Pioneering Life of Mary Schäffer Warren
Wildflowers, a film about Mary Schäffer Warren’s pioneering life, made its big screen debut last fall at the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.
In the film, a group of women led by outdoor writer Meghan J. Ward retraces Schäffer’s legendary 1908 expedition to Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park.
Co-produced by Ward, based in Banff, and Trixie Pacis, a filmmaker from Kimberley, the documentary is based on the shared passions for mountain exploration and history held by two women, Schäffer Warren (1861-1939) and Ward, separated by a century.
“Having our world premiere at the Banff festival was our big goal from the beginning, not only because it is a prestigious festival but because it is one with deep connections to the film,” according to Pacis, the film’s director.
Schäffer Warren was a pioneer in more ways than one. Born in Pennsylvania, she was destined to buck the conventions of polite early 20th-century Victorian society, where a woman’s place was to be dressed up nicely for teatime in the parlour.
Schäffer Warren was born into money, and it came with privilege. She studied art at a young age and married Dr. Charles Schäffer, a doctor and amateur botanist. Together, they made many train trips to Banff, and she fell in love with the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Schaffer near Lake O’Hara is named after the couple.
When her husband died, she was widowed at age 43.
That’s when her life took a big turn. Schäffer Warren “reinvented herself as a mountain explorer, writer and photographer,” as described on the Wildflowers’ website.
She was the first non-Indigenous woman to visit Maligne Lake and many parts of Jasper and Banff national parks. She also wrote two books, including the classic Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies.
The seeds for Wildflowers were planted in 2020 when Pacis started working with Ward at Paul Ziska Photography in Banff. They became friends and soon learned they were fascinated with mountain history, notably Mary Schäffer Warren.
More than a century after the original journey, Ward, photographer Natalie Gillis, and travel writer Jane Marshall decided to follow Schäffer Warren’s inspiring footsteps to Maligne Lake.
Pacis, a Banff Centre Adventure Filmmakers Workshop graduate, saw it as a perfect pitch for a documentary film.
“Like Mary, Meghan moved west to the Rockies and reinvented herself as a mountain writer. Meghan once described her curiosity about Mary as ‘an itch that can’t be scratched,’” Pacis said.
Schäffer Warren remains an inspiring figure for women in many ways. In the early 1900s, when females were not allowed to join official survey parties, a man employed by the Geological Survey of Canada had the guts to ask Schäffer Warren to survey Maligne Lake.
It says a lot about the respect she had as an explorer and woman who was smart and could handle herself as well as any man could in the mountains.
At the same time, Pacis said Schäffer Warren’s life overlapped with “a significant time of colonial impact in the Canadian Rockies.”
“Reflecting on Mary’s legacy invites us to ask questions, rethink history, and consider what we can do now to blaze a better trail forward,” Pacis said.
Schäffer Warren built a house in Banff and eventually remarried one of her longtime guides, Billy Warren.
She died in 1939 of pneumonia but left behind a legacy of trailblazing – in the mountains and in a society that tried to put restrictive limits on what a woman could choose to do.
Natalie Gillis, the documentary team’s photographer, died tragically last June in a plane crash.
“Banff was also special to our friend and expedition photographer,” said Pacis. “We have dedicated this film in loving memory of Nat and know that sharing this film in Banff, surrounded by her family and our friends, was a unique way to honour her memory.”
Written by Andrew Findlay – @afindlayjournalist