Dr. Neal M. Carter was a mountaineer, surveyor, and cartographer active in the Coast Mountains from the 1920s-1950s. Neal was born in Vancouver on December 14, 1902, and he began climbing and exploring local mountains at age 14. He joined the BC Mountaineering Club at age 17, and began climbing with prominent mountaineers, including Tom Fyles. He attended UBC and McGill Universities and earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry and later worked as a marine biologist in fisheries research. He worked as a surveyor on Hydro crews around Garibaldi Lake. In the summer of 1923, he and UBC classmate Charles Townsend set off from Rainbow Lodge and climbed the previously unclimbed Wedge Mountain. From the summit of Wedge they spotted an impressive mountain to the north in the midst of glaciers, which they named Mount James Turner, managing its first ascent as well. In the following days they made a foray into Singing Pass and climbed Red Mountain (called Fissile today) and across to the summit of Overlord Mountain. The following day they named and made the first ascent of Mount Diavolo. The first ascent of Overlord had only been made in the previous June when Don and Phyl Munday ventured into the area on Carter’s recommendation. The Mundays had also arranged to meet Carter and make an attempt on Wedge Mountain on that trip; however Carter was delayed by work and the Mundays made a first ascent of Blackcomb instead. His mountaineering passion took him around the world, with climbs in Europe, Japan and New Zealand. Though he made several notable climbs in the Rockies, his main focus lay in exploring the Coast Mountains. His exploration contributed to the creation of the first topographical maps of Garibaldi Park and the Tantalus Range in the 1920s. In the 1930s, he explored peaks at the head of the Lillooet and Toba Rivers, and was a member of a team attempting a first ascent of Mt. Waddington. In the early 1940s, he surveyed the Seven Sisters Range near Smithers, and was the first to climb Mt. Weeskinisht. He remained an active climber well into the 1950s, with two important first ascents: Mt. Monmouth and Mt. Gilbert. Neal Carter was a photographer at a time when alpine photography was rare, and documented most of his ascents. Mount Neal in Garibaldi Provincial Park (which he also played a key part in lobbying to expand its borders to their current size) has been named in his honour, based on his 1968 ascent of the mountain with his wife, Patricia Carter. Carter was made an honorary member of the Alpine Club of Canada in 1974, and, for his mapping work, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He died on March 15, 1978 while swimming in Barbados, at the age of 75.