Toronto, 1973, 1st edition. 186 pp, ills. Collie's life and climbs. Chapters on the Alps, the Himalayas, the Canadian Rockies, Collie, scientist and mountaineer, was President of the Alpine Club from 1920 to 1922. Biography of late Victorian man, Collie, who during twenty-five years climbed the major mountain ranges of the world, from the then relatively untouched Canadian Rockies to the majestic Himalaya, from the peaks of the Lofoten Islands to those of the Alps. DJ, Fine.
'John Norman Collie was no mere professor of chemistry, but a person who epitomized late Victorian man in his breadth of interests. At once scientist, geographer, writer, photographer, and art collector, Collie found his deepest interest in mountaineering. During twenty-five years, he climbed the major mountain ranges of the world, from the then relatively untouched Canadian Rockies to the majestic Himalaya, from the peaks of the Lofoten Islands to those of the Alps.'
He is best remembered in Scotland for his pioneering climbs on the Cuillin in the Isle of Skye, but he also climbed in the Alps with William Cecil Slingsby and Albert F. Mummery.
In 1895, Collie, Mummery and fellow climber Geoffrey Hastings headed off for the Himalaya for the world's first attempt at a Himalayan 8000 metre peak, Nanga Parbat. They were years ahead of the time, and the mountain claimed the first of its many victims: Mummery and two Ghurkas, Ragobir and Goman Singh were killed by an avalanche and never seen again. The story of this disastrous expedition is told in Collie's book 'From the Himalaya to Skye'.
After gaining climbing experience on the Alps, the Caucasus and the Himalaya, In 1897 he joined the Appalachian Club upon the invitation of Charles Fay and spent the summer climbing in the Canadian Rockies. From 1898 to 1911, Collie visited the Canadian Rockies five more times, accomplishing 21 first ascents and naming more than 30 peaks. In 1903, Collie and Hugh Stutfield published an authoritative book on the region, 'Climbs and Explorations in the Canadian Rockies'.
