A Squamish-based geotechnical engineer, teacher and avid mountaineer died on Friday (Nov. 1).
Frank Baumann had just attended a conference of geotechnical engineers when he was involved in a car accident on Oct. 24 on a forest service road north of Pemberton. After a week in the intensive care unit at Vancouver General Hospital, Baumann passed away from his injuries with his family at his bedside. He was 66.
Baumann had lived in Squamish since 1977, but his acquaintance with the area runs back to 1966 - the first time he climbed the Stawamus Chief. The outdoors enthusiast was recognized as a leading expert and consultant in geotechnology, and was not one to shy away from calling attention to potential dangers, fellow geotechnologist Karl Ricker said.
"He was outspoken. I don't deny that. But we need guys like that in geotechnology to get various people and society to smarten up and stop thinking with their back pockets," Ricker said.
Baumann stood up against development in Squamish's Cheekye Fan area and led the charge for the construction of the Fitzsimmons Creek debris barrier in Whistler. More recently, Baumann voiced opposition to building the Sea to Sky Gondola through a "much-loved Class A provincial park." Instead, he suggested a gondola be built from the West Coast Railway Heritage Park to the top of Mt. Lapworth.
Baumann was a good climber, Ricker said. An active mountaineer, Baumann had summited Mt. Olympus in Washington State. Baumann was a part of the Whistler Volunteer Ski Patrol, B.C. Mountaineering Club and taught free avalanche courses through Mountain Equipment Co-op. The people he instructed in mountaineering over the last 30 years had nothing but praise for him, Ricker noted.
"His life was non-stop," he said. "He was always going from here to there and back again."
He was born Feb. 19, 1947, in Berlin, Germany - the first Canadian to be born in Germany after World War II, his daughter Amy Robinson said.
The Baumann family embarked on many an outdoors adventure, including at least a dozen trips to canoe on the Bowron Lakes circuit in the B.C. interior, his daughter Katherine said.
"He was a wonderful, wonderful father, always full of fun but just really gentle," she said. "He always loved to do things with us, including outdoors stuff and travel.
"He loved to have us girls go along to the work sites. We'd help him or he just wanted us to come along for the ride and he would show us the outdoors."
He was also a Christian, having attended the Squamish Baptist Church and, for the past couple of years, Coastal Church in Vancouver, Katherine said.
"He really believed that science brought people closer to God, not the other way around," she said.
Baumann was also a teacher at Howe Sound Secondary School for 14 years and was loved by his students for the enthusiasm and passion he had for the subjects he taught. Among them were Earth sciences and geology.
"My recollection is that that was the first time those courses were offered at the school and that they became very popular," said Rick Price, a fellow educator and long-time friend of Baumann's.
"There are a whole bunch of words that you could apply to Frank, and passion was definitely one of them. He was passionate about everything he did and you could just tell that he was just dying to share his passion for those subjects."
Dave Southam, district manager of the Sea to Sky office of the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said he went on many outings in which Baumann came along to provide advice on slope stability, avalanche risks and the like. Baumann always demonstrated his knowledge of the local landscape and enjoyed showing off some of the gadgetry that went along with his work, Southam said.
"For me personally, Frank was an educator," Southam wrote in an email that he forwarded to The Chief. "I always looked forward to any opportunity where I could travel with Frank as he had a deep passion for sharing the great wealth of knowledge he had accumulated over his very diverse life experiences."
Baumann is survived by his wife Nadine, daughters Katherine, Julia and Amy Robinson.
A celebration of Baumann's life will be held at the Coastal Church at 1160 West Georgia in Vancouver on Saturday (Nov. 9) at 11 a.m. The family asks that those wishing to attend wear light-coloured attire, in keeping with the "celebration of life" theme. An event will be held at his home in Squamish the same day at 6 p.m.
With files from Andrew Mitchell, Whistler Question, and David Burke, The Chief
