The Reverend George R.B. Kinney; Proctor, BC.
BC Archives
Camp among last bushes. 7000 feet. Lucius Coleman, Arthur Coleman, George Kinney. 1907
Coleman, The Canadian Rockies. New and Old trails. p. 327
A.O. Wheeler, Donald “Curly” Phillips, Harry Blagden, Ned Hollister, Charles Walcott Jr., James Shand-Harvey, Casey Jones and Rev. George B. Kinney, near Maligne Lake, Smithsonian-ACC Robson Expedition
Photo: Byron Harmon, 1911
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
George Rex Boyer Kinney [1872–1961]
b. 1872 — Victoria Corner, New Brunswick, Canada
d. 1961 — Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Kinney became interested in climbing while serving as a minister of the Methodist Church in Banff and Field (1). He accompanied Arthur Philomen Coleman [1852–1939] on his unsuccessful trips to Mount Robson in 1907 and 1908 (2). Kinney returned alone in July 1909, met Donald “Curly” Phillips [1884–1938] near Jasper, and travelled with him through the Yellowhead Pass and the Moose River valley to Mount Robson. After being repelled by weather several times, they reached what Kinney and Phillips reported to be the peak of Mount Robson (3, 4).
During the Alpine Club of Canada camp at Mount Robson in 1913, Phillips stated that he and Kinney had not ascended a final 50-foot dome of snow (5), and official credit for climbing the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies goes to Conrad Kain, William Wasborough Foster [1875–1954], and Albert H. McCarthy [1876–1956] (6).
See Kinney at Robson for more information.
(7, 8)
- 1906 ACC organized, Mount Robson attempt proposed
- 1906 ACC Camp – Yoho
- 1907 Schaffer meets Coleman in Wilcox Pass
- 1907 ACC Camp – Paradise Valley
- 1907 Coleman – Laggan to Robson
- 1908 Coleman – Edmonton to Robson
- 1909 Kinney and Phillips at Mount Robson
- 1909 kinney returns to Edmonton
- 1911 ACC-Smithsonian Robson expedition (assistant)
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. AC 014M George Kinney photographs and price lists. (1907).. Whyte Museum
- — Photographs and price lists (M200 / AC 014M) (1907).. Whyte Museum
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. Alpine Club of Canada fonds, V14, M200 (1907).. Whyte Museum
- — “Mount Stephen.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 1 (1907):91
- — “Mount Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 2 (1909):10-16
- — Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. ACC fonds M200/III (1909).. Whyte Museum
- — “The ascent of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. 42, no. 7 (1910):496-511. JSTOR
- — and Phillips, Donald “Curly” [1884–1938]. “To the top of Mount Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1910):21-44
- — “Trail From Maligne Lake To Laggan. Report of the Rev. G. Kinney to the Alpine Club of Canada.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 4 (1912):81
- — Canadian Mountain Climbing. Vancouver, B.C.: The Canadian Club of Vancouver, 1913
- — London, England: Royal Geographical Society Archives. Letter to Arthur Hinks (1917).
- — Carnet de visites, agenda medical (sketchbook created in France) (1919).. Library and Archives Canada
- — London, England: Royal Geographical Society Archives. Letter to Doctor Hinks (1936).
- 1. Mortimore, G. E. “The preacher who climbed Mount Robson Peak.” Daily Colonist [Victoria, BC], (9 April 1950)
- 2. Coleman, Arthur Philemon [1852–1939]. The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1911. Internet Archive
- 3. Kinney, George Rex Boyer [1872–1961], and Phillips, Donald “Curly” [1884–1938]. “To the top of Mount Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1910):21-44
- 4. Kinney, George Rex Boyer [1872–1961]. Banff: Whyte Museum Archives. ACC fonds M200/III (1909). Whyte Museum
- 5. Parker, Elizabeth [1856–1944]. “A new field for mountaineering.” Scribner’s Magazine, 55 (1914)
- 6. Kain, Conrad [1883–1934]. “The first ascent of Mt. Robson, the highest peak of the Rockies.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 6 (1914–1915):22-
- 7. Swanson, James L. [1947–]. Banff: George Kinney and the first ascent of Mount Robson (1999). Spiral Road
- 8. First World War Personnel Records, Library and Archives Canada. Kinney, George