10 days of community celebration and magic ~

Each year, the days at the end of October through the beginning of November are particularly exciting for our club as we get the opportunity during the Rockies “shoulder season” to celebrate with our mountain community. We host or take part in several events, awards, initiatives and gatherings, and if you blinked during this time, you may have missed something fun. Here’s a round-up of all the beautiful things.

October

27th: Celebrating Peter Fuhrmann’s 90th Birthday
28th: Mountain Guides Ball, Summit Bid Auction, and Banff Mountain Film Fest
30th: Mountain Spirit Award

November

2nd: Grand Prize Book Award
3rd - 5th: Festival Marketplace
4th: Backcountry Huts 101
4th: Happy Hour w/ MEC & YETI

Celebrating Peter Fuhrmann’s 90th Birthday

The 32nd Mountain Guides Ball coincided with ACC’s Past President and MGB Founder Peter Fuhrmann’s 90th birthday, and we couldn’t wait to celebrate. On Friday, the day before the MGB, Peter and several friends, ACC Past Presidents, and community members gathered at the ACC Clubhouse in Canmore to commemorate the occasion. It was an intimate evening between old companions, reminding us of where we came from and the strong bonds we develop in our community and the mountains. We thank the dedicated group of volunteers for the strong foundation that they've set for the ACC today.

Photos from Wyatt Michalek.

32nd Mountain Guides Ball

The Mountain Guides Ball is a long-standing ACC and ACMG tradition celebrating the mountain community and honouring new Mountain Guides. It’s also an excuse to see our mountain companions all cleaned up and ready to party at a lovely venue, with this year’s event taking place at the Fairmont Banff Springs. If you’d like to learn more about the history of the MGB, you can hear about it in this video, straight from the founder - Peter Fuhrmann!

The ACMG “pinned” six new Mountain Guides this year: Marcus Waring, Dan Robb, Hamish Sanderson, Carla Demyen, Darren Farley, and Phil Widmer. This was also the first year that the ACMG recognized at the event all those who completed other ACMG certification pathways, including Hiking Guides, Top Rope Climbing Instructors, Via Ferrata Guides, and more.

Undoubtedly, a highlight of the evening was celebrating the extraordinary life of the 2023 MGB Patron, Dan Verrall. The ACC and the mountain community couldn’t be more grateful for Dan’s work and dedication to the club and in particular our backcountry hut system over the years (decades!), You can learn more about Dan through the MGB page.

New to this year’s ball was the addition of the Afterparty, an opportunity for those who couldn’t make it to the main show to attend afterwards for dancing and partying.

The 32nd Mountain Guides Ball was a memorable evening; we’re so glad we saw so many warm faces!

The Summit Bid Silent Auction

The ACC and ACMG’s Summit Bid Silent Auction coincides with the Mountain Guides Ball and each year raises funds for a charitable cause of both the club and the guides’ association. This year, proceeds are being directed to the ACC Facilities Fund and the ACMG Ken Jones Development Fund.

This year's auction featured over 170 lots, and due to our generous donors and our awesome volunteers and organizers, we raised over $50,000! We can’t thank everyone involved enough for their patience, generosity and commitment - your efforts contribute greatly to our community.

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival

The ACC has been a partner of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival since its inception, and it’s been a blast every year to be a part of this event.

As we do for each festival, this year, we had a number of significant involvements:

Sponsorship of the Mountain Spirit Award: This award goes to a young individual between the ages of 15 and 25 who initiates positive change to celebrate, protect and advocate for the outdoors. The 2023 award was won by Zachary Chomchu, and was presented at the Radical Reels event on Oct 30th. Congrats Zach!
Sponsorship of the Book Competition Grand Prize – The Phyllis and Don Munday Award: The ACC has been supporting and cultivating mountain culture since it was founded 117 years ago and sponsoring the grand prize of the book fest is a continuation of that legacy. The award was won this year by Helen Mort for her novel A Line Above the Sky: On Mountains and Motherhood and was presented during a feature film screening on Nov. 2.
Backcountry Huts 101: New for the festival this year were more intimate presentations alongside MEC at the Mountain Marketplace. Two gracious ACC employees attended and provided valuable insight on our hut operations and how to stay cozy in the backcountry.
Festival Marketplace: This has always been an enjoyable part of the festival for us, and we were excited to join for another year! We were also very pleased to be able to showcase the ACC’s Shadow Lake Lodge as well. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say ‘hi’ and learn more about us!
Happy Hour: This is always a big event! Learn more about this below…

ACC x MEC x YETI Happy Hour

We’ve tightly partnered with our good friends MEC & YETI to bring the Happy Hour event to the BMFF each year! This is an opportunity for festival-goers to snag a signature festival YETI Rambler mug, along with a drink and some great raffle prizes! Echoing the Summit Bid Silent Auction's charitable efforts, all sales proceeds went to support the ACC Facilities Fund.

Wild Rose Brewery and Core Values Cider Co. provided the beverages, YETI the mugs, and MEC much of the raffle prizes (as well as the MC magic). Together, we raised $8,000 for the ACC Facilities Fund - what a blast!

See you next year!