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Phyllis Munday received numerous honours and decorations in her lifetime, not only for her mountain climbing, but for her service to others, notably in the St. John Ambulance Brigade and in Girl Guides. In 1938 the Alpine Club of Canada made her an honorary member and later named her honorary president in 1971. She held honorary memberships in the American Alpine Club (1967), the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Ladies’ Alpine Club in England. In 1947 the Canadian Council of Girl Guides awarded her its Beaver, the highest honour a Guider could achieve. In 1967 she was named Dame of Grace for her voluntary work in St. John Ambulance Brigade. The University of Victoria conferred on her the title and degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1972 Governor General Roland Michener presented her with the Order of Canada.

Phyl and Don Munday sit on the summit of Mount Reliance

and look towards Mount Queen Bess, 1942. “

And finally, with all the world at my feet, I will sit exalted

on the summit, and just look, and look, and look…”

Phyl climbed close to one hundred mountains and made over thirty first ascents, many times being the first woman to reach the summit. Asked whether she thought that she was a role model for other women, Phyl replied in her typical and modest way:

“I don’t know what women really thought of me… Because if a person enjoys it and you are strong enough, and well enough to do it, and you can hold your own with a party… then there is no reason in the world why a woman can’t do it [mountaineering].”

In 1990, after her death, the following thoughts written by Phyllis Munday were read at her memorial service.

I Think What Will Happen To Me

When my old body is finished and dies, I’m sure my spirit will come to a place like this:

A lovely woodsy trail, a beautiful lake, an alpine meadow, a ridge and a peak, for all this had been heaven to me while on earth. They are all God’s great gifts to man.

I will roam, at will, about the alpine meadows, along the happy rippling streams, the placid ponds and lakes that mirror the grand peaks and passing clouds. They will catch the early sunrise, with promise of the day, and later the glorious sunset, the last of light, then the night sky with bright stars and brilliant moon.

My spirit will wander about in the fields of flowers, revelling in their unspeakable beauty – it will pause to wonder at a rare treasure on some secluded spot. My spirit will also be tuned to all bird songs, and calls of little animals who make their homes in the mountains.

I will ramble high on the ridges where grotesque trees give way to heather and the highest flowers. Then I will join the fresh breezes, gain in strength, and rejoice in the rocks and snows of high places.

I will travel all over the glaciers – which I love so well – and the sparkling snow fields, the deep blue crevasses and shining seracs and the steep snow ridges and rock faces. And finally, with all the world at my feet, I will sit exulted on the summit, and just look, and look, and look, and love it, and thank my Maker for the supreme privilege my old body has enjoyed through the years.

My spirit belongs to all of the mountains – for this to me is heaven. Thank God who has made me like this. How privileged I have been, as Don and Edith shared these joys with me.

If I have been able to pass on, to even one other soul, the great joy and beauty God gave me in life, then I have been rewarded beyond measure.

Phyllis, Edith (aged four months) and Don Munday

at their campsite in the Selkirk Mountains.

View of Mount Waddington (left) and the Tiedemann Group from the summit of Mount Munday, 1930.