Canadian activists seek to change names of ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ mountains

“Some of them are derogatory, they’re racist, they’re sexist,” said Brandon Pullan, editor of Gripped Climbing Magazine, who said the push for these names to be changed has been going on for years now.

One mountain, close to Canmore, is called Squaw's Tit while Bow Valley has a series of trails called The White Imperialist near Grassy Lakes. That trail also features of sub-routes featuring names such as No Tickee No Laundry, Chinatown Left and Chinatown Right. Another trail in the Bow Valley is called Naked Teenage Girls.

“To change [route names] you just tell the guidebook author to change the name in the next printing,” Pullan said. “It’s happened before. Sometimes there will be a historical footnote.”

Generally, trails are named by the first person to ascend the area, according to Pullan, who believes the names could be changed with little effort.

Local climber and admin for the Bow Valley Climbing Community page on Facebook, Logan Grasby, said that The White Imperialist is a very popular route and that is part of the reason it's under the limelight now.

“I would say that it is quite easy to point to a few of the more popular areas that have a select concentration of these [offensive] names,” Grasby said. “And I would say that it is probably your average climber who goes to the more popular areas who will encounter these routes.

“In Alberta, there are hundreds of new climbers every year… Certainly, it’s growing, and certainly, the demographic is changing. People should name routes to be publicly acceptable,” said Grasby.

The names of peaks and Alberta's mountain ranges are harder to change because they are officially named, meaning a name change would require an approval from the provincial application process.

Squaw's Tit, often referred to as simply The Tit, is a peak that some climbers have taken serious issue with.

“[Squaw’s Tit] is an informal name,” said Jude Daniels, a Canmore resident. “I summited it back in 2006. It was one of my first ones, that’s when I first heard this name, and I was shocked.” Daniels has been working to get the name changed for years.

“From an Indigenous women’s perspective, I think the person that coined that name, held Indigenous women in utter contempt. In fact, the name generates hatred towards Indigenous women,” wrote Daniels in a tweet. “I decided that I wanted to have that peak given a formal name. I discovered it was quite a lengthy process. In the meantime, I wanted to ask people to use a different name.”

Many climbers call the mountain The Tit, however the government has rejected that as its official name and Daniels wants the new name to have no connection to the old one. She is currently working with the Stoney Nation to consult them about a traditional name for the mountain.

“Every time I see that peak, and I literally live next door to it… to the left of me is a peak of me called Squaw’s Tit. To the right of me is a mountain called Lady MacDonald. I think that speaks volumes for the kind of thinking that arose at the time of the informal naming of that peak." tweeted Daniels. “It truly is a punch to the stomach when I first heard the name, and every time I see the name, it’s the same visceral effect.”

Pullan said his Gripped Magazine is reviewing all the trail names across the country in order to see if they are other names that need to be changed.

“[Gripped] is looking at route names in Canada, and coming up with a list [off offensive names]… and sending that list out to guide book authors… to see what they think, and the next step." said Pullan. “If it offends somebody, if anybody is offended … just change the name,”