Sylvia Forest knows Canada's backcountry as well as most people know their own backyard. Forest has been exploring remote regions since childhood, and today she is one of the country's leading female mountain guides and a public safety coordinator at Mount Revelstoke and Glacier national parks in British Columbia.

"I learned early on that I could live with adversity and deal with each problem as it came along."

Forest, 46, first ventured into the Canadian hinterland with her father Don, a record-holding climber who was first to summit all the Rocky Mountain peaks over 3,350 metres. "I started going into the wilderness with my dad on skiing, hiking, camping and fishing trips," Forest recalls. "When I was in my mid-teens, I was already climbing with him and a handful of his friends known as the Grizzly Group. I learned early on that I could live with adversity and deal with each problem as it came along." Indeed, by the time she was 17, Forest had summited B.C.'s treacherous Mount Robson, the highest peak (3,954 m) in the Canadian Rockies.

While those early challenges shaped Forest's fearless spirit of adventure, they also galvanized her relationship with Canada's alpine regions. "I love being in the mountains — the fresh air, the isolation, the raw beauty, the sunrises and sunsets," she says. "In the mountains, you are right in the environment." Her passion inspired her to join two landmark expeditions: the first all-woman, one-day, 45-kilometre ski traverse of Banff National Park's Wapta Icefield in 1983 and, later that year, the first all-woman, 130-kilometre ski traverse from the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass, both in B.C. In 1993, she was also part of the first women's team to reach the East Summit of Mount Logan, in the Yukon's St. Elias Mountains, along the technical East Ridge.

Forest stands atop Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

The synergistic skill set has proven important in Canada's western parks. There, the rescue of backcountry skiers caught in winter avalanches or summer hikers trapped on steep terrain demands familiarity with such specialized equipment as helicopter sling rescue systems, winches and rope-and-pulley systems. "It's difficult to be an effective rescuer without also maintaining guiding knowledge," she says. "You can't expect to just go into a mountain environment without first feeling comfortable and confident."

Forest's preventive role in public education and safety awareness puts her on the front line with a growing number of backcountry adventurers. "Much of what makes the mountain experience so wonderful is the people you share it with, whether they're friends, clients or other wardens," Forest says. "I like being able to take somebody to a special place in the mountains and help them experience it for the first time — safely."

— Natalie St-Denis

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