__NOTOC__ Mount Victoria, , is a

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 ...

on the border between

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 ...

and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in 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 ...

. It is located just northeast of Lake O'Hara 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 also part of

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense conif ...

and is 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, no ...

(which is the definition of the interprovincial boundary in this region). The mountain has two peaks, the south being the highest while the north peak is slightly lower at . The mountain is located on the western buttress of

Abbot Pass Abbot Pass lies between Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria, in the divide between the valleys of Lake O'Hara and Lake Louise. It was named for Philip Stanley Abbot who died in 1896 in an attempt to climb Mount Lefroy with Charles Fay, Charles T ...

while Mount Lefroy lies on the eastern side. The mountain was named by J. Norman Collie in 1897 for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. The first successful ascent was made in 1897 by J. Norman Collie, Arthur Michael, Charles Fay, and Peter Sarbach.

Geology

Mount Victoria 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

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

period. 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 Victoria 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

External links

* Mount Victoria weather
Mountain Forecast
* Parks Canada web site
Banff National Park

Gallery

File:Lake Louise and Mount Victoria.jpeg, Mount Victoria reflected in Lake Louise File:Mount Victoria (Bow Range).jpg, Northeast aspect viewed from Lake Louise Ski Resort File:Snow Capped Rocky - panoramio.jpg, Mount Victoria's north peak seen from the Wapta Lake area

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria, Mount Three-thousanders of Alberta Three-thousanders of British Columbia Mountains of Banff National Park Great Divide of North America Canadian Rockies Borders of Alberta Borders of British Columbia