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28-647: The Maligne River ( / m ə ˈ l iː n / mə- LEEN ) is a medium-sized river in the Canadian Rockies . It runs through parts of Jasper National Park in Alberta , Canada . The Maligne is a major tributary of the Athabasca River . The river takes its name from the French maligne , meaning "malignant" or "wicked". Pierre-Jean De Smet created this name in reference to the current of

56-468: A tundra climate ( ET ). In 1893, 5 years after the expedition of A.P. Coleman to Athabasca Pass and the final settling of the mistaken elevations of Mount Hooker and Mount Brown , Mount Robson was first surveyed by James McEvoy and determined to be the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The first documented ascent of Mount Robson, led by the young guide Conrad Kain , at its time

84-639: A 19 km (12 mi) hike. The lake is approximately 2 km long and lies at 1,646 m (5,400 ft) elevation. There are backcountry campgrounds at each end of the lake and a log shelter on its banks, named Hargreaves Shelter in honor of the Hargreaves family who operated the Mount Robson Ranch across the Fraser River from the mountain and who outfitted most of the early trips into Berg Lake. The Berg Glacier calves directly into

112-545: A difficult railway construction process. The following articles describe in detail the political and technical feats involved: 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

140-616: Is much lower in the Canadian Rockies than in the American Rockies. Five national parks are located within the Canadian Rockies, four of which are adjacent and make up the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks . These four parks are Banff , Jasper , Kootenay and Yoho . The fifth national park, Waterton Lakes , is not adjacent to the others. Waterton Lakes lies farther south, straddling the Canada–US border as

168-480: Is now generally presumed to have reached the high summit ridge before being turned back at the final ice dome of the peak. Kinney Lake , below the south face, is named in his honour. The 1,500 m (4,900 ft) Emperor Face on the northwest side provides the most formidable challenge to elite climbers on the mountain, though the more popular routes are the Kain route and the southeast face. The Kain route follows

196-780: Is part of the Rainbow Range . Mount Robson is the second highest peak entirely in British Columbia, behind Mount Waddington in the Coast Range . The south face of Mount Robson is clearly visible from the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), and is commonly photographed along this route. Mount Robson was likely named after Colin Robertson , who worked for both the North West Company and

224-785: Is the eastern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire that runs all the way around the Pacific Ocean . The Canadian Rockies are bounded on the east by the Canadian Prairies, on the west by the Rocky Mountain Trench, and on the north by the Liard River. Contrary to popular misconception, the Rockies do not extend north into Yukon or Alaska, or west into central British Columbia. North of the Liard River,

252-573: Is the second-highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, and is the highest mountain in Alberta. Snow Dome (3,456 m; 11,339 ft) is one of two hydrological apexes of North America. Water flows off Snow Dome into three different watersheds, into the Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean , and Atlantic Ocean via Hudson Bay . The Canadian Rockies are not the highest mountain ranges in Canada. Both

280-827: The Athabasca River . Below Maligne Lake, it is a losing stream ; its flow mostly disappears underground at Medicine Lake, only to reappear downstream in Maligne Canyon . Canadian Rockies Canada officially defines the Rocky Mountains system as the mountain chains east of the Rocky Mountain Trench extending from the Liard River valley in northern British Columbia to the Albuquerque Basin in New Mexico , not including

308-506: The Hudson's Bay Company at various times in the early 19th century, though there was confusion over the name as many assumed it to have been named for John Robson , an early premier of British Columbia. The Texqa’kallt , a Secwepemc people and the earliest known inhabitants of the area, call it Yexyexéscen (striped rock), spelled in Dawson 1891 as Yuh-hai-has-kun , The Mountain of

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336-850: The Liard Plain of northeastern British Columbia to the east and the Interior Mountains / Plateau and Columbia Mountains to the west. It is divided into the Northern Rockies (which is further subdivided into the Muskwa and Hart Ranges ) and Continental Ranges , separated by the McGregor River valley, the McGregor Pass and the Kakwa River valley. The southern end of the Canadian Rockies extends into

364-705: The Mackenzie , Richardson and British Mountains / Brooks Range in Yukon and Alaska (which are all included as the "Arctic Rockies" in the United States ' definition of the Rocky Mountains system). The Canadian Rockies, being the northern segment of this chain, is thus defined as comprising the central-eastern section of the North American Cordillera, between the Prairies of Alberta and

392-674: The Mackenzie Mountains , which are a distinct mountain range, form a portion of the border between the Yukon and the Northwest Territories . The mountain ranges to the west of the Rocky Mountain Trench in southern British Columbia are called the Columbia Mountains , and are not considered to be part of the Rockies by Canadian geologists. Mount Robson (3,954 metres; 12,972 feet) is the highest peak in

420-533: The Northern Rockies which comprise two main groupings, the Hart Ranges and the Muskwa Ranges . The division-point of the two main groupings is at Monkman Pass northwest of Mount Robson and to the southwest of Mount Ovington . The Canadian Rockies are noted for being the source of several major river systems, and also for the many rivers within the range itself. The Rockies form the divide between

448-758: The U.S. state of Montana at various sites such as the Wilson Range , Upper Waterton Lake , Boundary Creek , Cameron Lake , Forum Peak , Long Knife Peak , North Fork Flathead River and Frozen Lake . In geographic terms, the boundary is at the Canada–United States border on 49th parallel north , but in geological terms it might be considered to be at Marias Pass in northern Montana. The Canadian Rockies have numerous high peaks and ranges, such as Mount Robson (3,954 metres; 12,972 feet) and Mount Columbia (3,747 m; 12,293 ft). The Canadian Rockies are composed of shale and limestone . Much of

476-563: The American Rockies are made mostly of metamorphic and igneous rock such as gneiss and granite . The Canadian Rockies are overall more jagged than the American Rockies, because the Canadian Rockies have been more heavily glaciated , resulting in sharply pointed mountains separated by wide, U-shaped valleys gouged by glaciers, whereas the American Rockies are overall more rounded, with river-carved V-shaped valleys between them. The Canadian Rockies are cooler and wetter, giving them moister soil, bigger rivers, and more glaciers. The tree line

504-546: The Canadian Rockies, but not the highest in British Columbia, since there are some higher mountains in the Coast Mountains and Saint Elias Mountains . Mount Robson lies on the continental divide near Yellowhead Pass , one of the lowest passes in the Canadian Rockies, and is close to the Yellowhead Highway . Its base is 985 m (3,232 ft) above sea level, with a total vertical relief of 2,969 m (9,741 ft). Mount Columbia (3,747 m; 12,293 ft)

532-557: The Canadian part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park . The four adjacent parks, combined with three British Columbia provincial parks, were declared a single UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 for the unique mountain landscapes found there. Numerous provincial parks are located in the Canadian Rockies, including Hamber , Mount Assiniboine and Mount Robson parks. Throughout

560-694: The Pacific Ocean drainage on the west and that of Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean on the east. Of the range's rivers, only the Peace River penetrates the range. Notable rivers originating in the Canadian Rockies include the Fraser , Columbia , North Saskatchewan , Bow and Athabasca Rivers . The Canadian Rockies are quite different in appearance and geology from the American Rockies to the south of them. The Canadian Rockies are composed of layered sedimentary rock such as limestone and shale , whereas

588-480: The Rockies, and especially in the national parks, the Alpine Club of Canada maintains a series of alpine huts for use by mountaineers and adventurers. The Canadian Pacific Railway was founded to provide a link from the province of British Columbia to the eastern provinces. The main difficulty in providing such a link were the Rockies themselves: treacherous mountain passes, fast rivers and sheer drops made for

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616-769: The Saint Elias Mountains (highest point in Canada Mount Logan at 5,959 m; 19,551 ft) and the Coast Mountains (highest point Mount Waddington at 4,016 m; 13,176 ft) have higher summits. The Canadian Rockies are subdivided into numerous mountain ranges , structured in two main groupings, the Continental Ranges , which has three main subdivisions, the Front Range , Park Ranges and Kootenay Ranges , and

644-564: The Spiral Road . Other unofficial names include Cloud Cap Mountain. Mount Robson boasts great vertical relief over the local terrain. From Kinney Lake , the south-west side of the mountain rises 2,975 m (9,760 ft) to the summit. The north face of Mount Robson is heavily glaciated and 800 m (2,600 ft) of ice extends from the summit to the Berg Glacier. The north face can be seen from Berg Lake , and reached by

672-446: The hardest ice face to be climbed on the continent, was achieved during the 1913 annual expedition organized by a large party of Alpine Club of Canada members who made use of the newly completed Grand Trunk Pacific railway to access the area. Prior to 1913, it had been necessary to approach the mountain by pack train from Edmonton or Laggan via Jasper and Lucerne, so only a few intrepid explorers had made previous attempts at exploring

700-681: The lake. The Robson Glacier, which fills the cirque and valley between Mount Robson and Mount Resplendent , in the early 1900s fed directly into both Berg lake and Adolphus Lake , straddling the Continental Divide and draining thus to both the Arctic and Pacific oceans via the Smoky and Robson Rivers , respectively. It since has receded more than 2 kilometres and is the source of the Robson River only. The peak of Mount Robson has

728-513: The mountain. The most famous early ascensionist was George Kinney , a founding member of the Alpine Club, who on his twelfth attempt in August 1909 claimed to have reached the summit with local outfitter Donald "Curly" Phillips . A major controversy over this claim and over the implausible nature of his unlikely and dangerous route dominated the discourse within the Alpine Club elite, and he

756-591: The range is protected by national and provincial parks, several of which collectively comprise a World Heritage Site . The Canadian Rockies are the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera , the collective name for the mountains of Western Canada . They form part of the American Cordillera , an essentially continuous sequence of mountain ranges that runs all the way from Alaska to the very tip of South America. The Cordillera, in turn,

784-425: The river near its confluence with the Athabasca River . The Maligne River begins south of Maligne Lake . Forming from the meltwater of Replica Peak , the river heads north, passing under Mount Mary Vaux , Lysfran Peak , Mount Unwin , and Mount Charleton before emptying into Maligne Lake. The Maligne River drains the north end of Maligne Lake and heads northwest to Medicine Lake . It then flows west, entering

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