Howse Peak is the highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

in the Waputik Mountains, a subrange of the

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 is located west of the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through Banff Nat ...

, above Chephren Lake, on the continental divide between

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 ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. At , it is the 46th highest peak in Alberta, and the 59th highest in British Columbia. Howse Peak's name comes from Howse Pass, which lies to the west. The pass was named by David Thompson, after the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

trader Joseph Howse, who crossed the pass in 1809. (Thompson had actually crossed the pass two years earlier.)

Climbing

Howse Peak is a dramatic mountain, rising over above both the

Mistaya River The Mistaya River is a short river in western Alberta, Canada. It flows through the Canadian Rockies, and a section of the Icefields Parkway was built along its course. Mistaya River originates in Peyto Lake, a glacial lake of typical blue colour ...

to the east and Howse Pass to the west, in only a few horizontal kilometres.''Map of Bow Lake and Saskatchewan Crossing'', Gem Trek Publishing, 1995, It is also a formidable climbing challenge. The easiest route requires a hike up the Howse River and then a climb up a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

on the west side of the peak. In addition, at least two high-quality, difficult ( Grade V/VI) technical routes exist on the east side of the mountain. The first ascent was made on August 14, 1902 by J. Norman Collie, Hugh Stutfield, G.M. Weed, and Herman Woolley, guided by Hans Kaufmann. Starting from their camp at the foot of the peak, they began the ascent with a tiring two hour jaunt through the woods, continuing onto a rocky ridge that led up to the peak. However, they soon ran into two precipitous rock faces along the ridge. The first was tackled with little difficulty, the second however proved a more formidable challenge. With much time and effort expended, Kaufmann and Woolley managed to descend a 50-foot perpendicular rock chimney. The rest of the group however decided to descend into the valley before re-attaining the ridge further along. After a long snow grind interrupted by a few crevasses, they reached the summit eight hours from their starting point. "The summit is formed of a most enormous snow cornice running along the ridge for a great distance, and overhanging the terrific precipices which line the western side of Bear Creek above Waterfowl Lake."

Geology

Like other mountains in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

, Howse Peak is composed of black limestone and yellow

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

laid down during the

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 80 to 70 million years ago, and ended 55 to 35 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Howse Peak is located in a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

Precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

runoff from Howse Peak drains into the

, Howse River, and the

Blaeberry River The Blaeberry River is a tributary of the Columbia River in the Columbia Country of British Columbia, Canada, rising in the Canadian Rockies on the south side of Howse Pass and joining the Columbia midway between the town of Golden, at the conf ...

Incidents

On 16 April 2019,

David Lama David Lama (; 4 August 1990 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian rock climber and alpinist. He won the European Championship in competition bouldering in 2007 and the European Championship in competition lead climbing in 2006. He is known for h ...

, Jess Roskelley and Hansjörg Auer were killed by an avalanche during their descent after having climbed the mountain's east face on a new route.

Gallery

Howse Peak snowy.jpg, Howse Peak Howse Peak above Chephren Lake.jpg, Howse Peak above Chephren Lake

References

External links

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Satellite photo via Google Maps
{{Canadian Rockies, state=collapsed Three-thousanders of Alberta Three-thousanders of British Columbia Waputik Range Great Divide of North America Kootenay Land District