Lizzie Rummel: Baroness of the Canadian Rockies

Elizabeth von Rummel, born into aristocracy in turn-of-the-century Germany, came with her family to live on a ranch in the Alberta foothills, when working on it became the alternative to life in her World War One-ravaged homeland. Then, when most people were settling into middle age, Lizzie struck out on another challange; for 32 years she ran backcountry lodges like Skoki and Assiniboine, for which she received the Order of Canada and the friendship of hundreds of people whose lives were enhanced by her special charm.

Ruth Oltmann came to Alberta thirty-five years ago from eastern Canada and has been hiking and climbing in the Rocky Mountains every since. She moved to the mountains ìfor six monthsî in 1970, and since then has run youth hostels at Spray River, Castle Mountain, and Ribbon Creek and worked as a cook at Skoki Lodge, Bugaboo Lodge, and the Kananaskis Centre for Environmental Research. She is the author of a history of the region, The Kananaskis Story.