Expedition to Mystery Mountain: Adventures of a Bushwhacking, Knickerbocker-wearing Woman

by Susanna Oreskovic

What’s it really like to be an intrepid explorer… and a woman?

Expedition to Mystery Mountain is a come-along adventure of a modern woman who retraces the early exploits, made nearly 100 years ago, by fearless trailblazer and pioneering mountaineer, Phyllis Munday. The overly ambitious mission; to climb Mount Waddington, the highest peak in the pacific northwest, in vintage hobnail boots, with a fifty-pound wooden packframe and only an antique ice axe for safety. Can she endure the hordes of mosquitos, the bears, the Devil’s Club and the other dangers on the List of Doom?

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

204 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2021

Reviews

[Ida]

Note: I have stopped putting stars on my reviews.

I was intrigued by the whole premise of the adventure related in this book. A modern-day group of hikers/climbers set out to recreate the 1926 ascent of British Columbia's highest mountain peak, Mt. Waddington by Phyllis and Don Munday and their crew. When I say "recreate," I mean they did everything they could to make the conditions as similar as possible, assigning each person in the group to a role played by one of the original explorers. They wore period clothing, carried the same kinds of supplies, used the same sorts of tenting material, etc. The author was the only woman in the group, striving to live up to the reputation of "Fearless" Phyllis Munday, even when she was consumed by self-doubt.

This is a quick and interesting read, even if not quite what I expected when I picked it up. Oreskovic has a knack for descriptive writing, I could clearly envision the scenes she described - whether it was washing crystal clear mountains stream or being whacked in the face by saplings while navigating thick brush.

Unfortunately, she realized early in the venture that the members of the group had been more romantic than practical in their planning and they experienced their share of misadventure. There's a good balance here of reverence for the power of the natural world, musings on group dynamics among humans, narrative of their actions, and historical accounts of the Mundays.

I'm glad I read it.

[Bill Leach · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of a group that tries to recreate the Munday's 1926 trip up the Homathko river to climb Mt. Waddington. While they went to great trouble to equip themselves with period clothing, equipment, food and supplies, they made no preliminary trips to try them out.

In the end, with multiple carries between camps, they made forty kilometers in three weeks before realizing they were not going to get to Waddington. Faced with limited helicopter availability, they flew out.

Their logistics featured late starts and little planning of logistics. The participants seemed to have little understanding of the rigors of bushwhacking through wet coastal forest. The author reflects that "Perhaps the Munday party was made of sterner stuff."

[Sidney E. Carlstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent enjoyable well written book. Not easy when things don't go according to plan & you are dealing with frustration & pain on a daily basis. You should be proud on what you accomplished & endured. People back in the 'old' days were tough & not enough credit is given to them.

[Lyn Reasbeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book about climbing a mountain exactly as it had first been done by the Mondy’s in 1928.
What a disappointment. Too much naval gazing and not much about the adventure