What's in a Name?-SOAP BOX COMP

In all my years of ski touring, I honestly have never thought a lot about the names of the mountains we summit. Until this day.

Some mountains are named after people (eg. Mount Sir Sanford, Mount Sir Donald). Some offer a hint into its geometrical shape (eg. 'Whalesback', 'Half-Dome'). Some names elicit a specific feeling when you summit them like when you summit Old Glory in the Rossland Range and you feel like a early 20th century prospector surveying the land or when you reach Mt. Indefatigable and your efforts justify its name.

One of the more mysterious origins of mountain names in the interior ranges are in the Bonnington Range near Nelson. Amidst more typical names of mountains such as: Connor, Copper, Toad, Red, etc, reside a cluster of peaks with 'powerful' names eliciting thoughts of days gone by.

My goal this day was summitting Mount Commonwealth with its sub-peaks nearby named: Territory Peak, Empire Peak, Colony Peak and the mountain on the other side of the 'cirque', Mount Dominion. Powerful names to say the least.

The day started with cloud in the valley and the first 2 hours of touring offered no views of our goal; good navigation was required. Once we were 500m vertical from the summit, the we climbed above the cloud layer and our destination greeted us. We gained the ridge of Mount Commonwealth and the other peaks became visible. At first, no real response within me. Just another ridge gained. As we continued along the ridge, the warm sun, despite below -20 deg alpine temps, baked the top snow layer and instantly started to stick to the bottom of the ski. Are we in April already??? Tried to continue and see if I could knock it off and persist, but then my mind started to cloud over and I started to think about that name: Commonwealth. With my mood darkening, I thought about all the injustice and suffering caused by the colonial power who had the audacity to conquer a country, colonize it, take their natural resources and then to tell the people that they are part of a 'common' wealth of nations. Does the name not imply that there would be a sharing of the resources of the conquered countries? I do not think most colonized countries would describe their experience as a sharing of wealth. As the other peaks stared at me, I thought about the powerful names like Colony, Empire, and especially, Dominion.  To hold 'dominion' over someone is more than just having the power. It implies crushing the spirit of that person so that there is no hope of rebellion or change. So, as I was picking up inches of compacted snow with each step, I can honestly say I felt dominated, crushed, defeated. When the rest of my party stopped and waited for me when they had not seen me for a while. I begged my wife for her skin wax. I was spitting out vitriolic words at the mountains around me as if they were the reason for my skins gumming up.  

Photo: A shot from Midday Peak last year looking a Cabin Peak on the left and the long Commonwealth Mountain ridge on the right.

After a thorough wax of my skins, we resumed our ridge walk and as the weight of each step lightened, so did my mood regarding the names of the mountains. I started to think about some of the positive aspects of the British Commonwealth. My dad was born in what was known then as East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and had lived during the Raj (British) rule. Both my wife's parents are from northern India so three-quarters of our parents are first-gen immigrants from Commonwealth Nations.  Because of the Commonwealth, my dad was offered a full scholarship to England to complete his PhD in Biology. When he had completed his PhD, he was able to travel and work relatively freely in other Commonwealth nations so he was able to immigrate to Canada. Similar with my wife's parents. So if it was not for the colonization of India and Pakistan by England, would I still be standing on this Canadian mountain peak with my wife enjoying our favourite pasttime together? Possibly. Not likely though. These thoughts gave me a euphoric feeling at the summit after nearly four hours of touring. Once we towered over the other peaks, I felt that I had overcome that 'Dominion'. Summitting somehow meant I had defeated the 'Empire'.  

What about all the other factors that led to us being on the top of this mountain? Being of East Indian descent, my wife had only skied with school trips until she met me in her mid-twenties. Ski trips to the mountains were not part of her family's culture. The first time I skied with her, I was able to do two runs for every one she would be able to do and I would still be waiting for her. She used to be embarassed so she sacrificed more time and dedication to this activity. Here she is now with me at the top of a mountain 10k and 1300m of vertical away from the truck and she skied the summit better than other members of the group.  For me, my love for skiing was born from my Canadian-born mother who would sacrifice the one vacation we could afford all year to drive to the Rockies in an unsafe car, pack a lunch each day while others enjoyed warm burgers and fries, and would let me ski from first chair to the last despite her only skiing two to three runs. That sacrifice gave me the love from being in the mountains and to cherish each second enjoying things you love. It was those thoughts I held on to the rest of the day. Sacrifice and suffering. Just like my two opposing thought processes before my skin gumming and after, whether I determine this suffering to be positive or negative is strictly frame of mind.

I am not sure other names of mountains I plan to summit will elicit such thoughts as they did that day. That night, I felt more mentally exhausted than physically. 'What's in a Name?' indeed.