Photo challenge gives a “peak” into the past

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

Climbers who plan on snapping scenic photos of their trips in Jasper, Banff and Yoho this summer may be able to contribute to more than just their Instagram grids. The Mountain Legacy Project – an archival research group at the University of Victoria – and the athletic association Alpine Club of Canada are asking recreational climbers to recreate any of nine decades-old photos of glaciers organizers have selected for their 2025 Repeat Photography Challenge.

Participants can use their GPS to find the exact spot where the photos were taken, and take a photo with their phone camera using the instructions at https://alpineclubofcanada.ca/acc-mlp-repeat-photography-challenge/ – no fancy equipment required. The idea is to give an accessible way for climbers and mountaineers to participate in citizen science, and to give researchers valuable points of reference on how mountain landscapes have changed, said Sonia Voicescu, a Ph.D. candidate and Mountain Legacy Project researcher. 

“There’s still a lot of places we haven’t been to because they’re really hard to access – we don’t have the climbing expertise that some other people might have,” Voicescu said. “For people that are travelling to those places anyway… it would help us because we would get the repeat photographs, and hopefully it would be a valuable experience for people to do that and experience the [landscape] changes.”

She added that the project was the idea of Mary Sanseverino, a senior researcher at the Mountain Legacy Project and active member of the Alpine Club of Canada. Sanseverino was not available for an interview by press time.

Landscape changes happen at a literal glacial pace, but comparing current and past photos can give clues about how decades of gradual changes affect mountain ecosystems, says Voicescu.

“Normally when you think of a photograph, you think of this static piece that’s not moving, that’s immobile,” Voicescu said. “But when you do the repeat [photo] and then you put them side by side, you immediately have this impression of movement and change.”

Landscape changes don’t boil down to one explanation, according to Voicescu. The Mountain Legacy Project has students researching a variety of topics like floods, forestry practices, climate change and mining, among others, all of which can change mountain landscapes. Drawing on an extensive archive of photos – to date, the project has over 100,000 – can give clues about what the biggest factors are in each area and help inform policy changes, Voicescu said.

“If you’re somebody from Parks Canada, and you’re thinking about how we plan for the fire season in the next 20 or 30 years, you can use the information from these images and the analysis the group does to guide you,” she said.

The Mountain Legacy Project has previously held similar repeat photo challenges, but they were in more accessible locations, according to Voicescu. She hopes the new locations will appeal to climbers looking for a challenge.

“It’s nice that we’ll be able to tap into that resource and hopefully have this meaningful two-way project where everybody benefits from it,” Voicescu added.

Citizen Science

To help promote the challenge, the Mountain Legacy Project partnered with the Alpine Club, who is sharing information about how to participate with its members. The club will feature winning photos at its annual Summit Shaker party this October in Canmore, said Director of Marketing and Communications Keith Haberl.

“At that event, we’ll be taking some of the winning images and blowing them up, posterboarding them side-by-side for people to see at the party,” he said. “We have some cool [Alpine Club] prizes, including tickets to the party itself.”

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2025 to be the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, Haberl added – making this a fitting summer for the club to help contribute to glacier research. 

“This is a citizen science mission to the Alpine Club,” Haberl said. “A lot of the stuff we do isn’t business, it isn’t something that we make money off of – we just do it because we believe in mountain science, mountain culture, or mountain safety initiatives. This is one part of our commitment to raising awareness during the UN Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.”

The Mountain Legacy Project and the Alpine Club of Canada frequently work together since part of the club’s mission is to preserve and protect mountain ecosystems, Haberl added.

While people climb mountains for a variety of reasons, from adrenaline rushes to bragging rights, Haberl said he hopes club members and other recreational climbers will take the opportunity to participate in research that can help preserve mountain ecosystems.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to give back,” Haberl said of the challenge. “Somebody who can say, ‘That little bit that I did made my day in the mountains more valuable to me’… that’s who we’re talking to.”

Voicescu agreed that the challenge is meant to give climbers a meaningful way to contribute to important research.

“Raising awareness of what’s happening in mountain ecosystems and with glaciers is a really important key point,” she said. “We’ll be able to have a record of those changes, and that could serve for another research project. Another student in a year or two will have something to work with. It’s really a win-win.”