At the VIMFF, I ran into Rob Wood who made the first British ascent of the Nose of El Capitan in 1968. He asked me to publish the movie of their historical Baffin Island Expedition in 1971. Here it is with some background info.
Rob (Photo Beryl Knauth)
Rob on top of Waddington (Photo Doug Scott)
Born in 1945, Rob Wood grew up in a village on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors in England. His teenage years were preoccupied with rock climbing. Studying architecture for five years in London during the mid sixties, Rob was lured west by Expo 67 and the Canadian wilderness. He made the first British ascent of the Nose of El Capitan in 1968 and pioneered Ice climbing in the Canadian Rockies in the early 70’s. In 1975 he bought into a land co-op on an island off BC’s remote West Coast. Rob married Laurie Manson and with her daughter Kiersten they built an off grid homestead. They developed a small house design practice specializing in organic and wholesome buildings while also running multiday ocean to alpine wilderness expeditions to the heart of the BC Coast Range. For years Rob taught Wilderness Self Reliance at Strathcona Park Lodge and was a founding member of the Friends of Strathcona Park 1986 protest that stopped logging and mining in the Park. (From VIMFF intro)
“In the summer times, we explored the Rockies and climbed some new routes. Every time we went back to Calgary on Sunday night, we had a hollowness in our guts. The contrast with the reality we knew in the mountains became too much. I soon left the city.”
Extract from Doug Scott’s foreword of Rob’s Book “Toward the Unknown mountains:
“It was Rob, on our first trip to Baffin Island, who prompted a conscious and systematic self-examination and started a process which may go on for the rest of our lives. For me he always had that ability to put into words my own wandering thoughts and vague feelings that an inner search is necessary before we can effect any real changes in the world and gain real peace of mind and happiness for ourselves. We agreed that the only changes of lasting value occur when we as individuals modify our own desires for fame, fortune and power over others – control our ambitions and ‘that ardent desire for distinction’ and come to terms with our inner nature.”
Scott and Rob made a number of expeditions together, including one to the top of Waddington and one up a new route on Vancouver Island’s most impressive alpine face: Colonel Foster.
Bibliography:
- Rob Wood: Legend, Pioneer, Activist, Hippie
- Toward the Unknown Mountains: An autobiography from the Canadian Wilderness Frontier published in 1991 by Ptarmigan Press Ltd.
- At Home with Nature: A Life of Unknown Mountains and Deep Wilderness, published in 2017 by RMB.
Rob & Laurie House on Maurelle Islande (photo Dom Snyers, Feb 2018)
Rob & Laurie in the Maurelle Island Forest (Photo Dom Snyers, Feb 2018)
