The Mount Temple Disaster

Mount Temple (3,543 m) is a mountain in Banff National Park of the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. It's located in the Bow River Valley between Paradise Creek and Moraine Creek. Mount Temple is the highest peak in the Lake Louise area. It was named by George Mercer Dawson in 1884 after Sir Richard Temple who visited the Canadian Rockies that same year. Mount Temple was the first peak to be climbed in the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains in 1894.
In July 1955, a group of eleven unsupervised youths from the Wilderness Camp of Philadelphia were climbing the tourist route on the Southwest Ridge of Mount Temple.
They were clad only in light clothing and there was only one ice axe in the group. Some of them wore baseball cleats for better friction. They were tied together at 1.5 metre intervals on a manilla rope. The temperature was 24.5ºC and the route was snow covered.
At 4 pm, they reached 2,750 metres, and gathered together to assess the situation as several small avalanches had fallen near them. The most experienced member of the party, Tony Woodfield,
urged them to turn back and they began to descend.
A few minutes later, a large avalanche hurtled toward the group. Tony Woodfield dug his axe in and the rope went taut and then broke. Ten boys, ages 12 to 16 were swept 200 meters down the snowfield and through a bottleneck, smashing into rocks along the way.
Before the day was over, seven of them would be dead in one of the worst avalanche accidents in Parks Canada history.
#mounttemple #climbingdisaster #banffnationalpark
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[@davymckeown4577]

Thanks, that was heart-breaking. Unfortunately these things still happen, in the mountains, at sea and in caves people still exceed their ability due to a limited understanding of the dangers.

[@normanmackenzie8130]

Again you surprise me, with an event i had not heard of before. You seem to do a lot of research on your videos, and i think you do a marvellous job of collating the events, to recreate the events that took place at the time Excellent job,,, and keep them coming, i do enjoy your content .

[@epicadventurearchives]

Thanks again!

[@epicadventurearchives]

Yes, it takes a lot of time to do research and make a script.

[@rodeo9837]

Thank you for this video I have never heard this story before

[@WienGolf]

Again this was an awesome video about a tragedy of mountaineering I’ve never heard of. I appreciate the maps and many photos of original places and of the victims we should remember when we talk about the catastrophe. Although I’ve heard about the city of Banff and the old hotels there I could not imagine how great nature it on that place. I can imagine the boys‘ group forgetting everything they knew about security when they faced wonderful Mount Temple. On the other hand you never should forget to plan a tour exactly, your route, your clothing and your equipment. Thank you so much!

[@epicadventurearchives]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks

[@zztop4996]

I have a story for you to consider making a video about. I had never heard of a young woman named Nanda Devi Unsoeld." I stumbled upon her story while I was looking up some stuff on her famous climber dad, Willi Unsoeld. In 1998, Tom Hornbein wrote the historic book, "Everest: The West Ridge," about his and Unsoeld's famous Everest climb via, what ever after would be called, "Hornbein's Couloir." Anyway, if you search "Nanda Devi Unsoeld," you'll find written stories about her death as a very young woman, climbing the mountain she was named after -- Nanda Devi. I searched around on KZbin and other places and was unable to locate any vids on the story. It's actually a great story. Thanks for ALL you do!!

[@epicadventurearchives]

Will look into it someday.

[@zztop4996]

EXCELLENT video! Excellent story. I had never heard of it before. Your narration is also excellent. Now, ONLY because, having watched your vids from the beginning and I think you may be trying to improve your English, there are two(2) very minor things I noticed. First, you use your "F" sound for "P". Example: You say "Fark" instead of Park. You also switch your "W" sound for "V". Example: You say "Wicious" instead of Vicious. GREAT WORK! You're, by far, the VERY best in this genre!!!

[@epicadventurearchives]

Thanks

[@johnbarroll1120]

As a graduate of Chestnuthill Academy, I cannot believe this elite private school would allow children U15 to scale these gigantic peaks which require professional training and preperation. Inexcusable!!! Somebody should have been imprisoned. This is gross criminal conduct