Remembering Conrad Kain
The Conrad Kain Centennial Society was formed in 2009 to celebrate the legacy of one of Canada’s most accomplished mountain guides who immigrated from Austria in 1909 and worked for the Alpine Club of Canada and with private clients until his untimely death in 1934.
The Society was comprised of a dedicated group of professional mountain guides and Kain fans from British Columbia’s upper Columbia Valley, including Hermann and Ursel Mauthner; Barb Neraasen, whose mother was the niece of Kain’s wife Hetta; Frank Keely, Marg Christensen, chair of the Lake Windermere Historical Society; Maria Kloos, Brian Patton, John Scurlock, Roko Koell and Arnor Larson.
Kain lived for the last two decades of his life in Wilmer, in the Upper Columbia valley, whose nearby mountains were the scene of many of his greatest mountaineering achievements.
In recognition of his contribution to the sport of mountaineering and his love of nature, the Society undertook a series of projects and events to provide a legacy to his community and valley for many years to come. Many of these projects and events were keyed to the year 2009, which marked the 100th anniversary of Kain’s immigration to his adopted country of Canada.
While the Society disbanded in 2023, among its more influential achievements was the Bugaboo Teens Climbing Program which annually offered a free-of-charge three day camp aimed at exposing teens to the rich mountaineering history in the region.
The camp initiative was spearheaded by Kain Centennial Society Chairman Pat Morrow, a climber and adventure photographer, and was supported by various organizations in order to keep it free-of-charge. Guides Tim McAllister and Kirk Mauthner deserve great credit for their enduring guiding support of the program.
In 2023, with design support of Brett St. Clair, Western Skyline Marketing & Communication, the Society replaced its original website and the blog housed on it. The blog captured the Society’s many activities and initiatives over its 14 year span. The blog posts have been collected as an eBooklet retrospective and may be downloaded from the links below.
Most of the photos and text were provided by Kain Society chair Pat Morrow and curated by society historian Brian Patton, with input (photos, text) from the teens and guides who took part in the climbing program.
A scene from the Conrad Kain Centennial Society’s 2019 Bugaboo Teens Climbing Camp. Pat Morrow photo