British Columbia Regional District High PointsShowing Bob Bolton's first ascent dates for climbed peaks (0 out of 29, or 0%)Rank | Regional District | Peak | Elev-Ft | Range (Level 4) | Ascent Date |
---|
|
1. | Stikine Region | Mount Fairweather | 15,325 | Fairweather Range | | 2. | Strathcona | Mount Waddington | 13,186 | Northern Pacific Ranges | | 2. | Mount Waddington | Mount Waddington | 13,186 | Northern Pacific Ranges | | 4. | Cariboo | Mount Waddington-Northwest Peak | 13,041 | Northern Pacific Ranges | | 5. | Fraser-Fort George | Mount Robson | 12,989 | Northern Continental Ranges | | 6. | Columbia-Shuswap | Mount Columbia | 12,274 | Central Main Ranges | | 7. | East Kootenay | Mount Assiniboine | 11,864 | Southern Continental Ranges | | 8. | Central Coast | Monarch Mountain | 11,663 | Northern Pacific Ranges | | 9. | Central Kootenay | Howser Spire | 11,194 | Purcell Mountains | | 10. | Thompson-Nicola | Mount Monashee | 10,741 | Monashee Mountains | | 11. | Powell River | Mount Gilbert | 10,249 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | 12. | Kitimat-Stikine | Mount Ratz | 10,138 | Boundary Ranges | | 13. | Peace River | Ulysses Mountain | 9921 | Muskwa Ranges | | 14. | Northern Rockies | Mount Sylvia | 9646 | Muskwa Ranges | | 15. | Squamish-Lillooet | Stanley Peak | 9636 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | 16. | North Okanagan | Cranberry Mountain | 9423 | Monashee Mountains | | 17. | Fraser Valley | Wedge Mountain-Southeast Slope | 9186 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | 18. | Okanagan-Similkameen | Grimface Mountain | 8645 | North Cascades | | 19. | Sunshine Coast | Mount Tantalus | 8540 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | 20. | Bulkley-Nechako | Hudson Bay Mountain | 8494 | Kitimat Ranges | | 21. | Kootenay Boundary | Mount Tanner | 7936 | Monashee Mountains | | 22. | Skeena-Queen Charlotte | Skeena-Queen Charlotte High Point | 7283 | Kitimat Ranges | | 23. | Central Okanagan | Little White Mountain | 7116 | Okanogan Highlands | | 24. | Comox Valley | Mount Albert Edward | 6867 | Vancouver Island | | 25. | Alberni-Clayoquot | The Red Pillar | 6673 | Vancouver Island | | 26. | Greater Vancouver | Middle Finger | 6168 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | | Greater Vancouver | or Meslilloet Mountain-South Slope | 6102 | Southern Pacific Ranges | | 27. | Nanaimo | Mount Arrowsmith | 5968 | Vancouver Island | | 28. | Cowichan Valley | Mount Whymper | 5056 | Vancouver Island | | 29. | Capital | Capital Regional District High Point | 3727 | Vancouver Island | |
Front Runners List: Click here to see list completion progress by climbers that log their climbs using Peakbagger.com. Multiple Ascents Grid: Click here for a grid showing all of Bob Bolton's ascents of peaks on this list (including up to 10 rounds of repeats). Compare Climbers: Click here to compare ascents of up to 5 climbers working on this list. List DescriptionList Information
British Columbia is divided into 28 Regional Distircts (and 1 Region, Stikine) that form the next level of local government below the provincial level. They are roughly equivalent to counties in the United States, but they have only been in existence since 1965 and have changed with some frequency. Therefore, Regional Districts are not as stable or as well-known as U.S. Counties.
Still, for the jaded peakbagger looking for new challenges, this list of Regional District high points is a huge and serious undertaking. British Columbia is one of the most thoroughly mountainous large areas on the planet, and almost all the peaks on this list require hard-core mountaineering skills. I doubt if anyone has completed more than 15 of these 27 peaks.
There are a few interesting quirks to this list. Mount Waddington and its NW subpeak sit at the junction of three Regional Districts, giving the list only 27 major peaks for the 29 disticts and perhaps making it marginally easier to complete, since that saves two more possibly major expeditions. Also, note that northern Vancouver Island is part of districts that include large chunks of mainland, so Golden Hinde, Vancouver Island's high point, is not a district high point. Same thing for the Queen Charlotte Islands, part of a district with a high point on the mainland.
The top five major peaks on this list are well-known objectives: Fairweather, Waddington, Robson, Columbia, and Assiniboine. But most of the rest are high, snowy, remote, and difficult peaks that are not nearly as famous. Little White and Mount Whymper are perhaps the only two walk-ups on the list. The lowest summit, a forested bump that is the Capital Regional Distict's highest point, might not yet have been climbed except perhaps by a logger. The Skeena-Queen Charlotte high point also might be a virgin summit.
Sources
The main difficulty in compiling this list was that most topographic maps (paper and online) do not show the Regional District boundaries. Using a GIS coverage of the boundaries and overlaying that over various digital topographic maps, I think that I have determined the various high points. The Skeena-Queen Charlotte and Capital high points were the most difficult to determine, since they are random unnamed peaks. There may be inaccuracies, and I welcome any corrections. Don't get mad at me if you almost get killed on one of these peaks and later find out it is not the actual high point!
Sources Include:
- Online Sources (See links below)
- Encarta Reference Library World Atlas DVD-ROM
- Various paper maps and atlases of B.C.
- Various world atlases
- Thanks to David Olson, who pointed out the "liner" high points near Wedge and Meslilloet Mountains.
Links British Columbia Basemap Bivouac.com: The Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia Toporama: Canadian Topographic Maps Online
Map Showing Location of Peaks = Peaks climbed by Bob Bolton = Unclimbed peaks Click on a peak to see its name and a clickable link.(Map only shows peaks ranked by clean prominence)
|
This page has been served 499625 times since 2004-11-01.
|