BANFF – From Mexico to the Canadian Rockies, from Calcutta to Bombay, by motor scooter, of course, and from Turkey to Macedonia to Greece, all prior to 1960, Renate Belczyk (nee Hick) led a life of adventure.
And that makes her the ideal person for Chic Scott to feature at the latest of his Fireside Chat series of live interviews at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies on Thursday (Sept. 20).
Born in Berlin in 1932, Belczyk’s childhood included watching and listening to bombs fall during the Second World War. When peace returned she and her earliest school chum, Sigrid Hirte, embarked on their first international travels, cycling across the Alps from Frankfurt, Germany to Naples, Italy on heavy single-speed bicycles.
After working as nannies in London to improve their English, they purchased modern three-speed bikes and headed to France, touring the country for eight months and working as chambermaids in Paris and harvesting grapes in wine country.
Then, in 1955, the young women took their savings and launched their big adventure, which lasted three years. Working for a year in Mexico, they learned to climb with the local mountaineering club, then travelled to Canada and hitchhiked to Lake O’Hara.
There, they met Lawrence Grassi, who coached them on how to climb Mount Victoria where they left a medallion on the summit in memory of three Mexican ladies and their Mexican guide who died while climbing the peak in 1954. Back down at Lake O’Hara, they promptly met Hans Gmoser, who hired them to cook at his ski camp based at Stanley Mitchell Hut for five weeks the following spring.
Just getting started, the women rode their bikes around Japan, becoming celebrities in the process. They crossed India on motor scooters - camping along the way - and into then roadless Nepal where they walked to Kathmandu and explored the Himalayas.
Returning to India, they took a boat through the Suez Canal to Egypt where they rode camels and visited the pyramids. They continued by boat to Turkey, then drove across Macedonia to Greece and eventually back to Germany.
In 1959, Belczyk returned to the Rockies where she married mountaineer Felix Belczyk, and they raised three children in Castlegar, B.C.; their son, Felix, became an Olympic level ski racer.
“Renate is such a remarkable person and so unknown,” Scott said. “She has lived some fabulous adventures and at 86 is still full of life and energy. She is sharp as ever and still loves to ski.”
And, Scott added, Belczyk never lost her yen for adventure, with travels to Peru, Pakistan, Tibet, Zimbabwe, Russia, Cambodia, Syria, New Zealand, Mongolia and Bhutan and many more countries.
“I have been blessed over the years to meet many interesting people in the Rocky Mountains and it is a big pleasure to be able to share them with other folk in the Bow Valley,” Scott said. “In particular, I like introducing adventurous women to the community.”
Belczyk will share her stories at the Whyte Museum at 7 p.m. Visit www.whyte.org/events to reserve a seat.
