Career
Born in Austria in 1932, he came to Canada in 1951, and since then has been a major driving force behind the growing popularity of climbing, skiing and guiding. In the 1950s he pioneered new rock climbs, most notably Grillmair Chimneys (1952), Calgary Route (1953) - with Franz Dopf leading, and Diretissima (1957) on Yamnuska. He made the third (and first Canadian) ascents of both Mount Alberta (1958) and Brussels Peak (1960).
He participated in what may have been the first ascent of Alaska"s Mount Blackburn in 1958, and led very successful expeditions to Mount Logan (east ridge) in 1959, and to Mount McKinley (Wickersham Wall) in 1963.
In 1961 he climbed a difficult new route on the south face of Mount Louis. He was described as "a good leader.
He always had plans and he did his darndest to make his dreams come true."
Gmoser was a very capable and ambitious mountain guide. Foreign years he travelled throughout North America, presenting his films and devoting vast amounts of energy toward promoting the Canadian mountain experience.
In 1957 he founded Rocky Mountain Guides which eventually grew to become Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH), advertised as the largest mountain adventure operation in the world.
CMH is where Gmoser made his mark in heliskiing.
