HOWARD FREDERICK JOHN LAMBART

1880-1946

On 12 January 1946 our valued friend of mountaineering days, “Fred” Lambart, left his home at Ottawa on his last great adventure, and true to his sturdy nature, without fear or question; for he had lived an active, useful life in the broad alpine areas of Western Canada, closely in touch with the glories of nature, and had often expressed a faith that there must be a wondrous world beyond the curtain of this life where a weary soul wracked with physical infirmity might find rest and refreshment.

Lambart was born in Ottawa, the son of the late Honorable O. H. Lambart and Mrs. Lambart, of Vine Lynne, New Edinburgh. He received his early education in the public schools of Ottawa and later at Ashbury College and McGill University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1904.

After working on the pioneer surveys of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, he entered the service of the Geodetic Survey Branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior in 1905 and, as a Dominion Land Surveyor, began his lifelong work in the Topographical Survey Branch of that Department. During the succeeding 28 years his work in the field took him on foot, by rail and by air over large alpine areas in Western Canada, conducting pioneer surveys for the government in rugged terrain where he came to grips with many outstanding peaks. Especially was this true during his seven years of work in locating and monumenting the 141st Meridian, which serves as the boundary line between Canadian and United States territory along the border of Alaska and Yukon Territory.

The broad experience gained during those years of strenuous work in the mountains eminently qualified him for the difficult task of designing and selecting appropriate equipment and supplies for the Mount Logan Expedition on which he acted as assistant leader; and it was largely through his work in this connection, and his great strength and endurance in the field, that the largest known mountain mass in the world, after 23 days of strenuous effort from its base, was successfully climbed. On that summit the party reached the center of the greatest known glaciated alpine area on this globe.

Fred had many commendable attributes in his character, but to me his outstanding one seemed to be his ready desire to bear a little more than his share of any burden on the trail or in camp. This trait, together with his enthusiasm for the success of our hazardous adventure, was most forcibly demonstrated on Logan’s interminable slopes on the ascent to the 18,000-foot plateau: he stubbornly insisted upon breaking trail far beyond his allotted stretches. In that rarefied atmosphere and deep snow, this action on his part took a heavy toll on the strength of his powerful body while it conserved the strength of the rest of our party, and that seemed to give him much satisfaction.

But there is a limit to the punishment the most powerful physique can endure. After six very exhausting days of heavy exertion in back-packing, battling with deep snow, fierce winds and low temperatures, and the final ascent and retreat from the two peaks just under 20,000 feet elevation, the ascent of the icy slopes of Hurricane Hill in a blizzard sapped the last bit of strength Fred’s body had so generously been giving all along the line. Upon finding him and Andy Taylor missing at the 18,500-foot camp site, two of us returned to the Hill and there found Fred prone, with his face buried in the snow crust, in a state of exhaustion. Andy was on the rope end, 50 feet ahead, standing braced against the violent storm.

Although he was completely spent, Fred’s mind was alert to the great danger of the situation; and he begged me to leave him and to go on with the others, for he felt that, in his condition, he would endanger the safety of the rest of us. This was the first time such a murderous proposal had ever been made to me, and I confess that the shock of it provoked me into using some violent language to force Fred into renewed exertion. After some rest and a little help, the summit ridge finally was made and a lee secured.

Now that Fred is gone, I feel that his friends should know of this incident, so that they may fully realize the extent of his devotion and fidelity toward his fellow-men—an inspiring exhibition of the qualities all too rare in this rushing, competitive world of ours, but possessed to a high degree by our departed friend, Fred Lambart. A. H. MacC.