Personalized ice axe used by Cora Johnstone Best. The blade is inscribed with her name. Axes of this type were used by early mountaineers to cut steps in ice and snow. The broken handle pictured here would have originally been approximately four feet long. Used with the permission of the photographer, Cheryl Jacklin-Piraino.
Cora Johnstone Best lead-climbing an ice route in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada, near Jumbo Mountain. Photograph by Audrey Shippam, ca. 1923.
Autograph of Cora Best that reads, “Yours ‘till the bears get me, Cora Johnstone Best.” Found on the interior of a Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies pamphlet, ca. 1924.