Obituary

Chas Yonge

Legendary Rockies climber Charles “Chas” Yonge, who made hundreds of first ascents in Canada and was a world-renowned cave explorer, passed away on Jan. 20. He was 74. Chas earned his PHD in karst paleoclimatology while living in England and went on to open Canmore Cave Tours, which explored many caves, including Rat’s Nest Cave on Grotto Mountain. Chas moved to Ontario and opened a number of new rock climbs on the Niagara Escarpment, including traditional routes at Buffalo Crag and Mount Nemo. He mentored climbers like Steve De Maio, Pete Zabrok and John Kaandorp. He soon resettled in the Bow Valley. “He was instrumental in the development of sport climbing in the Rockies,” said longtime friend and guidebook author Chris Perry. “He established a number of other routes over the intervening years but his more significant contributions came later when he had more free time from his family and business.”

He would go on to take part in cave research in Cuba, Barbados, Belize, Mexico, United States, Norway, Indonesia, Australia, China, Vietnam, Bhutan, England, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Turkey, Papua New Guinea and Canada. He discovered, explored and mapped numerous significant caves and published his results. He lobbied the provincial government to have caves designated as a provincial historic resource, and was successful in March 1987. He was recognized for his years of caving explorations and received the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal, which recognizes important

Canadian explorers. He also spent time in the alpine. In the late 1980s, he made an attempt on the north face of Mount Temple in winter with Sean Dougherty and Trevor Jones. It ended near the top of the wall in what Chic Scott described as “one of the boldest climbs of the era.” He made first ascents of some amazing multipitch routes on Goat Mountain west of Calgary, particularly on Kid Goat, a cliff about which he wrote a popular guidebook. One of his most recent additions to the Bow Valley was Heart Line, a 17-pitch bolted 5.9 A0 route that ends on the summit of Heart Mountain. It’s one of the longest and most-climbed multi-pitch adventures in Canada.

Perry said, “Chas saw the potential of the undeveloped Sunshine Rock with its short approach and pleasant location. It was completely overgrown at the time, and he persuaded me to climb to the top of the leftmost slabs and add the first anchors. I left him to it, but he persevered and developed many fine, technical routes which brought immediate popularity. That crag alone was a major contribution. He also transformed Kid Goat from a two-climb crag to a major, multi-pitch sport climbing area. It was the perfect crag for Chas since it didn’t need much cleaning, which as we all know, wasn’t exactly his strong point. He has also built new climbs on Brewster and Buffalo Crags near Banff, often partway through a course of chemotherapy.”

Chas was an explorer who spent countless days developing routes for others to enjoy and years discovering caves around the world. He leaves behind a legacy of bold climbs and unfinished maps of underground worlds that will take you to unexplored places.—bp