Several groups of St. Olaf College students coming down a hill on bobsleds, with the original Ytterboe Hall in the background, ca. 1900–1910. Courtesy of the St. Olaf College Archives, Northfield.

The St. Olaf baseball team, its coach, and its mascot (Frederik “Fritz” Grose, class of 1920), ca. 1905–1909. Courtesy of the St. Olaf College Archives, Northfield.

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.

Dr. Cora Johnstone Best (right) and mountaineer Conrad Kain standing atop a rocky outcropping near Starbird Glacier in British Columbia, Canada, 1923. The photo was taken by Best’s climbing partner, Audrey Shippam. The scene was photographed simultaneously by Byron Harmon, and his shot is the one of the most iconic pictures in Canadian Alpine history.

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.

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.

Cora Johnstone Best at Lake of the Hanging Glaciers, near Windermere, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph by Audrey Shippam, 1923.

Cora Johnstone Best, ca. 1930.