Ferdl Taxbock is a man of many talents and several trades. A native of Austria, he became an agricultural technician, embracing the finer techniques of plowing fields, harvesting crops, raising livestock and planting trees. As a geologist he travelled to remote sites as far north as Ellesmere Island, and he’s a life-long member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta. But central to his core, Ferdl Taxbock has always been a climber. As a bold young man he climbed at the highest grades of difficulty in Italy’s Dolomites and made a first winter ascent in the Swiss Alps. In Alberta’s Rockies he made the first ascent of The Fold with Rudi Kranabitter.
A member of Austria’s guiding association since 1966/67, and an ACMG member since 1968, Ferdl guided glaciologist Gerald Holdsworth to triangulate the precise height of Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan. Working for Hans Gmoser’s Canadian Mountain Holidays he guided climbers in B.C.’s Bugaboos and up the Canadian Rockies’ highest, Mount Robson. With Kranabitter he guided a group to North America’s highest summit, Alaska’s Denali. And for many years Ferdl has guided guests of the Alpine Club of Canada’s General Mountaineering Camp and of the camp he helped create, the ACC’s 55 Plus Camp.
An energetic husband, father and grandfather, Ferdl Taxbock delights in sharing his skills and enthusiasm for the mountains.