Edward Feuz Jr.: A Story of Enchantment

(Paperback)

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KEY SELLING POINTS:

This will be the first biography of the well-know, respected, and engaging Swiss guide, Edward Feuz Jr. (1884-1981)

The project is well researched and takes the general reader and mountaineering enthusiast into the heart of the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains during the "Golden Age" of Canadian mountaineering.

The author grew up visiting "Uncle Ed", who called she and her sister "his girls"....he also taught them how to climb.

The author has been a resident of the Bow Valley for the past two decades and climbs with enthusiasm every chance she gets. She has also qualified as an Apprentice Interpretive Hiking Guide.

Edward was the son of Edouard Feuz Sr., who was the first of the Swiss Guides to be brought to Canada by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

William Van Horne, the president of the railway, was attempting to promote a program of attracting tourists to the Rockies and the CPR's hotels. One of his ideas was to supply guides for the mountaineering parties. Edward Jr. arrived in Canada in 1903 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In 1922, while based at Lake Louise, Feuz Jr. was instrumental in the building of the "Swiss style" alpine hut on Abbot Pass (between Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria) at an elevation approaching 3000 metres.

Edward Jr. began work at Glacier House near Roger's Pass and continued to be employed by the railway until his retirement in 1949, guiding privately until 1953, completing a fifty year career as a mountain guide.

Edward Jr. was the first person to stand upon the summit of 78 peaks and with leading 102 new climbing routes, he was never involved with a fatal accident.

Edward Jr. was still climbing at 90 years of age and had to his dying day (at 96 years of age) a perfect memory of every climb he made and every encounter in the mountains of his adopted land.

MARKETING + PROMOTION:

Regional and subject-specific print features, excerpts, review coverage, broadcast and television interviews

Social media campaigns, blogger outreach, digital collateral for online use

Publicity and promotion in conjunction with author's speaking engagements

Outreach to subject-specific organizations, markets and festivals

Excerpts available

Electronic ARCs

Reviews

Praise for Edward Feuz Jr.: A Story of Enchantment:

Its rare to come across an author whose formative years climbing in the Rockies reach back to, and intersect with, the life of an iconic Swiss mountain guide who was in the employ of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Donna Stephen and her adventuresome family were introduced to the wilds of the Canadian cordillera by none other than Edward Feuz Jr., who taught them how to pace themselves in order to properly absorb a love for the mountains. Rich in immigrant Swiss guide history, this book paints a 3D picture of what the guides and their guests sought, equipped with the most basic of climbing aids, decades before the advent of bear spray and the lottery system required to visit these now crowded destinations.
Pat Morrow, adventure photographer, filmmaker, author of Beyond Everest: Quest for the Seven Summits and Searching For Tao Canyon

The Swiss guides made mountaineering a profession and turned Canada into an alpine nation. Then they taught us to ski, which made the Canadian winter ours. A story of enchantment indeed!
Robert William Sandford, author of The Columbia Icefield 3rd Edition and Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West

This book is an excellent read from start to finish....
Kathy Calvert / Dale Portman, authors of Vertical Reference, June Mickle, Ya Ha Tinda and Don Forest; and The Green Horse, respectively, and coauthors of Guardians of the Peaks

A fascinating story about one of Canadas most influential mountaineers. Feuz was known for his unmatched memory of the landscapes he visited, and Stephen has done him great justice with the in-depth research in Edward Feuz: A Story of Enchantment.
Brandon Pullan, author of To Be a Warrior: The Adventurous Life and Mysterious Death of Billy Davidson and The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies

Author Bio

Dr. D.L. (Donna) Stephen was brought up in Los Angeles, California. She earned a B.A., with a major in philosophy, from UCLA and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Manitoba. Every summer, beginning at age three, she travelled by car with her family to the Canadian Rockies to hike, climb, and spend time with their good friends Edward and Martha Feuz. Donna is a practising psychologist who writes and climbs at every opportunity. She lives in Alberta's Bow Valley.