The Banff Centre’s Director of Mountain Culture speaks to ML.
Words :: Bob Covey
1: She grew up in Ontario
Toronto, to be exact. But Croston was anything but a city kid. Her family had an off-grid cabin near Bancroft, she grew up skiing near Collingwood (where she eventually joined the alpine racing team), and in her teenage years, got into sailing. She joined one of the country’s first rock climbing gyms in London, and from there learned about a three-month mountain skills course at Yamnuska‚ her gateway to the mountains. “I took the course and became convinced I needed to move out west,” she said.
2: Her first job in Banff was at the Whyte Museum
Before donning the white cotton gloves of an archivist, however, Croston was accumulating calluses by way of a seven-month bike packing trip from Ireland to Istanbul. After pedalling through Europe, Egypt, Israel, the Greek Islands and Turkey, a 26-year-old Croston steered her budding interest in mountain culture to the Whyte. She stayed there for eight years.
“I had a real affinity for mountains, art, history and archival materials,” she said.
3: She idolized Lynn Hill
The first Banff Mountain Film Festival Croston attended was in 1997. There she took in a presentation by climber Lynn Hill, who had been one of the world’s most dominant competition climbers and who today is widely regarded as one of the best athletes in the history of the sport. The talk was pivotal for Croston, who saw Hill as something of a kindred spirit: an ambitious woman in a male-dominated arena whose petite stature belied her grand achievements in the alpine environment.
“I realized I wasn’t alone,” Croston said. “[Seeing Hill] kind of sealed the deal for me to spend my life in the mountains.”
4: She was mentored by Bernadette McDonald
After her stint at the Whyte Museum, Croston got a job at the Banff Centre, where she worked on various programming portfolios for the BMFBF. Along the way, she struck a relationship with former longtime festival director Bernadette McDonald, who by that time had hung up her lanyard to focus on writing. McDonald had helped the festival expand to a global community and earn respect among other film circuits in Europe. Croston saw in McDonald a mountain culture advocate, spokesperson and ultimately, a mentor whom she could call on for advice when she eventually got the job as Director of Mountain Culture.
“I admired her knowledge of history, of mountaineering and mountain literature—as someone who found a balance between being active and exploring the cultural side,” Croston said.
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5: She’s a closet poet
Well, not entirely closeted anymore, thanks to a coming-out of sorts in 2016, when Alpinist published Croston’s long-form poem about her climb on a unique pillar of Bow Valley rock known as The Finger. She’s since dipped her quill to wax poetic about a near-death incident on Mount Victoria, for Way Making, an anthology of women’s adventure writing, poetry and art. Croston started writing for her University newspaper, and as an avid reader, penned many book reviews for the likes of Gripped, the Canadian Alpine Journal and Mountain Life. But her proudest literary achievement remained the poem in Alpinist, until…
6: She wrote a book
If you’ve studied the BMFBF itinerary, you already know that Croston is the author of Mountaineering Women, a celebration of 20 of the most daring women alpinists from around the globe. What you might not know is that Croston whittled that number down from 80—a list of women who over the course of her 18 years at the Banff Centre, she was either fascinated by or wanted to learn more about. Croston wasn’t exactly planning to write the book (her Banff Centre duties keep her plenty busy), but when a UK-based publisher asked what’s the missing piece in mountain culture, Croston’s mind’s eye went to her list.
“I’ve been waiting for someone to write this book for 15 years,” she remembers saying. “I guess that means I should do it.”
Chapter one of Mountaineering Women profiles Japanese alpinist Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest. The next 19 chapters detail formidable female climbers from the 1950s to the present day.
“I wanted to highlight stories that haven’t yet been told. Ones that are at risk of being lost to the new generations,” she said.
7: Mountaineering makes her a better event manager
With all due respect to the stress that technical foul ups and scheduling snafus can create for event staffers everywhere, compared to when sh*t goes sideways on the side of a mountain, in the grand scheme, things ain’t that bad. At least that’s how Croston explains her even-keeled nature and well-regarded calm in the face of pressure.
“Everything you learn in alpine climbing sets you up for dealing with adverse situations, quickly prioritizing and dealing in the moment,” she says. “In event management, that’s kind of a superpower.”
8: She tops out before you perk up
The Bow Valley is an increasingly popular place, but rather than lament the crowds or pine for the past (“everybody’s living in the good old days right now, you know?”), to beat the bustle, Croston simply adapts. That means avoiding Canmore’s main street on weekends, appreciating that new, diverse demographics are learning about mountain stewardship, and getting creative to find opportunities to nature-bathe solo. Like when she headed out on dawn patrol recently to top out alone on the well-trodden Ha Ling Peak.
“I get it all done before people have even had their coffee,” she laughed.
9: She’s come full circle
A quarter century ago, the team behind the 25th anniversary of the Banff Mountain Film Festival and Banff Mountain Book Festival (they were distinct events then) set the bar high. This year, for the 50th anniversary of the festival, Croston and her team knew they’d have their work cut out for them to give the milestone its proper due. To meet that challenge, Croston led her team to honour the past while looking to the future. The 2025 festival includes a new symposium, a film pitch session, a retrospective podcast, and is welcoming back legendary names like Børge Ousland, Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger, James Balog, Wade Davis and Croston’s idol-of-youth, Lynn Hill.
“I couldn’t be happier with the place I’m in,” Croston said. “I feel like after almost 20 years, some of the things I’ve always wanted to do are coming to fruition.”
The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival takes place November 1-9.
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