Hon. Karen Sorensen: Honourable senators, I am delighted to congratulate a fellow Banff resident, mountaineering legend Charles — or, as we call him, “Chic” — Scott, on his appointment to the Order of Canada.

Descended from a long line of athletes, Chic’s passion for adventure took him into the mountains, where he has earned a reputation as an ambitious mountaineer and a skilled guide.

Since 1962, Chic’s journey has taken him from the Canadian Rockies to the great peaks of Europe and all the way to the Himalayas. In 1973, he became the first Canadian to climb a Himalayan mountain when he made it to the summit of the 6,000-metre Myagdi Matha.

This was not the first pioneering expedition Chic completed, nor was it the last. Closer to sea level, Chic founded the Canadian Himalayan Foundation, a charity that raised $250,000 to support Canadian climbing expeditions, and held roles with organizations like the Alpine Club of Canada, the Calgary Mountain Club, Britain’s Alpine Climbing Group and the Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development.

Working with the Alpine Club of Canada, Chic organized cross-Canada lecture tours by esteemed mountaineers and was the original proponent of a film festival at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, which grew into the annual Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Chic, of course, has his own place in film history. In 1974, he worked on the Clint Eastwood film The Eiger Sanction, which was filmed in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. Over the decades, Chic continued to balance his own expeditions with his work as a community organizer and fundraiser, often bridging the worlds of art and sport.

In 1988, he organized both the Calgary Climbers Festival and the Canadian Mountain Arts Festival as well as supporting and fundraising for the Everest Express Expedition. A well-regarded writer himself, Chic has authored somewhere around 150 articles and 14 books, including the multiple award-winning Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering.

Chic’s life’s work has been bringing people from all walks of life to the mountains as well as bringing the mountains to the people. As a writer and presenter, he has made the mountains come alive, preserving the rich history of our mountain regions and the people who traverse them, while conveying the thrill of climbing to audiences around the world.

As a seasoned and diligent guide, he has helped climbers of all skill levels — including youth and seniors — experience this thrill for themselves.

Chic has had a profound impact on the Town of Banff, uniting people from every corner of our community in cherishing and celebrating our incredible mountains.

I hope you will all join me in congratulating Chic for this well-deserved honour.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!