Métis mountaineer from Alberta appointed to Order of Canada

Barry Blanchard, an alpinist and mountain guide who lives in Canmore, Alta., was among 88 people appointed to the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest honours, late last year.

A release from the Governor General's office said Blanchard "has initiated numerous complex and demanding ascents in the Rockies, the Alps and the Himalayas, some of which have not been repeated. For more than 40 years, he has been a guide, resource and mentor to countless mountain enthusiasts."

At the age of 65 he now runs a bed and breakfast with his partner and does mountain tours with those alpine enthusiasts.

In October, Blanchard got an email from the Governor General's office, asking to organize a call with him.

"So I took a look at it for a little bit and thought, 'Is this a scam?'" laughed Blanchard.

But Blanchard ended up on a call and found out he was being appointed to the Order of Canada "just right out of the blue," he said.

"Just something that I never, ever expected."

Blanchard said his friends used to joke with him that he should receive the Order of Canada.

"I said, 'Yeah, when they go down the list, if they ever get to mountain climbers,'" said Blanchard.

"So this got my heart pounding, took my breath away and made me cry."

His Métis family is from the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, and one of his ancestors was Cuthbert Grant, a Métis leader in the late 1800s. He said his Métis heritage may be where he got his "adventure gene."

Blanchard said he was 17 when he got interested in mountain climbing.

"I often joke that if I hadn't found climbing writing in my junior high school library and high school library, I might be illiterate," said Blanchard.

"I definitely went through all of the climbing information that I could get."

Blanchard started drawing pictures of climbing, and then one day bought a climbing rope. Blanchard and his friends would practise climbing on buildings in downtown Calgary, often at night.

Then he finally got the opportunity to go rock climbing in the Kananaskis area of Alberta.

In 1980, Blanchard and a friend quit their jobs and took off to France and spent five months climbing in the Alps.

"We lived in the forest and I went and put my back against one of the ancestors that was there, it was a very big tree; I just knew that I'm going to dedicate my life to alpinism," said Blanchard.

He has since done many challenging and dangerous climbs all over the world, including climbing Mount Everest.

Blanchard has gained lifelong friendships from these adventures but sadly also lost a close friend while climbing Mount Logan.

Blanchard said when you do an alpine climb for several days, you can get close to those who are your partners during that time.

"The things I've experienced climbing in the mountains, it's like living a a short lifetime in that suffering, pain, joy, all of these things that usually gets parceled out over time can get very compressed in a climbing situation," said Blanchard.

Now Blanchard said he has transitioned his passions of being an alpinist to being a father and mountain guide.

He will be invited to a ceremony sometime in the next year or so to receive his insignia.