Werner Himmelsbach passed away on June 16. My condolences to his family on their loss. Werner was a private fellow that I came to know over the many years he lived in Whistler. He would come into our store regularly, beginning in the early ‘90s, either just before or after returning from some hike. Being retired, he was hiking four or five days a week. He did the same thing skiing in the winter, doing 80-plus days when he was more than 80 years old. Werner was a passionate outdoorsman and mountain man, in particular. A lifelong enthusiast of the first degree.
Born in Baden-Baden, Germany, as a young man he emigrated to Canada, and quickly became a fixture in the burgeoning and very active mountaineering and climbing community in Vancouver. It was Werner, Don MacLaurin, Karl Ricker, Bert Port, and others, all active as part of the BC Mountaineering Club or UBC’s Varsity Outdoor Club, who were crashing the mountains in Southwest B.C. to big adventures whenever they got free from work and responsibilities.
It was Werner and Don who built the first hut at Russet Lake. It was their vision, and that of others, to build a system of huts in the Spearhead Range, back in 1965, before Whistler was built. They knew the skiing terrain was world-class and thought huts would be the natural amenity to get people out. They only built one hut, and as Werner said, got sidetracked by building No. 2 up at Wedgemount Lake, since Wedge Mountain and environs had better mountaineering.
He was also a member of the first Canadian ascent of Denali (now Mount McKinley) in Alaska. They had an epic climb with bad cold storms, and it was touch-and-go. One of the members lost a bunch of toes. Reading his journal from that climb, you know that they were WAY out there on one of the world’s most fierce mountains. Though it was a very different thing, climbing Denali back then versus now, he was always very humble about the achievement.
In fact, Werner was very humble about all his climbing accomplishments. And when Don MacLaurin insisted they name their hut at Russet Lake the Himmelsbach Hut, Werner told me, “I didn’t think it was a good idea because I wasn’t dead yet and you don’t name a hut after someone who is still alive.”
I told him one day that I was way more impressed by someone who can ski more days than their age, (especially at 80, when he was still skiing more days than that each year), than someone who can shoot a golf score lower than their age. He just laughed and said he never thought much of golf. The mountains are where he liked to play.
He was very supportive and excited when we started the campaign to finish the hut system in the Spearhead. After all, he witnessed the incredible interest and growth in backcountry skiing, and thought it was way overdue to provide backcountry infrastructure. He donated his time and money to the cause, which was so appreciated. He attended just about every fundraiser we had, too.
Werner was an inspiration and never ceased his desire to get out and push himself in the mountains. He did his first waterfall ice climb on his 70th birthday on Shannon Falls. He lived for the mountains and the outdoors, which he always said was all he ever needed to be happy. I know for many of us in the outdoor community in Southwest B.C., he was a wonderful mentor and pioneer. We were so very lucky to have had him and his peers in our lives to share their stories and their contributions to our mountain community. Speaking with me about his peers shortly before he passed, he sighed and said, “Yes, you know I am the last one, the last one alive. And I have had a good life. I am ready to go.”
