The Yam: 50 Years of Climbing on Yamnuska

David E. Kemp, a former professor of drama at Queen’s University, is
the author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

The Yam is not, as you might think, a reverie on the sweet potato, but
rather a detailed study of the Yamnuska, the great mountainous outcrop
of rock that lies in the Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park just off
the Trans-Canada Highway between Banff and Calgary. It is unquestionably
a breathtaking sight: a kilometre and a half long, 360 metres high at
the summit, and 2,235 metres above sea level, the cliff is so straight
and sheer that the locals who live below it on the Stoney Indian Reserve
call it “the flat-faced mountain,” which is what Yamnuska means in
Sioux.

This mountain has a magical allure for the hundreds of climbers who
have scaled its craggy walls. Written by experienced climbers, The Yam
documents in exciting detail the stories of these climbers. We also
learn about the mountain’s geological formation, and about the
region’s history and flora and fauna. This is a book for all
mountaineering enthusiasts, armchair or otherwise.