Mount Weed is a mountain summit located in 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 ...

valley of

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 ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Mount Weed is situated at the confluence of Silverhorn Creek and

, 3.5 kilometres southwest of Mount Noyes, 4.5 km east of Mistaya Lake, and 14 km north of Bow Lake. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Patterson, to the southwest. Patterson stands directly across the Mistaya River valley from Weed, and both are prominent features seen from 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 ...

History

The mountain was named by J. Norman Collie in 1902 for George Marsten Weed (1864-1948) of the

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains (New Hampshire), White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., wit ...

, who climbed in the Rockies and made several first ascents. Collie and Weed were together in a party which made the

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

Mount Forbes Mount Forbes is the seventh tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies and the tallest within the boundaries of Banff National Park. It is located in southwestern Alberta, southwest of the Saskatchewan River Crossing in Banff. The mountain was n ...

on August 10, 1902. The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1928 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 Canad ...

. The first ascent of the peak was made in 1936 by L. Gest, Mr. and Mrs. H. Kingman, H.S. Kingman Jr., W. Kingman, with Christian Hasler Jr. as guide.

Geology

Like other mountains in Banff Park, the mountain 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 Weed 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 Mount Weed drains into the

, a tributary of the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

Gallery

File:Mount Weed seen from Peyto Lake Overlook.jpg, Mount Weed seen from Peyto Lake Overlook File:Mountain in Canada Rockies.jpg, Mount Weed File:The View from the Summit of Mount Weed on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park.jpg, View from the summit of Mount Weed

References

External links