we find a Kain who is disarmingly open and
honest about his life, his successes and his failures and this
unscripted or unedited look into the life of a remarkable man
continues throughout the book. As editor, Robinson [includes]...
extensive and informative footnotes that provide context and create
a broader historical story that fits Kain’s life into the events
that occur around him while filling in any gaps in the
narrative....Kain is one of those rare gems whose personality and
reputation match. He is a great climber and a great person." [Full
article at http://ow.ly/SlZcF]
*Rocky Mountain Outlook*
"[Kain's letters] are rich in detail not only about his travels and
climbs in the European, Siberian, Canadian, and New Zealand
mountain ranges that involved staggering heights, immense walls of
rock, steep glacier fields, icy crests, as well as sudden storms,
rockslides, and avalanches. The letters also reflect the inner
experience and yearnings of this mountain guide.... The book is
enriched by fifty archival photographs mainly of mountains and
people as well as by three helpful maps (xvi–xix). The 143 letters
are amply annotated.... Reading these letters puts a wonderfully
human face on an Austrian mountain guide's achievements and reveals
as well his craft's challenges, defeats, and glories."
*Yearbook of German American Studies*
"Conrad Kain (1883–1934) was an acclaimed climber of his day.
Born in Austria, he immigrated to Canada in 1909 and became known
for his pioneering climbs in British Columbia. In 1906, Kain wrote
a letter to Amelia Malek (1871–1941), an early student whom he had
instructed in the ways of climbing in the Alps. For the rest of his
life, Kain wrote to her, first from Austria and then from Canada.
The present volume presents all 144 of Kain's letters to Malek. It
is a one-sided correspondence marked by class differences—he was a
guide, she an affluent tourist—and deep affection. The letters
cover a wide range of topics, from the immigrant experience in
Canada to his life in the far north to the joy he discovered in the
Canadian Rockies. If the writing is rough, the descriptions of the
mountains and nature are glorious.”
*Choice Magazine*
"Austrian Conrad Kain....became a celebrated guide and mountaineer,
claiming sixty-one ascents in the Rockies. Kain was what we have
come to call an economic migrant, a poor man looking for better
wages and a modicum of financial security.... Throughout Kain’s
life abroad, the written word was as important as wages to his
sustenance.... Spanning the time from just before he set off for
Canada until just before his death, these letters reveal something
of the immigrant experience, of the loneliness single men like Kain
felt, the solace and sadness that news from home brought, and the
desire to return, if only for a visit."
[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/621168]
*The Canadian Historical Review*
"Kain is a major figure in the history of Canada’s Alpine West. His
name endures alongside those of later adventurers in the
Bugaboos.... His exploits are familiar to lovers of the Rockies:
Mount Robson, Mount Louis, North Twin.... Robinson’s edition
consists of newly unearthed letters from Kain to Amelie Malek....
Malek’s letters have not survived, but Kain’s correspondence is
effervescent.... The letters register his remarkable zest and on
occasion his prejudices. They evoke a bygone time of hemp ropes but
also depict aspects of life in a new country.... Devotees of the
high country will enjoy the letters’ adventure and charm; literary
critics will delight in certain details." Canadian Literature 232
(Spring 2017) [Full review at
http://canlit.ca/article/letters-from-iceland]
*Nicholas Bradley*
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