SH: So you are now a full ACMG mountain guide by 1985 (Tape 27 18)
Gerry: I am a full mountain guide. Let me see. From there Darro decided to move onto greener pastures and got asked to assume other roles, and essentially my role responsibilities increased as Darro moved up the ladder so to speak. So I was essentially full time managing the program and the concept at that point in time was there was Assistant Chief Park Wardens, of which I was one of four. There were four corners; enforcement, resource management, public safety, and backcountry. By this time Toni Klettl had retired and I had taken his position.
SH: So we are in late 80s about 1988 now? So now what’s happening (Tape 29 00) Gerry: Somewhere in there. So demands throughout the organization increased. There was again a push towards a more specialized, more professional approach to everything, not only within national parks but beyond national park boundaries. So they were looking for people that had credentials. The Wildlife section were wanting to hire biologists, job descriptions changed, work place analysis tasks were conducted, law enforcement requirements changed, in terms of training and in terms of equipment, in terms of techniques and a whole variety of things. The only thing that really didn’t change … well I guess backcountry changed too, and what was happening in the backcountry, not so much in terms of skill sets, was how the public used the backcountry. The public had moved away from horse travel for the most part and hiked shorter trips. By that time the average trip length for folks going into the backcountry was 3 days whereas a decade earlier it was five to ten days. Interesting. So backcountry … the demands for training was going up as well. There was a fatal accident in Lake Louise, involving a horse and a warden. Help me out here….
SH: Colgan (Tape 31 22)
Gerry: Yes, Neil Colgan. The accident rate amongst backcountry wardens in Jasper where the injuries were from serious to relatively minor, the injury rate was very high. (On July 25th, 1979 warden Neil Colgan was kicked by his horse while on backcountry patrol. He died as a result of his injuries.) The old guys, when I first came into the outfit, they grew up with horses and they knew how to get around. But it took them years and years of experience to develop the ability to competently travel in a wilderness setting by themselves and avoid the pitfalls when horses and people are put together so to speak. And so the requirement for credentials, the requirement for a higher level of employer responsibility for employee safety. So formal training programs, all that stuff was coming to a peak. To a point where we were looking at a minimum of 20… depending on what you were doing… 20-40 days of training just to meet the basic requirements of maintaining skill sets, and competency levels. And so the demands on wardens to keep up so they could continue to be generalists. A good example was advanced first aid training. At that time in Jasper, we were first responders. We didn’t have a full time ambulance crew, so the Park had its own ambulance, and it was outfitted, not as well as an ambulance that came from a place like Hinton or came from Banff. But we called it an emergency vehicle and it would have splints and oxygen and stretchers and a whole variety of equipment that we needed to stabilize people and fire them back towards the nearest hospital. The bottom line is that the training was overwhelming, and we started to recognize that the concept of being a generalist and meeting the increasing demands of competence and professionalism was unsustainable. Gradually it just evolved to the point where to make it work with the resources that we had we started to specialize. To recognize those folks that had skill sets that were better than your average bear and to utilize them in the most effective way we could. So the folks that were interested and good in enforcement naturally evolved, took a greater interest, took more time, devoted more energy into that part of the work.
People that were involved in problem wildlife issues, same thing. Coming in with a bit more in terms of education. Focusing their interests and ensuring people knew what their interests were. So we had this evolving functionalized workforce that would often come together to do great things. So I’ll give an example – fire. So if you had a big fire most of the guys were trained up in fire, they knew how the roles and responsibilities would go, how the reporting structure worked, the resources we had, the dynamics of resourcing and providing for the needs of those folks on the front line. That was routine. And there was a bunch of crossover. So if there was a problem wildlife incident, again those crossover skills would come into play. If there was a rescue, of course everybody had their role and most folks knew what their role was, which made everything function as it should. That trend continued and of course today, roles are highly specialized to the point where job descriptions are specialized job descriptions. Pay scales are independent of one another. A park warden is a guy that enforces essentially law and regulations within the context of national parks and packs a sidearm. (Tape 37 37)
Gerry: Interesting aside, at that point in time there was an accident, a fatal accident with a warden called Pat Sheehan. Pat and I were essentially running the mountain safety, public safety risk management program within Jasper at that point in time. Pat ended up dying on an ice climb in November; one of the water ice climbs down by the Columbia Icefields. The accident was reported by his girlfriend at 2:00 in the afternoon, the day in November I cannot recall. The report came over the radio and his girlfriend indicated that Pat had had a fall, and that was essentially it. And after a short conversation it became clear that he’d taken a long fall, and that he had been severely injured. At that time of year it gets dark early, and we were looking at darkness I’m going to say sometime around 5:30 pm where you couldn’t fly anymore. Response came from Mile 45 with a couple of wardens walking up to the bottom of the climb where Pat had ended up falling to and providing first aid as best they could. The park wardens from Banff responded via highway and helicopter at the same time that the Jasper Park wardens responded from the town of Jasper. Our helicopter came from Valemont. Yellowhead Helicopters was the company that would do all our rescue flying at that point in time. Todd McCready from Yellowhead Helicopters flew in right before dark and I was the guy that slung in and out with Pat. When I arrived at the scene I knew that he had passed away, and flew back down to the bottom. He ended up being transported by ambulance to Jasper Hospital and was pronounced dead there. It was devastating to the entire organization. This was one of the key guys that was one of the heirs apparent for moving into a supervisory field operations role at that point, like over the next few years. There was a massive hole in the program. Darro was gone most of the time, had other roles and responsibilities, and even though we had a strong mountain safety training program it takes years and years and years to develop skills to the point where you’re able to attain professional level credentials and that’s where Pat was at. That’s where he was, he was in the ACMG guiding program and working his way to becoming a fully certified mountain guide. So after getting over the shock of a fatality of one of our own, which hadn’t happened to that point in time I don’t think…
Simon Parboosingh was a young warden that ended up losing his life in the mountains as well, while he was taking a summer assistant guides exam in the Columbia Icefields. But I think Pat was before Simon.
(Park Warden Pat Sheehan passed away on November 26th, 1992.)
(Park Warden Simon Parboosingh passed away August 31, 1994 at the Columbia Icefields.)
SH: Yes he was. (Tape 43 02)
Gerry: Anyways those dates, I’m not sure exactly. I could be wrong there. Interestingly enough Park Wardens had always been hired with the concept that fundamentally the foundation for the job was a generalist role. You were able to do those general things within the broad scope of the warden work. But we realized that in the absence of strong leadership and the increasing demand for professional qualifications, we didn’t have the time to work somebody up through the training programs within the Warden Service and in mountain rescue/public safety in particular, at that point in time. That time wasn’t available. And so I believe this was the first time that we put out a competition that was open to the general public to compete for that job. So number two man in the mountain rescue/public safety program in Jasper.
The poster required professional level ACMG qualifications, and recognizing that there was a bunch of folks within the outfit that were adamantly opposed to that approach.
The person that ended up landing that job was a Brad White. Brad had been a seasonal warden, and then took ten years off and worked for CMH, because he had the winter avalanche safety skills that they were looking for and loved to ski. Brad got the job and ended up doing excellent work and essentially filling the hole in a very, very short period of time. And because he had had experience as a park warden back in the day, when he was a young lad, it worked. And he knew the organization, he knew a bunch of people from before and he had no trouble adjusting to the warden culture. And so from that point on, certainly in the mountain rescue/public safety side of things, this concept of hiring outside the organization as needs…well to respond to the demands of the day…became routine. Within the other functions the exact same thing happened in a less traumatic fashion, but key events would occur. Large fire summers, problem wildlife issues, wildlife special requirements, grizzly bear work, wolf work. A good example is Mike Gibeau and the work that he did and his ability to work with his counterparts outside of the national parks. So I tell that story to reflect the changing demands on the Park Warden Service, not only in the mountain rescue side of things but in the broader scope of things as well.
End of tape section (48 24)
Tape 3 – August 12, 2019 1619 pm
Within the national parks mountain rescue teams, (these) were in my opinion, and likely many others, the best trained and had the best equipment to deal with accidents, both summer and winter. In addition to that national parks were the busiest. The other thing that came into play here was we had no qualms about sharing resources. So when the shit hit the fan, when there was a big complex or highly technical rescue requirement it was common for us to get on the phone and call and say “Come here and help ….this is the situation we are looking at.”. And (we’d) call on the best resources available to us from our nearest park neighbors. The big three centres were Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff and so the most highly trained and professional resource capability resided in those three locations. And Lake Louise was the busiest. We had an interesting situation in Jasper… All the parks had calls from outside park boundaries, and still do today. A good example is Bugaboo Glacier Park where it is common for Banff Park Search and Rescue personnel to get the call and provide a first response to accidents. We had a formal arrangement with BC Parks; Mount Robson was on Jasper’s western border and we were about forty minutes away by highway. We were about twenty minutes away by helicopter. And of course, BC Parks in the wintertime only had two park rangers working there, and in the summer I think they got about half a dozen, so four of them were summer seasonals and of course they didn’t have the training, skills or resources to provide any significant rescue response for mountaineering incidents or accidents that occurred on Mount Robson or adjacent lands. That included water rescue as well.
(Tape 03 43)
So it was common that we would get calls from Robson Park. The call would go something like “Hello. We have climbers overdue. They went up to Berg Lake and signed out for the north face and they were supposed to be down two days ago and they haven’t returned”. Basically, what that meant was we needed to have a deeper conversation, chat about a few things, and then organize a response. The demands on Mount Robson were unique in that Mount Robson is absolutely massive and it has significant objective danger, subjective hazards on any and all routes on that mountain. Its scale is immense. Kinney Lake is at 4000 vertical feet, (the) summit is essentially at 13,000 feet. No Kinney Lake is 3000 vertical feet above sea level, so the relief is 10,000 vertical feet of relief and to climb to the summit from Kinney Lake takes you two days up if things are going good and a day down generally. Bottom line, it is a big wild place that attracts a whole bunch of climbers from around the globe. We had many interesting calls on that piece of limestone.
SH: So there is going to be a question about memorable events. (Tape 06 33) Do you want to do another question first? What did you like about being a warden? What didn’t you like about being a warden?
Gerry: Okay … what did I like about being a warden? Well it changes in respect to the stages of your career. And so, as a neophyte, as a new guy in the Parks Canada organization, obtaining proficiency in the hands-on skills, stuff I hadn’t been exposed to, like working with horse stock, guns, rifles, trapping problem wildlife, being exposed to that whole variety of the generalists tasks including of course my main interests, working and traveling in the mountains. You know the skiing, the avalanche safety work, the mountain safety work, the risk management approaches, the equipment, the rescue techniques, the travel skills …. all that good stuff. Bringing my skill level up to a point that I’m a member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, etc.
(Tape 08 06)
So that’s the early stages; this feeling that you can contribute when a call comes in, you have some competence, you have some confidence and knowing that you have a team of like-minded people, that are feeling the same way. And so the comradery at that point, the newness, of it all, the excitement of it all, it was tremendous, absolutely tremendous, and I enjoyed that very much. The downside of those early days were some of those tasks that I was not particularly enthusiastic about. The routine of a front country patrol was entirely necessary but wasn’t where my heart was, but for other folks they felt the same way about the mountain safety side of things. (Tape 09 35)
Then as your career evolves you realize that you have something to offer – so a supervisory role, a lead role, the ability to pass on your experience, some of the hard skills, some of soft skills that bring others along. The idea that I am at a stage now in my career where I can be a mentor for others and bring some added value to the organization. So that’s sort of mid stage career. And then you know, the idea that you’re able to maintain your field competence to a reasonable level, but again offer from an administrative perspective, and an organizational perspective some insights and observations, that again might be of long term value, not necessarily for field level operations but for more long term goals, sustainability, functions, productivity and efficiencies, those things that take a few years to gain the credibility you need in the organization for people to listen. (Tape 11 46)
Section 4 – August 12, 2019 – 16:35 pm
SH: What didn’t you like about being a Warden? (Tape 00 21)
Gerry: Like any large corporation, the perceived lack of resources and it was real. Budgets were certainly constrained, there never seemed to be enough money in terms of infrastructure and that probably is still the case today, you can always use more operational staff it seems, especially with increases in demand so strong in the summer. But the competing that took place between the Warden Service and other functions within Parks Canada, for example the Visitor Service section, and I use that just as an example. But even the competing within the Warden Service itself for resources, O&M (Operations & Maintenance) funds, capital project funds and staffing. That was not fun and it resulted in uncomfortable relationships throughout the organization from time to time. Anybody that had responsibility for human resources as well as O&M funds and capital funds, I think would agree. Not fun times.
SH: Good answer
Gerry: Other than that, in terms of work preferences, obviously we are all individuals and where we think we fit the best, tends to coincide with what we enjoy the most. And so, if I could have dessert all the time it would be fun but probably not that good for me. I’ll use that as an analogy.
SH: What are some of the more memorable events of your Warden Service career? (Tape 03 30)
Gerry: More memorable events…. I’ve had so many, it’s really hard to say but I’ll use a couple of examples through the different stages of my career. One of the more memorable events that occurred when I was a new warden in Yoho Park. This was my second summer as a seasonal warden. And there was this thing in the fall called the Gymkhana. And it was Yoho Parks little rodeo. Other parks were invited to participate. And it was done on a Saturday, and it happened to on a beautiful day at Oh God…..
Dale Portman and Gerry Israelson compete in the gymkhana.
SH: Was it at Hoodoos Campground? (Tape 04 50)
Gerry: No it was down by the bridge crossing there, over the Kicking Horse River. Anyways, there was a Warden Station there …. Just trying to remember. Anyways, excuse my faulty memory. So at Yoho Park we had this wonderful day, there was a bunch of horse events, and some people fell off their horses, and others got bucked off their horses, and then we had a packing contest, and we had a variety of other things where it was more control related horsemanship skills. And at the end of the day there was food. And of course, there was families there, invited guests and wardens from other parks and associated with the picnic was a big fire, and then there was adult beverages that were flowing freely, and there was some senior staff around chatting. Jimmy Sime, the guy that was the one man hiring team for Parks Canada, that did my first job interview, was there. He was chatting with a variety of folks and talking about how much he valued the organization and the things that were important to him as he looked back on his career. Maybe it was a little bit of the glow of the day or the glow of the booze, but bottom line is it made a very strong impression on me …. how tight the organization was, how much people cared about one another, how much they valued the demands that required teamwork. And I realized that this was unique. In my work experience, you know, manual skills working as a laborer doing a variety of jobs out there before coming to the Warden Service. Even working for the BC Provincial Park guys. They hadn’t gone through the fire so to speak of big fires, big rescues, wildlife issues, life and death situations so to speak involving them, the close calls that they had within the outfit. But it was tight, it was a tight organization. That struck me, and I’ve never ever forgotten that, and I see it, I still see it today. With people that do work that requires dedication, skills, competence and commitment for things to work. So that’s one. That was the early part of my career. (Tape 08 36)
Gerry: Incidents…. of course losing a close friend of mine and colleague was an incident, Pat Sheehan, that can never be erased. Again the way the organization came together to provide support and comfort to some degree, the recognition that we as an organization were required to do difficult things, and even though the accident took place outside the context of work, the things that we did on our own time seemed to mirror the things we were required to do as a professional within the context of the mountain rescue, the search and rescue, the public safety program. So that in particular was again one of those moments where we respect the work so to speak; we respect the commitment of our colleagues, and this crosses over into a whole variety of functions. It’s just not the mountain rescue side of things. The fire program, the requirement for competence, well-reasoned decision making, teamwork, training, risk management … all that seems to cement the team of people that are asked to provide those services and to do those jobs. That incident changed people’s lives as well and I know that there were some folks that the trauma of those kinds of incidents I know affected people’s ability to enjoy to the same degree the experience of mountaineering, of climbing, of the physical challenges managing the risks in an extreme environment. It limited their ability on a personal level to enjoy and do those things for the rest of their life. So that’s a sobering thought for me. Fortunately um …..
Other moments (Tape 12 39)
SH: How about a happy one. Other moments …. There were so many. (Tape 13 37)
Gerry: Let’s see …. Schools….. training schools. I’ll use the mountain safety training schools as an example. Some people absolutely hated it. The last thing they wanted to hear was “You have been chosen as one of the lucky participants, to go climb a mountain, or go skiing or pull on ropes and learn how move stretchers around for the next week. Enjoy yourself.”
For me … “You have been chosen to go on a law enforcement training course in Regina for two weeks. Go have fun out there”, were words I dreaded.
And for other wardens they loved it. And for other folks, Jesus Christ, they wanted to slash their wrists, they were hoping to catch colds …. Any excuse not to have to participate.
(Tape 14 56)
Gerry: I remember going up to Kluane Park with Willi Pfisterer. So he said, “Gerry, your job up there is going (to be); you’re going to be the team doctor. And so it was Willi and I and a bunch of those northern guys and of course they didn’t have the opportunity or the need to develop high end mountaineering skills. So we were going to do this mountain, Mount Alverson – it wasn’t a particularly high mountain, by the standards of the big peaks – I think it was like 17,000 feet or something, but anyways, and it was in a remote place, so we had to start low down, and climb this moderately difficult peak, big cornices and steeper ridges, and if you tripped, you had to be careful because you might not be able to stop yourself …. that kind of stuff. So every night my job… and we were there in May… so things we had to watch out for from a medical perspective, was acute mountain sickness, which was due to attitude. And the other big thing we had to check as a routine was pulmonary edema. I was given the stethoscope, so I had to pack this thing along and every night I had to listen to people’s lungs, to make sure there was no gurgling sound. So, we were getting higher on the mountain, and I won’t mention his name, but there’s this one guy that had this cough. And it’s quite common to get a little cough as you get a little higher. He kept saying “I’m pretty sure I’ve got pulmonary edema. Are you sure Gerry?” I could hear nothing. He had clear sounding lungs, big breath, he had his fingers crossed cause he was hoping to get flown out of there, so he didn’t have to spend another night in that bloody tent. But no, no, we drug him to the top, and then everybody staggered down to the bottom. Finally we were out of there. I think that was the last high altitude trip that feller was ever on. When you are wishing you are going to get pulmonary edema, so you can fly out of there and go back home, you know that maybe you’re not particularly well suited to mountaineering.
(Tape 18 20) But goofy, goofy shit. When the weather was good you could move, when the weather wasn’t good, it was that much harder to occupy your time. So, in your little tent or in your little cabin or wherever you happened to be there was always some goofy human tricks going on. Everything from who can hold their bladder the longest to reading a book together in a tent of three. Somebody gets page one, somebody gets page two. Go through the paperback and as soon as you finish reading you tear the page out and hand it to the other guy. It manages to get through a day reasonably easy, except of course, after getting about 15 or 16 pages and everything would get all mixed up and you end up going from page 16 to page 32 but that was okay because you could piece the story together.
I remember one time we were at a backcountry cabin when we were climbing at Benson Ridge. It was a beautiful summer night. Only a few mosquitoes flying through the air, but we had to get outside. It was a small cabin that we had there. Nice big horse pasture out in front, grass was green. I figured God, we can get a baseball game going together here. We ended up grabbing a stick about the size of a baseball bat, tied a bunch of rags and plastic bags together and then we had a ball. Then we divided up into teams and we had a little softball game going on out there. You could hit that ball pretty far. But I’ll never forget, little Ronnie Leblanc was going for this big fly ball, just about ready to catch it, and stepped in a big hole in the ground and just disappeared. Laughs. Oh ya, there always seemed to be a few adult beverages involved from time to time. Always fun. That was the philosophy of the group. You had to make it fun, whatever you did. Out there, make it fun. Team Building. That was called team building.
