Mount Fay is a mountain located on the border of

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 ...

on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

in 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 ...

. The mountain forms part of the backdrop to

Moraine Lake Moraine Lake is a snow and glacially fed alpine lake in Banff National Park, outside the village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately . The lake has a surface area of ...

in the

Valley of the Ten Peaks Valley of the Ten Peaks () is a valley in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, which is crowned by ten notable peaks and also includes Moraine Lake. The valley can be reached by following the Moraine Lake road near Lake Louise. The ten peaks ...

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 ...

. It was named in 1902 by Charles E. Fay, an early explorer of the Canadian Rockies. He was a member of the party who attempted Mount Lefroy in 1896 when the first mountaineer to be killed in the Canadian Rockies occurred. __NOTOC__

Notable ascents

* 1904 First ascent by

Gertrude Benham Gertrude Emily Benham (July 1867– February 1938) was an English explorer and mountaineer. Born in London, she was the youngest of six children and began climbing mountains as a girl. She went on to climb mountains on almost every continent. ...

ahead of the mountain's namesake alpinist Charles E. Fay. * 1937 December 22 First winter ascent by E.R. Gibson, Doug Crosby, and Bob Hind * 1984 ''East Face'' (V/VI 5.8 WI5) FA by

Barry Blanchard Barry Kenneth Blanchard (born March 29, 1959) is one of North America's top alpine climbers, noted for pushing the standards of highly technical, high-risk alpine climbing, ice climbing, and mixed climbing in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalay ...

, David Cheesmond and Carl Tobin. Repetition of the East Face and variation on the finish was done from 2–3 April 2019 by Brette Harrington,

Luka Lindič Luka may refer to: People *Luka (given name), a South Slavic masculine given name cognate of Luke, and a Japanese given name **Luka Dončić, Slovenian professional basketball player (born 1999) **Luka Modrić, Croatian professional footballer (bo ...

and Ines Papert.

Geology

Like other mountains in Banff Park, Mount Fay is composed of

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 ...

, Mount Fay 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. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

Gallery

Mount Fay and Fay Glacier.jpg, Mount Fay and Fay Glacier

Notable ascents

Geology

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading