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Hugh ‘Torchy’ Aikens, (1914-1999), was a passionate skier, hiker, and natural historian who spent decades exploring, photographing, and filming mountains and mountain people in BC, Alberta, Washington, and Oregon. Click on the links below to view albums of Torchy's photos. To read a biographical 'sketch' of 'Torchy,' scroll down to the bottom of the page.
PLEASE NOTE - This page is under construction. More photo albums with captions will be added in March 2011.
LINKS TO ALBUMS
Princeton, BC circa 1940
Bert Irwin Sr. was the driving force behind the development of skiing in Princeton, British Columbia. Bert, who established and managed the Amber Ski Club, built Canada's first cable-handle rope tow on the Amber hill in 1934. During the late 30's, '40's and '50's, many of Princeton's young people were members of the Amber Ski Club or the rival Princeton Ski Club and learned the finer points of downhill skiing. Ski jumping was also popular. Fearless boys and young men enjoyed taking leaps off the three jumps that were constructed on the ski hill.
'Pop' Irwin and his wife had three children; Bill, Bert, and Ethel. All of them excelled in skiing. Bill, Bert and Noel Paul, another Princeton lad, won many ski competitions locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. At the age of 80, Bill was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.
The Amber ski grounds and many of Princeton' ski jumpers and ski racers, including all members of the Irwin family were photographed by Hugh Aikens during a visit around 1940. The photos displayed on Picasa were small contact prints and, as a result, are not the same quality as larger 'finished' prints, yet they give the viewer an intriguing look at ski competitions on the Amber ski grounds circa 1940.
Princeton, BC - Skiers circa 1940
Princeton, BC - Ski Jumpers circa 1940
Maysie Ewart was born and raised in Princeton, BC. Like many of her friends and schoolmates, Maysie was a member of the Amber Ski Club. During winter she spent a lot of her free time on the nearby ski hill (located near the current Princeton Golf Course). Maysie's photos give some context to the Hugh Aikens Princeton album.
Snoqualmie, Washingto & Mt. Hood, Oregon
circa 1940
Snoqualmie, Washington & Mt. Hood, Oregon circa 1940's
For more information about the Snoqualmie ski jumps, click here.
For more information about Timberline Lodge, Oregon, click here.
HUGH AIKENS: A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Hugh Aikens was born on September 11, 1914 in Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario. Later in life he was nicknamed ‘Torchy’ because of his red hair.
In 1919, the Aikens family moved to Vancouver. As a teenager growing up in the middle of the Depression, Hugh got a job with Cleland-Kent Engraving Company, Ltd. to help support his parents and four siblings. He was to work for Cleland Kent for the next 51 years, first as a delivery boy, and then as a trained photoengraver and electrotyper. After WW II, Hugh became an account executive for Cleland-Kent.
In the early 1930’s, Hugh’s love of the outdoors drew him to Hollyburn Mountain. Within a couple of years he became a partner in a cabin with Johnny Gibson and Ray Smith, a family friend. Hugh’s passion for photography developed during this period.
WW II was to pull the three cabin mates in different directions. Johnny Gibson joined the RCAF early on and was lost in action. Ray Smith was a machinist during the war and used the Hollyburn cabin until 1945, when he moved to Mount Seymour. About 1941/1942, Hugh joined the Canadian Army Engineers.
In 1943, both Hugh and his close friend, Bill Irwin (a renowned skier and ski jumper from Princeton), qualified as trainers in mountain warfare. This training took place near Jasper, Alberta. While in the Rockies, the regiment learned to ski and climb under harsh, mountain conditions.
After WW II, Hugh returned to Vancouver. He again took up the ‘Hollyburn lifestyle’ that involved summer hiking, winter skiing and socializing with other cabin people on the Ridge. He was rarely seen without a camera.
Hugh now shared his Hollyburn cabin with Bea and Eric MacIntosh (sister & brother-in-law), and Naomi Wilson, (who later married Bud MacInnes). The cabin was appropriately called “Pack-Em-Inn”. The “Pack-Em-Inn” quartet were part of the ‘close-knit’ community on the Ridge made up of city-dwellers who were mountain people at heart. (This unique mountain community thrives to this day and is well-represented by the Hollyburn Ridge Association, which includes the protection and preservation of historic Hollyburn buildings and landscapes in its mandate.)
But times and personal circumstances change. In 1947, Hugh and his young brother Bert (still in high school) moved to Mt. Seymour where they leased a B.C. Forestry site and built a cabin. Around the same time, Hugh added a movie camera to his collection of photographic equipment. In the late 1940’s, Joyce Hall began to join Hugh on Seymour outings. They were married in 1950.
During the next half-century, Hugh and Joyce spent much of their free time in the mountains. Garibaldi Provincial Park, Mt. Seymour, Mt. Hood, and the Canadian Rockies were among their favourite destinations. Both Joyce and Hugh became active members of the BC Mountaineering Club and the Vancouver Natural History Society.
Hugh ‘Torchy’ Aikens passed away in 1999. Joyce died a year later. Although Hugh is gone now, he has given us, with the help of his extended family, a wonderful legacy - his beautiful photos and film of our mountains and mountain people.
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