A Passion for Mountains: The Lives of Don and Phyllis Munday

Ann Turner, formerly the financial and budget manager of the University
of British Columbia Library, is a freelance writer.

This joint biography of Canada’s famous mountaineering couple follows
a previous biography of Phyllis alone by historian and archivist Kathryn
Bridge (Phyllis Munday: Mountaineer, 2002). The Mundays were true
pioneers. Climbing as a team, they explored B.C.’s Coast Mountains,
the Rockies, and the Selkirk and Columbia Ranges from 1910 until Don’s
death in 1950, and are credited with over 40 first ascents. They kept
careful records of their explorations, which Don used for his many
newspaper and magazine articles and his book, The Unknown Mountain,
published in 1948 and still a classic in the field of mountaineering.
His publications, as well as the couple’s climbing diaries,
manuscripts, and extensive collection of photographs, are the resources
for this intimate biography. Bridge uses the couple’s own words and
personal photographs effectively to give the reader a sense of the
exhilaration and challenges the Mundays experienced on their adventures.