Ha Ling Peak is a peak at the northwestern end of
Ehagay Nakoda—a mountain located immediately south of the town of
Canmore just east of the Spray Lakes road in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
's
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...
. It was previously named Chinaman's Peak but the name was changed to be less offensive.
It was the subject of a 2018 CBC Documentary titled 'Ha Ling Peak' that follows the controversy and renaming of the mountain.
Origin of the name
The name of the mountain has been subject to much controversy. Originally, the mountain was referred to locally as The Beehive.
[ In 1896 Ha Ling, a Chinese cook for the ]Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
(some say the Okaloosa Hotel in Canmore) was bet 50 dollars that he could not climb the peak and plant a flag on the summit in less than 10 hours. According to the Medicine Hat
Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...
News of October 22, 1896, he started the ascent at 7:00 am the previous Saturday morning and was back in time for lunch. As nobody believed his story, he led a party of doubters to the summit where he planted a much larger flag beside the original, this one visible to the naked eye from Canmore. The townsfolk referred to the mountain as Chinaman's Peak in his honour.[ Later, in 1997 it was renamed Ha Ling Peak as the term ]Chinaman
''Chinaman'' () is an offensive term referring to a Chinese man or person, or widely a person native to geographical East Asia or of perceived East Asian ethnicity. The term is noted as having pejorative overtones by modern dictionaries. Its ...
was viewed as derogatory.
Climbing routes
There is a hiking route up the south side.[ On the north side there are several technical climbing routes up the face and a difficult ]scrambling
Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...
route up Canmore Couloir, located between Mount Lawrence Grassi and Miner's Col.
Gallery
Ha Ling - panoramio (1).jpg, Ha Ling Peak
See also
* Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre
* Chinaman (term)
''Chinaman'' () is an offensive term referring to a Chinese people, Chinese man or person, or widely a East Asian people, person native to geographical East Asia or of perceived East Asian ethnicity. The term is noted as having pejorative over ...
* List of mountains in the Canadian Rockies
A list of highest mountains and peaks in the Canadian Rockies over is shown below. Sources for the elevation, prominence and first ascent can be found in their respective pages and/or Wikidata
Wikidata is a collaboratively edited multiling ...
* Negro Mountain
References
External links
Scramble description from www.scrambling.ca
*
Ha Ling Peak Hiking Trail
from hikealberta.com
{{Canadian Rockies, state=collapsed
Two-thousanders of Alberta
History of Alberta
Canadian people of Chinese descent
Ethnic and religious slurs
Asian-American issues
Anti-Chinese sentiment in Canada
Alberta's Rockies