For over 20 years, the Mountain Legacy Project has been capturing change in Canada’s mountain landscapes through repeat photography. This interactive photo essay offers a glimpse at some of these incredible images and the landscapes of our changing mountains over time.
As the MRI Coordination Office celebrates its 20th anniversary, we also take this opportunity to reflect on our changing mountains past, present, and future, and the role of the research community in both shaping and telling their stories. In this interactive photo essay, Mary Sanseverino of the Mountain Legacy Project shares some of this project's amazing work capturing change in Canada's mountains through the world’s largest collection of systematic high-resolution historic mountain photographs and a vast and growing collection of repeat images.
"My name is Mary Sanseverino and I’m a retired teaching professor from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). For the past decade it has also been my pleasure and privilege to serve as a research associate with the Mountain Legacy Project (MLP). I am thrilled that the Mountain Research Initiative asked me to prepare an interactive 'virtual tour' because now I get to introduce MLP to you!
The Mountain Legacy Project explores all that changes in Canada’s mountain landscapes. Working with the world’s largest collection of systematic historical mountain photographs, MLP researchers follow the footsteps of historic surveyors to retake their original images.
MLP researchers engage with other university researchers, managers, and mountain study practitioners in understanding how and why ecosystems, landscapes, and human mountain communities change over time. Based in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, MLP’s work since 1998 involves repeat photography, archival research, image interpretation and landscape-level analysis, software development, and making these images widely available.
Thus far MLP teams have repeated over 9500 historic mountain photos so the interactive images, themes, stories, and maps presented below barely scratch the surface. But, they are some of my favourites.
I hope you enjoy the virtual Mountain Legacy tour. If you have questions or comments about anything you see please don’t hesitate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Wishing everyone happy trails in, around, over, and through your mountains."
– Mary Sanseverino.
The Mountain Legacy Project Virtual Tour
Scroll through and swipe the photos from side to side to reveal 'then and now' changes (and similarities) in images from the Canadian mountain west.
For the best interactive experience view in full screen mode. The virtual tour has been optimized to work on computers, tablets, and mobile devices.
View full size images in image gallery.
Contact:
Mary Sanseverino
Teaching Professor Emerita
and Mountain Legacy Research Associate
University of Victoria,
Victoria, BC, Canada
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pictured left: Mary on the Hallam Glacier, Monashee Range, British Columbia. Photo by Zac Robinson.
Cover image: Historic 1913 Mt. Assiniboine image in a modern context, the Mountain Legacy Project.
