At 59 years of age, Don Forest became the first person to reach the summit of all 56 11,000-foot (3353-metre) peaks in the Canadian Rockies, some such as Mount Alberta being highly technical and in remote locations. Through his achievement, Don became an inspiration to many as he had not started climbing until the age of 41. On that first occasion, his rope-mates were son Ken and daughter Kathy, and he quickly realized he had discovered a passion that would dominate his life from that point onwards.

He is the co-founder of the locally infamous “Grizzly Group,” an extremely active group of climbing friends consisting of Don, Glen Boles, Gordon Scruggs, Mike Simpson, Leon Kubbernus, and Jim Fosti, who are still making first ascents in the Rockies to this day. With their help, Don reached the summit of Mount Sir John Abbott in the Premier Range in May 1993 and thereby completed the ascent of all 17 of the 11,000-foot (3353-metre) peaks in the Purcells and Selkirks. He was 73 years old at the time! Perhaps Don’s proudest achievement, however, is his 1991 ascent of the West Peak of Mount Logan, which he completed just days after his 71st birthday. Not surprisingly, he became the oldest person to reach this point.

As a consulting electrical engineer, Don traveled regularly to projects. To pass the time, he memorized Robert Service poems of the Yukon and then entertained his climbing friends, usually in stormbound tents or cold bivouacs, with tales of desperate life-and-death situations.

Throughout his climbing career, Don was very active within the Alpine Club of Canada and was elected to the board of management in 1971, to president in 1976, and became an honorary member in 1990. The Calgary Mountain Club was also an important part of his climbing life and he was elected president in 1979 and awarded honorary membership in 1987.