Resplendent Mountain, or Mount Resplendent is a peak 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 ...

, located at the northern end of

Mount Robson Provincial Park Mount Robson Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian Rockies with an area of 2,249 km. The park is located entirely within British Columbia, bordering Jasper National Park in Alberta. The B.C. legislature created the park in 191 ...

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 ...

, Canada. It is a part of the Rainbow Range, and is a sister peak to the more famous

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of ...

, its nearest neighbour. Together they form a classic panorama seen by travellers on

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

trains and Highway 16. The mountain was named by Arthur P. Coleman, and

Arthur O. Wheeler Arthur Oliver Wheeler (May 1, 1860 – May 20, 1945) was born in Ireland and immigrated to Canada in 1876 at the age of 16. He became a land surveyor and surveyed large areas of western Canada, including photo-topographical surveys of the Selkir ...

wrote, "On the east side it is clad from top to bottom in pure white snow, and presents with the sun shining upon it a spectacle of such wonderful brilliance that the aptness of the name became immediately apparent." The first ascent was achieved on the same historic 1911 trip in which

Conrad Kain Conrad Kain (10 August 1883, Schwarzau im Gebirge, Nasswald – 2 February 1934, Cranbrook, British Columbia) was an Austrian mountain guide who guided extensively in Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and was responsible for the first ascents of mo ...

first scouted the climbing routes later to be used on the first ascent of Mount Robson. The east face of Resplendent towers above the sources of

Resplendent Creek ''Resplendent'' is an English language science fiction collection by British writer Stephen Baxter (author), Stephen Baxter, published in 2006. It is the fourth and final book in the ''Destiny's Children'' series. This book is a collection o ...

, feeding into the Moose River, and its north face emerges from the

Robson Glacier The Robson Glacier is the primary source of the short Robson River, one of the uppermost tributaries of the Fraser River. Located on the British Columbia-Alberta Boundary and the Continental Divide to the east of Berg Lake in Mount Robson Provi ...

, feeding the

Robson River The Robson River is a short but swift, rapid and waterfall-infested river in Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia. It is a tributary of the Upper Fraser River and originates near Robson Pass, which divides the Robson River from the ...

, another tributary of the upper headwaters of the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

. Resplendent holds an important place in the history of Canadian Rockies

ski mountaineering Ski mountaineering (abbreviated to skimo) is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipment ...

, and from the time of Peter L. Parson's first ski ascent (solo) in 1930, it has been a highly sought objective for winter ascents, with a ski descent of over 1800 metres from the summit to the toe of the

References

External links

Image of summit, Byron Harmon, c.1913
University of Alberta Library * Conrad Kain website: http://www.conradkain.com/about {{Canadian Rockies, state=collapsed Rainbow Range (Rocky Mountains) Three-thousanders of British Columbia Regional District of Fraser–Fort George Cariboo Land District