On the trail of my Swiss ancestors

Shari Zisk-Feuz’s great-grandfather, Walter Feuz, was one of the famous Swiss mountain guides in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, hired around 1900 to attract tourists to Canada. In this three-part series she will share her search for her roots in the Swiss Alps.

Shari Zisk-Feuz was born in Canada and now lives in the US. She has one son. zVg

In search of my roots in the Swiss Alps, in July I’m travelling from Canada to the Bernese Oberland. Here I want to discover the history of my mountaineering family. I’ll take you with me on this quest, tell you the exciting story of the Swiss mountain guides in Canada and report on my journey to Switzerland.

About me. I was born in the picturesque mountain town of Golden, British Columbia, Canada, in 1977. I grew up surrounded by the snow-covered peaks of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, once referred to as “50 Switzerlands in one”. Little did I know that my love for mountains and the story of how my childhood home nestled among some of the world’s grandest peaks have their roots in the Swiss Alps. Here I share the discovery of my Swiss roots, the exciting tale of how young Canada acquired mountain guides from Switzerland, and my journey to the Bernese Oberland to discover my family history.

A cuckoo clock hung on the wall in my grandfather’s house. My father wears lederhosen in his early childhood pictures. The Bernese-style chalets known as Edelweiss Village that overlook my hometown belonged to my great-grandfather and were home to my father during his childhood.

Shari’s father, Ray Feuz, in Golden zVg

As a young child, I never made a connection to these random objects. However, I now recognize them as the remnants of the Swiss culture that my great-grandparents brought to Canada in the early 1900s. 

I knew that my surname, Feuz, was of Swiss origin, and I heard many stories of my great-grandfather and his sons. They were the legendary mountain guides plucked right out of the Bernese Oberland and delivered to the untouched peaks of the Canadian Rockies at the turn of the century.

However, that was all I knew about my Swiss family origins.

Then, it all came together.

In the fifth grade, aged about 12, I first read The Guiding Spirit by Andrew Kauffman and William Putnam (1986). The book recounts the lives and works of the early Swiss Mountain Guides who made their way to Western Canada, starting in 1899. Through this book I learned of my great-grandfather’s magnificent journey to Canada and his essential contribution to the origins of mountain culture in Western Canada. In 1886 the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed its bold new trans-country line along the last stretch of western land. Where the line met with the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the CPR saw the perfect opportunity to drive traffic to the west on its new rail service. “New Switzerland” sat untouched, and in 1898 Eduard Feuz Sr., my great-great-grandfather, chief mountain guide in Interlaken, was recruited by the CPR as their first guide in Canada.

In this book I also learned of the Feuz family’s history in Interlaken and the Lauterbrunnen Valley. It was the first time I’d heard of places like Gsteigwiler and Grindelwald. I learned that the Feuz family were accomplished stonemasons and that stone water fountains found through the Oberland are the work of my distant relatives.

Shari’s son and niece in front of the welcome sign of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Her great-great-grandfather Edward Feuz Senior from Interlaken is pictured behind them. zVg

Along this journey of getting to know my family history I’ve been inspired by the physical robustness of my forefathers. My grandfathers and uncles ascended hundreds of previously unclimbed mountain peaks. Edward Feuz Jr., at only 13 years old, made the local newspaper in Interlaken when he skipped school and ascended the Jungfrau with his father Edward Sr., who continued to climb into his eighties and summited the Jungfrau on his 88th birthday. This fortitude inspired me to study human movement at university and to spend the past 20 years working in the fitness industry.

After hearing the stories of the guides and their original mountain home in Switzerland, it has always been a childhood dream to visit the mystical far-away land of peaks, valleys, and waterfalls. Join me now as I venture to the land of fondue and cows to experience Swiss Alpine culture, to ascend the mountains that called to the hearts of my ancestors, and relive the long cultural journey from deep in the heart of Switzerland to the “new Switzerland” of Western Canada.

Over the coming months Shari Zisk-Feuz will write about her trip to Switzerland. SWI swissinfo.ch will meet her in Interlaken in July.