The Legend of the Ice Man of Mount Begbie

10/27/2025

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
In 1940, an expedition was proposed to clear up the 75 year old mystery story that told of the frozen body of a climber encased inside an icy tomb on the slopes of Mount Begbie, British Columbia.

Revelstoke Post Card c.early 1900s

In 2007, Professor James Dickson an archaeobotanist at the University of Glasgow, Scotland detailed in his book Ancient Ice Mummies that in 2004 he received a letter from Rosamund Stenhouse Stewart (1924-2022).

She related a story told to her by her father Thomas Livingstone Haig (1866-1950), who had spent many years in Revelstoke, and had served as magistrate during the 1890s in the town. The town is located in British Columbia, and had once been known as Farwell and Second Crossing. He described where he had been taken by an Indian fur trapper to see the body of a completely preserved man encased within the ice of a glacier on Mount Begbie. The increasing thickness was making it difficult to make out details.

Revelstoke Train Station c.1915

Mount Begbie lies approximately 7 miles southwest of Revelstoke. It's on the northeast slope that rises almost 9,000 feet in altitude.

Could this have been a hunter or a prospector, which would justify why he climbed up the dangerous glacier? The first known ascent was accomplished in 1907, though it's probable there were earlier treks up Mount Begbie.

The story of the iceman resurfaced with the opening of the Big Bend Highway in 1940. Newspapers wrote that the Revelstoke Board of Trade was possibly planning an expedition to find the iceman. Supposedly many mountaineers vowed they had seen the frozen body, and others claimed it was just a tall tale.

The iceman was described as a man with a powerful build, with black hair receding from a bald spot, and a beard that almost reached his waist. He was wearing a woolen hunters' coat that came to his knees, and an old flintlock rifle lay across his shoulders.

According to local historians the story was told by J.C. Montgomery, a British Columbia pioneer who at one time was a crew member of the vessel Forty-Nine, bringing gold miners to the Big Bend gold fields. Montgomery died in 1938, but in his youth he placer mined on Perry Creek in West Kootenay in 1868, discovered Slate Creek and mined the first gold there in 1872. From Omineca he went to the Clinton district and was in charge of Harper Brothers' cattle farm in Chilcotin.

Revelstoke Winter c.1915

He said that in the fall of 1864, three prospectors from Marcus, Washington across the line discovered gold on the gravel bars of the Columbia River. There was some belief that a fourth member of the party went up the slopes of Mount Begbie on a prospecting expedition, and this is when he fell into a crevasse. Other times the identity is that of a French Canadian fur trader.

An alternate version, he said the story of the iceman was told by the local tribe. A Salish Indian, who were known to camp along Tonkawatia Creek and on Indian Island in the Columbia River, went in search of new camping and fishing grounds due to the influx of settlers. He was sent to explore and reconnoiter the territory from the vantage point of the mountain top. He failed to return and a search party went to look for him. They found him in a crevasse.

Like the previous story there is an alternate version for the Indian's identity. In this one he acted as an advance scout for the Canadian Pacific Railway, which built through the area in the 1880s.

Could any of these roles have induced a man to make such a difficult climb?

Skeptics pointed out it would too dangerous for anyone, including an Indian to scale the glacier to the top. Early settlers and miners thought of mountain climbing as a waste of time.

Story of man frozen in ice c.1939

In 2007, to mark the anniversary of the first recorded climb, a re-enactment was undertaken. They came to the base of the mountain by boat, then encountered heavy snow the same as the original party. Plans to bury a time capsule at the base of the glacier were ruined by the bad weather, however the capsule was buried at a later date.

Dickson contacted Alexander Mackie the archaeologist who assisted in the documentation and recovery of Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi, an ice mummy dating back 250 years found near the border of British Columbia and the Yukon. Mackie found mention dating back to the 1890s of a body found in a glacier near Revelstoke.

Dickson spoke to Cathy English, a historian at the Revelstoke Museum and Archives, who researched the subject of the lost iceman, but found nothing.

It was not unheard of for foolhardy individuals to trek up what was obviously a dangerous climb. In 1969, two Edmonton men, both 21 years old, were rescued from a glacier in the Columbia Ice Fields. They were found on the Athabasca Glacier about 6 miles from highway. They were wearing only light clothing, and one only had moccasins on his feet. A warden patrolling the ice fields noticed a parked car, and through binoculars saw two men on the glacier. They were walking side by side with a dog. He verified they had not registered for the hike. They disappeared from sight when a wind came up.

A party of five went in search of them. They followed the men's tracks to a hut that leaked heavily. They didn't have a fire, and one man had fallen into a crevasse and was soaked to the skin. They were dressed in jeans and had no winter underwear.

The rescue leader estimated the two men had crossed about 20 hidden crevasses, walking over snow bridges that could have buried them in ice if they fell in.

So is the story of the Iceman of Mount Begbie just a legend, or was there a man trapped in the ice who for some unknown reason scaled the side of the glacier? Could this be a man that fell into the crevasse since prehistoric times like the famous Ötzi, discovered in 1991, who was possibly fleeing from pursuers? Ötzi was believed to have lived between 3350 and 3105 B.C. His mummified remains were discovered by tourists at an elevation of 10,530 in the Ötztal Alps.

Perhaps one day the glacier at Mount Begbie will give up her dead.