Charles Ernest Fay

Professor Charles Ernest Fay (1846 – 1931) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Alpinist

Alpinist

Alpinist is a quarterly American magazine focused on mountaineering ascents worldwide. It was originally published out of Jackson, Wyoming and was founded in 2002...

, born at Roxbury, Massachusetts

Roxbury, Massachusetts

Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...

. He graduated in 1868 at Tufts College and became instructor in mathematics there in 1869, and professor of modern languages in 1871. He was president of the New England Modern Language Association in 1905.

Fay first visited the Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

 in 1890, and was a pioneer in the development of mountaineering

Mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

 in the Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

 and the Selkirks. He served as president of the Appalachian Mountain Club

Appalachian Mountain Club

The Appalachian Mountain Club is one of the United States' oldest outdoor groups. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Maine to Washington, D.C...

 in 1878, 1881, 1893, and 1905, and was a founder and the first president of the American Alpine Club

American Alpine Club

The American Alpine Club, or AAC, was founded in 1902 by Charles Ernest Fay, and is the leading national organization in the United States devoted to mountaineering, climbing, and the multitude of issues facing climbers...

 (1902-1904).

Fay was one of a party of four attempting to climb Mount Lefroy

Mount Lefroy

Mount Lefroy is a mountain on the Continental Divide, at the border of Alberta and British Columbia in western Canada. The mountain is located on the eastern side of Abbot Pass.The mountain was named by George M...

 in 1896 when Phillip Stanley Abbott became the first mountaineering fatality in the Canadian Rockies. Fay made an, “impassioned defence of mountaineering at the inquiry into Abbot’s death that put an end to the grumbling in political circles that mountaineering ought to be banned in Canada.” Fay returned in 1897 to summit both Mounts Lefroy and Victoria

Mount Victoria

Mount Victoria may refer to:One of a number of peaks named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom:* Mount Victoria , Australia* Mount Victoria mountain S 31° 58' 0 E 139° 52' 0...

.

The Alpine Club of Canada

Alpine Club of Canada

The Alpine Club of Canada is a mountain club with a National Office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as its first president, and Elizabeth Parker, a journalist for...

 has named the Fay Hut

Fay hut

The Fay hut was an alpine hut located above Prospectors Valley in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. Although the higher Neil Colgan hut superseded it as a base for climbs in the Valley of the Ten Peaks area, it still served as a convenient base for hikers and skiers doing day trips in the...

 located in Kootenay National Park

Kootenay National Park

Kootenay National Park is located in southeastern British Columbia Canada covering in the Canadian Rockies and forms part of a World Heritage Site. The park ranges in elevation from at the south-west park entrance to at Deltaform Mountain...

after Charles Fay.

Fay continued climbing and mountaineering until well into his eighties.