The 2015 Annual Mountain Guides Ball with Helen Sovdat

The Annual Mountain Guides Ball is a proud tradition of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) and the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG).

The event brings members of the mountain community together to celebrate mountain culture and raise funds for various worthy causes.

Each year a patron is honoured for their long-time contribution to Canada’s mountain community and new mountain guides are awarded their hard-earned IFMGA pins from the guides’ association.

“Everyone is welcome and the evening is a total blast.”

This year, the patron of the ball will be Helen Sovdat. In 1996, she became the third woman in North America to earn full certification through the ACMG/IFMGA as a mountain guide. She was a leader in a group that broke the mold of North American guiding as an all-male profession.

Her accomplishments as a climber and skier are stunning. She has pioneered long traverses along the crest of the Coast Mounatins.

She has stood on nearly all of the peaks in the Canadian Rockies that exceed 11,000 feet (3,353 m).

She has climbed in the high ranges of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. In Asia she has scaled some of the world’s highest mountains: Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu, and Manaslu.

Many of these adventures were with members of her loyal legion of clients along.

In June, 2016, Helen will be guiding an ACC climbing and treking adventure to the Altai Mountains of Mongolia.

The ball will be on Sat., Oct. 24 at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff. At 4 p.m., the silent auction opens and Helen will be giving a slide show for those who want to see her photos and hear stories from her travels.

Dinner is a gourmet affair, followed by a ceremony for the “pinning” of the new guides. Helen will be honoured by both the ACC and the ACMG.

The full schedule for the evening is online at our Mountain Guides Ball page. For more info and to purchase tickets, visit the ACC site here.