Ralph Maurice James Hutchinson was a mountaineer and lawyer in British Columbia. Ralph Maurice James Hutchinson was born on April 25, 1930 in the former British protectorate of Tanganyika (modern-day Iringa, Tanzania). Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Kenya, and his father became a civil servant in the education department of the Kenyan civil service. He was headmaster of a number of up-country schools in the colony and the administrator of the primary schools in the area. In consequence, Hutchinson grew up bilingual in English and Swahili. During World War II, Ralph went to school in Kenya and in Natal, in South Africa, and as soon as World War II ended, he was sent to England and spent two and a half years at Rugby, the public boarding school, graduating in 1948. He gained a place at Cambridge University, where he obtained his law degree, then took the Bar exams in London. Hutchinson's initiation to the mountains was in 1951 when he went on a guided ski trip to the Otztal Alps on the border of Italy and Austria, and his first summit was the Wildspitze. This was the beginning of a lifetime spent in the mountains. He immigrated to Canada in 1954, was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1956, then practiced law in Vancouver until 1960, when he moved to Nanaimo, BC. There, he was part of the firm Heath, Hutchinson, Taylor and Shabbits. Hutchinson bought a waterfront home near Departure Bay in Nanaimo. From this base he made numerous forays onto Mount Arrowsmith, a mountain which he has climbed with many friends over the years. In 1957, Hutchinson married Dorothy Johnstone and they had two children: Bryony and John. Since moving to Canada, he became heavily involved in the mountaineering scene. He started climbing mountains as a major hobby, joining the British Columbia Mountaineering Club (BCMC) in 1954 and edited its bulletin from 1956 to 1958. In 1958, in the Kwoiek Area, Hutchinson, Dick Culbert, Art Dellow, and Roy Mason made first ascents of Haynon Peak, Kwoiek Peak, Mehatl Peak, and Tachiwanna Peak. In 1959, in the Mount Raleigh Region, Hutchinson, Werner Himmelsbach, Jim Woodfield, and John Owen made first ascents of Garrulous Peak and Mount Raleigh. In the early 1960s, Hutchinson joined the Island Mountain Ramblers. In 1960, in the Lillooet Icefield, Hutchinson, Werner Himmelsbach, Joe Hutton, and Jim Woodfield made first ascents of Mount Toba, Mount Compton, and Mount Tisiphone (The Archbishop). In 1961, he was among the first All-Canadian party to complete Mount McKinley's South Summit in Alaska with Werner Himmelsbach, Jim Woodfield, and John Wilson. In 1963, in the Taseko Lakes Region, Hutchinson, Werner Himmelsbach, Joe Hutton, and Geoff Suddaby made the first ascent of the Mount Winstone Main Summit. In 1964, in the Mount Harrison Area, Hutchinson, Paddy Sherman, Werner Himmelsbach, Joe Hutton, Brendan Moss, and Don MacLaurin made the first ascents of Mount Harrison and Mount Folk. In 1967, with the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition, he made the Mount British Columbia first ascent with Andrew Gruft, Byron Olsen, and Karl Winter. In 1969, in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, he made the Huascaran Western Spur first ascent with Fips Broda, Paddy Sherman, Scipio Merler, Bob Paul, Bernie Segger, and Dave Wessell. In 1969, he joined the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) and was the Western Vice President of the ACC from 1979 to 1982. His climbing took him from Vancouver Island, to the Coast Mountains, the Rockies, the Yukon, Afghanistan, Peru, and Africa, with over twenty-five first ascents. In 1973, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa with Paddy Sherman, Roger Neave, and Scipio Merler. In 1974, he made several first ascents in the Stikine Icecap area with Roger Neave, Bill Perry, Franz Bislin, Mike Walsh, and Bob Tustin, including the Mount Arrowsmith Judges Route with Jim Taylor and Jim Shabbits. In 1975, in the Koh-I-Baba region of Afghanistan, Hutchinson, Mike Walsh, and Joe Bajan made several first ascents in the area. In 1980, in the Apes Lake Area, Hutchinson and Hugh Neave made the first traverse of Mount Fyles and Mongol. In 1981, after several attempts, Hutchinson made the Noel Peak first ascent near the Stikine Icecap with Roger Neave, Hugh Neave, Alfred Menninga, Mike Walsh, Tom Volkers, Carol and Walter Latter, Paul McEwan, and Peg Davidson. His climbing led him to an interest in the environment and he maintained a strong community involvement. In various capacities, he has been involved with the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC,) the Concerned Citizens group, the John Howard Society, the S.P.C.A., the Nanaimo Area Land Trust, and the Vancouver Island Mountain Sports Society. In 1980, Hutchinson accepted an appointment to the County Court in Prince Rupert, BC, and then in Vancouver. Finally, he returned to Nanaimo in 1987 and remained on the County Court until merger with the Supreme Court in 1991. Hutchinson retired in 2002. In his spare time, when not climbing mountains, Hutchinson enjoyed skiing, sailing, gardening, music, cooking, and wine. In the summer of 2007, Hutchinson made a trip into the Jim Haberl Hut in the Tantalus Range near Squamish with a number of his old climbing buddies: Paddy Sherman, Joe Bajan, Werner Himmelsbach, and Tom Volkers, however, this was to be his last trip into the mountains. In January 2008, Ralph Hutchinson was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. March 20, 2008, Hutchinson passed away at the age of 77. Through his work with the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Nanaimo Area Land Trust, a section at the summit of Mount Benson had been bought and part of the trail up the mountain will be named in is honour.