British Columbia Peaks with over 1500 meters of Prominence

Showing Fred Beckey's first ascent dates for climbed peaks

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List Description

There are approximately 270 "Ultras" (peaks with 1500 meters of prominence) in the United States and Canada. Well over a third of them (102) are in British Columbia, giving that province the undisputed title of most mountainous region of North America. Indeed, B.C. has almost twice as many Ultras as the entire contigious United States (102 vs. 57).

The rugged mountain terrain in British Columbia is an absolute embarassment of riches. The sprawling Coast Range has by far the most peaks on this list, but list of other ranges represented include a big chunk of the Canadian Rockies, the northernmost Cascade Range, the southern section of the greater Saint Elias Range, peaks of Vancouver Island, and the huge but often ignored Columbia Mountains and its Selkirk, Monashee, Purcell, and Cariboo sub-ranges.

Climbers in Washington state are justifiably proud of the North Casades and its repuation as the most rugged and precipitous range in the US outside Alaska. But compared to the stuff north of the 49th parallel, they are just foothills of little note.

This list is a very strong contender for hardest to complete of any list shown on this web site. The sheer number of peaks and the climbing challenges posed by the vast majority of them conspire to create a virtually impossible objective. It is very likely that several summits have not yet been climbed, and the remoteness of many of the Coast Range peaks presents huge access issues.