Candidate: #26
Location: Jasper National Park, Alberta
Elevation: 3,361 metres
Range: Canadian Rockies
There is often some confusion about which peak is Mount Fryatt because the common view across the Athabasca River towards Mount Fryatt actually includes two peaks that are lower but more prominent to the eyes, Mount Christie and Mount Geraldine. In particular, Mount Geraldine stands out because of its scalloped erosion pattern. However, beyond Geraldine rises a mountain that was carved on three sides by glaciers, making it a horn mountain. This is Mount Fryatt. A peak of spectacular cliffs and routes that go beyond scrambling, Mount Fryatt has been compared to Mount Assiniboine in climbing difficulty, though it was said that it was a little easier than the most famous horn peak of the Canadian Rockies.
For the story behind the name we again look back to World War I. German submarines began making their appearances in the waters around Great Britain and recently appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill gave the orders that any civilian ship encountering the enemy were to either engage them if they had armaments and if not they were to ram them. Any captain surrendering his vessel to the enemy would be prosecuted. In March of 1915, Captain Charles Algernon Fryatt of the railway ferry Brussels twie encountered German U-boats. He successfully escaped the first encounter and received a hero’s welcome upon returning to port. In the second encounter the Brussels was being lined up for a torpedo shot when Fryatt turned his vessel on the submarine and attempted to ram it, forcing it to crash dive. It seemed his actions got the attention of the Germans. He found himself surrounded by a flotilla of German torpedo boats in June of 1916 and taken as captive. He was tried and found guilty on July 27. According to the source on Bivouac, attempting to ram enemy ships with a civilian ship was still considered improper etiquette in spite of what Churchill had ordered. Captain Fryatt was promptly shot. A cry went up across Britain as Fryatt was viewed as a hero for saving his crew and passengers. Even in the then neutral United States the New York Times reported the execution as “a deliberate murder”, and Britain claimed it was an act to terrorize merchant seaman. In 1920 the Alberta Boundary Commission named the mountain after Captain Fryatt and another mountain was named Mount Brussles after his ship.
Mount Fryatt was first ascended in 1926 by J.W.A. Hickson and Howard Palmer with their guide Hans Fuhrer. During their climb they were forced to bivouac on the mountain when a thunder storm struck. Climbing Mount Fryatt is said to require three days – one to get in, one to climb, and one to get out. Mount Fryatt is one of the Over 11,000 Foot Mountains of the Canadian Rockies.
Sources:
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/154046/mt-fryatt.html
http://www.bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=195
http://www.peakfinder.com/peakfinder.asp?PeakName=Mount+Fryatt
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=mount%20fryatt&w=996543%40N20&m=pool
Next: Mount Saskatchewan