Mount Gordon is a mountain summit located immediately west of 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, no ...

, in the

Waputik Range The Waputik Range lies west of the upper Bow Valley, east of Bath Creek, and south of Balfour Creek in the Canadian Rockies. "Waputik" means "white goat" in Stoney language, Stoney. The range was named in 1884 by George Mercer Dawson of the Geolo ...

of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) 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 par ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It is a glaciated dome situated in

Yoho National Park Yoho National Park ( ) is a national park of Canada. It is located within the Rocky Mountains along the western slope of the Continental Divide of the Americas in southeastern British Columbia, bordered by Kootenay National Park to the south and ...

, and is the highest point of the

Wapta Icefield The Wapta Icefield is located on the Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The icefield is shared by Banff and Yoho National Parks and numerous outlet glaciers exte ...

. Its nearest higher peak is

Mount Baker Mount Baker ( Lummi: '; nok, Kw’eq Smaenit or '), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. ...

, to the northwest.

History

The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they e ...

of the mountain was made in August 1897 by George Percival Baker, J. Norman Collie, H. B. Dixon,

Charles Ernest Fay Professor Charles Ernest Fay (1846–1931) was an American alpinist and educator. Biography He was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts. He graduated in 1868 at Tufts College and became instructor in mathematics there in 1869, and professor of mod ...

Arthur Michael Arthur Michael (August 7, 1853 – February 8, 1942) was an American organic chemist who is best known for the Michael reaction. Life Arthur Michael was born into a wealthy family in Buffalo, New York in 1853, the son of John and Clara Michael, wel ...

, C. L. Noyes, H. C. Parker, and Charles Sproull Thompson, with Peter Sarbach as guide. The mountain was named in 1897 by Charles Sproull Thompson of the first ascent party for

John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, (3 August 1847 – 7 March 1934), known as The 7th Earl of Aberdeen from 1870 to 1916, was a British politician. Born in Edinburgh, Lord Aberdeen held office in several coun ...

, at the time

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...

from 1893 to 1898. After descending from the summit of Mount Gordon, Thompson fell into a crevasse and became lodged which required rescue by the team. Mount Thompson, six kilometres to the north of Mount Gordon, was one of several peaks named by this same climbing party. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1924 by the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Can ...

Geology

Mount Gordon is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particle ...

laid down during the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, 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 th ...

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 Mya. The J ...

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, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 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 is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Mount Gordon is located in a subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon Three-thousanders of British Columbia Canadian Rockies Great Divide of North America Mountains of Yoho National Park Kootenay Land District

History

Geology

Climate

See also

References