in Yoho National Park, they climb Mount Hungabee and Mount Victoria but are dis-mayed by the poor quality of the maps available for mountaineers. In September, the Mundays travel to Bute Inlet by steamer and climb Mount Rodney to view Mystery Mountain.
In B.C., the Second Narrows Bridge is built to span Burrard Inlet and supplement the North Vancouver Ferry service. The United Church of Canada is formed by a merger of the Congregationalist and Methodist Churches and a majority of Presbyterians. In Germany, Volume I of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler is published.
1926
1926
The Mundays travel up the coast north of Bute Inlet to the Homathko River; with supplies for five weeks they travel by boat, canoe, and on foot; they set up a base camp in country that is wild and unwelcoming; Phyl Munday suffers from snow-blindness; before they run out of food and have to leave, they determine that the Franklin Glacier comes off their Mystery Mountain. The Mundays leave the lodge on Grouse Mountain and move into a house in North Vancouver; a civil law suit regarding unpaid wages brings them unwelcome publicity.
The Imperial Conference issues the Balfour Declaration, which declares that Britain and the Dominions are constitutionally equal in status. In Canada, a scandal forces Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to ask for the dissolution of Parliament, but Governor General Viscount Byng refuses; King resigns and Arthur Meighen succeeds him only to be defeated three months later in a general election; King becomes prime minister again.
1927
1927
Phyl Munday begins what will be an eighteen-year term as the Provincial Girl Guides Lones Secretary, co-ordinating all Lone Guides in B.C. In July, the Mundays take a steamer to the head of Knight Inlet, motor a boat up the Klinaklini River and climb up the Franklin Glacier towards Mystery Mountain; an injury from falling rock does not deter Phyl Munday; they bivouac at Fury Gap during a sudden storm.
The Garibaldi Park Act, introduced by B.C. Minister of Lands, Duff Pattullo, the year before, passes into law; the boundaries of the park will be extended several times. A survey crew led by J.T. Underhill completes triangulation of Mystery Mountain and confirms that it is the highest peak entirely in B.C.
1928
1928
The Mundays succeed in climbing the northwest summit of Mystery Mountain, which has been named Mount Waddington by the Geographic Board of Canada; although they will come back every season for the next eleven years, the Mundays will never reach the summit, but they will explore and document the area for other people’s use. In recognition of their contribution to the naming and registering of mountains, glaciers, rivers, creeks, and valleys, the Geographic Board of Canada designates a peak adjacent to Mount Waddington as Mount Munday. Phyl Munday begins a two-year term as Girl Guide District Commissioner, North Vancouver.
The Supreme Court of Canada says women cannot be senators because they are not “persons.” West Coast painter Emily Carr exhibits her work in Central Canada and establishes herself as a major artist.
1929
1929
Phyl Munday’s mother, Beatrice, dies.
Lord Baden-Powell is elevated to the British peerage and becomes 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell. The Imperial Privy Council declares Canadian women are legally “persons” and eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate. With the collapse of the U.S. Stock Exchange in October, the ten-year-long Great Depression begins.
1930
1930
The Mundays end their membership in the BCMC so they can devote all their energies to the ACC.
In B.C., the Second Narrows Bridge has not replaced the North Vancouver Ferry service because it is too far to drive to get to it and because it has to open for ships to pass through frequently; a log barge runs into the bridge and destroys it.
1931
Phyl Munday begins a fourteen-year term as Brown Owl to the 1st North Vancouver Brownie Pack.
1933
1933
The Mundays are the first climbers to reach the summit of Combatant Mountain.
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.
1934
Conrad Kain dies in Cranbrook, B.C.
1935
Baron and Baroness Baden-Powell visit B.C.
1936
1936
The Mundays are the first climbers to reach the summit of Silverthrone Mountain;; they encounter four grizzly bears, one of which charges them; Phyl Munday saves her husband by brandishing an ice axe.
Americans Fritz Wiessner and William House are the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Waddington. King George V dies and is succeeded by the Prince of Waleswho becomes King Edward VIII; the new King abdicates in favour of his brother, King George VI.
1937
The Mundays travel up the coast in their own boat, Edidonphyl, with their daughter, who stays with them for the entire expedition for the first time; they make a first ascent of Stupendous Mountain.
1938
1938
Phyl Munday becomes an honorary member of the ACC; she and Don have been attending ACC annual camps and have edited the Canadian Alpine Journal; Phyl Munday has won the club’s Silver Rope Award.
Funded by the Guinness Brewing Company, which has real estate holdings on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge opens.
1939
1939
In response to the declaration of war, Phyl Munday joins the St. John Ambulance Brigade and volunteers to teach first aid classes.
In September, the Second World War begins when Germany invades Poland; Britain and Canada declare war on Germany.
1940
1940
At the request of the provincial superintendent of nursing, Phyl Munday organizes a nursing division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and becomes Lady Superintendent of the 68th Nursing Division.
Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain. Future Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker is elected to the House of Commons for the first time.
1941
1941
The Mundays are the first to reach the summit of Mount Grenville.
Baron Baden-Powell dies in Nyeri, Kenya. On December 7, Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor, an American naval base in Hawaii; the U.S. declares war on Japan and Germany.
1942
1942
The Mundays are to the first to reach the summit of Mount Queen Bess.
The U.S. and Canada forcibly move Japanese citizens from the west coast of North America.
1943
1943
For the second year running, Don Munday trains soldiers in hiking on snow and ice, skiing, mountain climbing, and orienteering in Yoho National Park.
Due to increased traffic caused by the War, the North Vancouver ferry system has its busiest year.
1944
1944
Edith Munday marries and moves to England.
The D-Day invasion of Normandy by the Allies under the command of General Eisenhower begins the liberation of Europe on June 6.
1945
1945
Phyl Munday begins a two-year term as District Captain, North Vancouver Girl Guides.
Germany surrenders on May 8; Canada is one of the fifty signatories to the United Nations (UN) Charter on June 26; the U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Japan on August 6 and 9; Japan surrenders on September 2.
1946
1946
Phyl Munday begins a five-year term as Captain of the 1st Vancouver Sea Rangers. The Mundays are the first to reach the summit of Mount Reliance.
Winston Churchill uses the term “Iron Curtain” to describe the alienation between the Eastern Bloc and the West that is developing into the Cold War.
1947
Phyl Munday receives the Canadian Council of Girl Guides Beaver Award, the highest honour a Guider can achieve.
1948
1948
During the Fraser River flood, Phyl Munday patrols the river bank and dikes of the Queensborough area; when the river crests, she and her sister, Betty, spend ten days on flood duty at Durieu on the Hatzic Prairie patrolling by boat for people in need of help. Don Munday’s book The Unknown Mountain is launched.
Ceylon gains independence from Britain and joins the Commonwealth. B.C. is on high alert when the Fraser River floods; the high waters cause $15 million worth of damage.
1949
1949
Phyl Munday is North Vancouver Girl Guide Division Commissioner and becomes Provincial Superintendent of Nursing Divisions for the St. John Ambulance; she coordinates fundraising. A weak and tired Don Munday is admitted to hospital.
Elen Henderson, becomes the first Canadian fashion designer to be known internationally; included in her work are uniforms for Girl Guides and Brownies.
