Canadian Rocky Mountains EarthCache
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The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains Range.
This EarthCache takes you to the summit of Whistler mountain in the Jasper National Park.
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 are 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 into Yukon or Alaska, or into central British Columbia. North of the Liard River, the Mackenzie Mountains, which are not part of the Rockies, 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.
The Canadian Rockies are distinct from the American Rockies in that they are older mountains, they were primarily formed by overthrusting whereas the American Rockies were primarily formed by uplifting, and they are almost exclusively sedimentary rock, whereas the American Rockies are cored with granite. Their physical appearance is different too.
The younger ranges of the Rocky Mountains uplifted during the late Cretaceous period (100 million – 65 million years ago), but the Canadian ranges contain folded and faulted rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age draped above cores of Proterozoic and Archean igneous and metamorphic rocks ranging in age from 1.2 billion to more than 3.3 billion years.
Water in its many forms sculpted the present Rocky Mountain landscape. Runoff and snowmelt from the peaks feed Rocky Mountain rivers and lakes. The rivers that flow from the Rocky Mountains eventually drain into three of the world's Oceans.
The Continental Divide is located in the Rocky Mountains and designates the line at which waters flow either to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Triple Divide Peak (8,020 feet / 2,444 m) in Glacier National Park (U.S.) is so named because water that falls on the mountain reaches not only the Atlantic and Pacific, but Hudson Bay as well. Here in Alberta, the Athabasca and other rivers feed the basin of the Mackenzie River, which has its outlet on the Beaufort Sea.
The coordinates of this earthcache take you to the summit of Whistler mountain in Jasper, located in the Athabasca River valley, at the confluence with Miette River. It lies between the Victoria Cross Ranges (north-west), Pyramid Mountain (north), Maligne Range (south-east) and Indian Ridge (south-west).
You can ride the Jasper Tramway to the Upper Terminal (2270 metres) but from there you'll need to undertake the (steep) hike to the summit (2470 metres), or, you can take the 4-stars hike all the way (see lower “For the brave”).
The Jasper Tramway operates from the end of April till mid-October. (Check for hours of operation and fares: (visit link) )
CAUTION!!! Hiking from the top of the tram to the peak can be dangerous until early June. The trail is either snow covered or impassable because of snow.
From the summit you'll get unprecedented views of six mountain ranges, glacial fed lakes, the Athabasca river (Alberta’s longest) and the scenic mountain town-site of Jasper.
1) To log this cache you need to send me an e-mail with the answer to the three following questions.
PLEASE WAIT FOR APPROVAL BEFORE YOU WRITE YOUR LOG !!!
a) How would you describe the physical appearance of the mountains that surround you: sharp peaks with V-shaped valleys, rounded peaks with U-shaped valleys, sharp peaks with U-shaped valleys or rounded peaks with V-shaped valleys?
b) What's the name of one of the peaks you can see from here, named after a European capital?
c) Name the oceans that receive water out of the Rocky Mountains.
2) Make a picture of yourself and your gps at the given coördinates, and post it with your log.
For the brave:
Whistler's Mountain Hike is a great physical test! We would suggest going one way (up), and riding the Tram the other way (down).
Hiking Distance:
It is 8.3 km to Whistler's summit.
Hiking Time:
It can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to climb to the summit.
Getting there:
You can easily see Whistlers from Jasper, but to get to the hiking trailhead, go south from the traffic lights at the Highway 16 junction, on the Icefields Parkway 1.8 km. Turn west (right) onto Whistlers Road, following it for 2.7 km. You will have to turn left just after the Whistlers Hostel sign before the hostel. The second road up, the main one, takes you 300 metres to the hiking trailhead.
Whistler's hiking trail sign is at the west end of the parking lot.
The hike:
You'll start hiking by entering a narrow path surrounded by dense bush. Start climbing steeply towards the boulder slide, where the path descends a bit. You will hike, climbing, and at level grades at times passing beneath and then west of the tramway initially. The hiking trail switches back and forth as the grade gets steeper.
Near Whistlers summit, the hiking trail gets very steep. Above the tramway terminal leads to an outstanding panorama. You can even see Mount Robson on a clear day from here, which is over 100km away.
CAUTION !!! Please caution that the trail can become quite indistinct when descending and you can get off-track and into cliff situations. (Note this is less likely if you have climbed up first and thus would have a better idea of the way down.)
LEAVE NOTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS – TAKE NOTHING BUT PICTURES – KILL NOTHING BUT TIME
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)