The majestic peaks of Hooker and Brown were first discovered at the turn of the 1900s, and marked on the fur traders maps as the highest in the Western hemisphere. for almost a hundred years, these two mountains sat unnoticed and unvisited, as many of these early maps were owned and guarded as trade secrets by the fur trade companies. While reading through a history book on the region, a trail crewman working in the Canadian parks system came across their mention and Hooker and Brown are re-entered into the imagination of a local climber. Inspired by the mythical story of how these two mountains came to be named, the protagonist begins a subsequent pursuit to reach these peaks and to find out if they truly do exist.

Based on a historic story from the rocky Mountains and filled with exhilarating descriptions of one climber’s attempt to tackle some of the world’s greatest peaks, Hooker & Brown is an evocative adventure story about one man’s quest to put to rest an historical mystery.

Jerry Auld’s short stories have been published in the Alpinist and in the Canadian Alpine Journal. He is a graduate of the University of Calgary and an alumnus of the Banff Writing Studio, where he worked under the direction of Michael Helm and Paul Quarrington. At the 2005 Banff Mountain Film Festival, Jerry was the co-recipient of the 2005 Peoples Choice Award for the independent film Sister Extreme. Jerrys knowledge of the mountains comes from full-time work on the trail crew for Kananaskis Country in the Alberta Rockies, as well as at the Banff Centre, Parks Canada, and the Banff Lodging Company. He is currently a self-employed consultant in website development and programming. Hooker & Brown is his first novel.