Centennial Range

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Centennial Range
Location map Yukon 2.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Location in SW Yukon
Highest point
Peak Centennial Peak
Elevation 3,820 m (12,530 ft)
Listing
Coordinates 60°56′49″N140°43′18″W / 60.94694°N 140.72167°W / 60.94694; -140.72167 [1]
Dimensions
Area341 km2 (132 sq mi)
Geography
CountryCanada
TerritoryYukon
Range coordinates 60°56′52″N140°44′37″W / 60.94778°N 140.74361°W / 60.94778; -140.74361 Coordinates: 60°56′52″N140°44′37″W / 60.94778°N 140.74361°W / 60.94778; -140.74361 [2]
Parent range Saint Elias Mountains

The Centennial Range is a sub-range of the Saint Elias Mountains. It is located inside Kluane National Park and Reserve in the far west of Yukon Territory in Canada. It consists of fourteen major peaks, and was named for Canada's Centennial in 1967. [3] Its peaks bear the names of Canada's provinces and territories, with the exception of Nunavut, which was not a territory at the time. [4] The tallest point is Centennial Peak. Nine of the peaks were climbed as part of the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition, part of the 1967 celebrations. [5]

Contents

Geography

Topographic map of the Centennial Range CentennialRangeNRCmap cropped.jpg
Topographic map of the Centennial Range

The Saint Elias Mountains are the highest in Canada, and second in North America only to the adjacent Alaska Range. They are located at the intersection of the Alaska, Yukon Territory, and British Columbia borders. The Centennial Range is north of Mount Logan and to the west of Mount Lucania. The peaks are lower than the surrounding mountains; no Centennial peak is over 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), while nearby peaks like Mount Steele and Lucania measure over 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). [6] The range lies within Kluane National Park and Reserve.

The range runs roughly east to west, and is bounded by the Walsh Glacier to the south, and the Chitina Glacier to the north. [7] The peaks are named for Canada's provinces and territories (with the exceptions of Centennial Peak and Mount Baffin, named after Baffin Island), and loosely correspond geographically to the positions of their namesakes. Mount Northwest is the farthest west, while Mount Nova Scotia is the easternmost peak. Nunavut does not have a mountain due to it not being a territory in 1967, when the peaks were named. The highest point in the range is Centennial Peak at 3,820 metres (12,530 ft). [8]

Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition

The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) had been interested in exploration of the more remote areas of the Saint Elias range since 1963. The club wanted to plan an expedition commemorating the one-hundred year anniversary of the founding of Canada, as well as a joint venture with the American Alpine Club to commemorate the centennial of the Alaska Purchase. The ACC president started discussions with the federal Centennial Commission in 1965 about a mountaineering event as a component of Canada's centennial celebrations. Federal funding was approved for the expedition in 1966. [9]

Teams were assembled to represent each province and territory. The proposal called for each team to be made up of residents of the respective area, but due to a shortage of applications, a disproportionate number of climbers came from the mountainous province of British Columbia. The Centennial expedition was scheduled over two weeks in late July 1967. [9]

Three base camps were established, called T-Bone, Prairie (named for the Canadian Prairies), and Fundy (named for the Bay of Fundy). Climbers from T-Bone attempted Mount Northwest, Mount Yukon, and Mount British Columbia. The Prairie camp supported teams on Mount Alberta, Mount Saskatchewan, Mount Ontario, and Mount Manitoba, as well as Centennial Peak. The Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia teams used the Fundy base camp. In all, nine of the expeditions were successful, despite the fact that the climbers were assessing new routes and fighting windy, wet weather. [9] Mount Saskatchewan remains unclimbed. [10]

Major peaks

Peaks are listed by their position west to east. Heights from Fisher. [11]

Related Research Articles

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Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Mount Logan is located within Kluane National Park Reserve in southwestern Yukon, less than 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Yukon–Alaska border. Mount Logan is the source of the Hubbard and Logan glaciers. Although many shield volcanoes are much larger in size and mass, Mount Logan is believed to have the largest base circumference of any non-volcanic mountain on Earth, including a massif with eleven peaks over 5,000 metres (16,400 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Beckey</span> American rock climber and mountaineer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Saint Elias</span> Mountain in Alaska and the Yukon Territory on the United States–Canada border

Mount Saint Elias, the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of Mount Saint Elias forms part of Kluane National Park and Reserve, while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Elias Mountains</span> Mountain range in Canada and USA

The Saint Elias Mountains are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the United States and Kluane National Park and Reserve in Canada and includes all of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. In Alaska, the range includes parts of the city/borough of Yakutat and the Hoonah-Angoon and Valdez-Cordova census areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Lucania</span> Mountain in Yukon Territory, Canada

Mount Lucania is the third-highest mountain in Canada, and the second-highest mountain located entirely within the country. A long ridge connects Mount Lucania with Mount Steele, the fifth-highest in Canada. Lucania was named by the Duke of Abruzzi, as he stood on the summit of Mount Saint Elias on July 31, 1897, having just completed the first ascent. Seeing Lucania in the far distance, beyond Mount Logan, he immediately named it "after the ship on which the expedition had sailed from Liverpool to New York," the RMS Lucania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Vancouver</span> Mountain in Canada and USA

Mount Vancouver is the 15th highest mountain in North America. Its southern side lies in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve at the top of the Alaska panhandle, while its northern side is in Kluane National Park and Reserve in the southwestern corner of Yukon, Canada. Mount Vancouver has three summits: north, middle, and south, with the middle summit being the lowest. The south summit, Good Neighbor Peak at 4,785 m (15,699 ft), straddles the international border while the north summit is slightly higher at 4,812 m (15,787 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Hubbard</span>

Mount Hubbard is one of the major mountains of the Saint Elias Range. It is located on the Alaska/Yukon border; the Canadian side is within Kluane National Park and Reserve, and the American side is part of Wrangell–St. Elias National Park. The mountain was named in 1890 by U.S. Geological Survey geologist Israel Russell after Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first president of the National Geographic Society, which had co-sponsored Russell's expedition.

Mount Nirvana, at 2,773 m (9,098 ft) is the unofficial name of the highest mountain in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Currently the Canadian government is working to officially recognize the name Thunder Mountain, reflecting the local Dehcho First Nation name for the mountain. Today, the name Mt. Nirvana is commonly depicted in alpine literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Kennedy</span>

Mount Kennedy is a peak in the Saint Elias Mountains within Kluane National Park, in Yukon, Canada. Its 4250-m to 4300-m (14000-foot) summit lies within 10 km of the Alaska Panhandle. Dusty Glacier lies against it to the north.

Mount Saskatchewan is a mountain in the extreme southwestern corner of Yukon in Kluane National Park and Reserve. The peak was named in 1967 for the province of Saskatchewan to mark Canada's centennial. As of 2012, the mountain is the only peak named after a Canadian province or territory – there are 11 others in the Yukon's Centennial Range – that remains unclimbed.

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Mount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped, cylindrical, rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the Æsir (gods) in Norse mythology. Mount Asgard is perhaps the most famous of the Baffin Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cook (Saint Elias Mountains)</span> Range in Canada

Mount Cook is a high peak on the Yukon Territory-Alaska border, in the Saint Elias Mountains of North America. It is approximately 15 miles southwest of Mount Vancouver and 35 miles east-southeast of Mount Saint Elias. It forms one of the corners of the jagged border, which is defined to run in straight lines between the major peaks. The same border also separates Kluane National Park in the Yukon Territory from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

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This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baffin Mountains</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Morrison (mountaineer)</span>

Donald Kenneth Morrison was a British climber and mountaineer. Morrison first became known as a pioneer rock climber in Canada, then in England's Peak District and he led three expeditions to the Himalayas. He died in 1977 leading an attempt on Latok II peak in the Karakoram.

Mount Decoeli is a 2,332-metre (7,651-foot) pyramidal peak located in the Kluane Ranges of the Saint Elias Mountains in Yukon, Canada. The mountain is situated 23 km (14 mi) northwest of Haines Junction, 21.4 km (13 mi) east of Mount Cairnes, and can be seen from the Alaska Highway midway between the two. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Archibald, 6 km (3.7 mi) to the south. The mountain's name was officially adopted August 12, 1980, by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. James J. McArthur was a Canadian surveyor and mountaineer who undertook extensive surveying in the Yukon during his later years. In 1908 he made the first ascent of Williams Peak accompanied by Edmond Treau de Coeli (1873–1963). Decoeli is pronounced deh-coh-lie. To the Southern Tutchone people, the mountain is known as Nàday Gän, meaning Dried Lynx Mountain.

References

  1. "Centennial Peak". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  2. "Centennial Range". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  3. Coutts, Robert C. (1980). Yukon Places & Names. Sidney, British Columbia: Gray's Publishing. p. 51. ISBN   0888260857.
  4. "A mountain by any other name". Canadian Geographic. September–October 2001. Archived from the original on 2009-12-10. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  5. "Climbing For The Centennial". Weekend Magazine. October 7, 1967.
  6. "Centennial Range". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  7. "Centennial Range map". Government of Canada, Energy Mines and Resources, Surveys and Mapping Branch. 1967.
  8. "Centennial Peak". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 Reichwein, PearlAnn (September 2011). "Expedition Yukon 1967: Centennial and the Politics of Mountaineering in Kluane". Canadian Historical Review. University of Toronto Press. 92 (3): 481–514. doi:10.1353/can.2011.0042. S2CID   154729804.
  10. "Attempt on Mount Saskatchewan falls short". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. May 26, 2005. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  11. Fisher, Marnie (1972). Expedition Yukon . Don Mills, Ontario: Thomas Nelson & Sons (Canada). ISBN   9780176350406.