Monday marks 100th anniversary of first ascent of Mount Alberta

The Japanese Alpine Club were invited to Jasper to mark the anniversary of climbers from Japan becoming the first to reach the summit of Mount Alberta.

Descendants of the six Japanese climbers that ascended Mount Alberta in Jasper a century ago are hoping to keep the story alive.

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Shotaro Katsunuma, the great-grandson of climber Yukio Mita, said the story isn’t well known to young people.

“My mission is to bring this story back to Japan and to tell my generation,” Katsunuma told CTV News Edmonton. “I hope this story will continue for the young generation for a long time.”

Twenty-one members of the Japanese Alpine Club were invited to Jasper by the Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society and the Alpine Club of Canada to commemorate the centennial.

On July 21, 1925, six Japanese climbers and three Swiss guides ascended onto Mount Alberta. The steep, 3,619 metre climb took 16 hours and marked the first-ever ascent of the mountain, all the way to its summit.

The group left an axe on the summit, given to them by Marquis Mori Tatsu Hosokawa, a member of the Japanese royal family.

In 1948, two American mountaineers made the second ascent of the mountain, finding the upper part of the axe. It was later exhibited by the American Alpine Club Museum in New York City.

The upper part of the axe was given to the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum in 1995.

Later, the Nagano High School Mountaineering Club alumni team from Japan made the fifth climb of Mount Alberta in 1965. The team found the remaining part of the axe, not knowing its significance.

Both parts of the axe were reunited in 1997 at the Japanese Alpine Club annual banquet.

Junko Haga, the daughter of Yukio Mita, was at the 50th and 75th anniversaries.

“He taught his friends in Japan how to climb the winter mountains,” said Mita. “From then, in Japan, mountain climbing has become very popular.”

Mount Alberta is the sixth highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

With files from CTV News Calgary.