Alberta
Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces, its area is about 660,000 square kilometres. Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905; the premier has been Rachel Notley since May 2015. Alberta is bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, the U. S. state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U. S. state and one of only two landlocked provinces. It has a predominantly humid continental climate, with stark contrasts over a year. Alberta's capital, Edmonton, is near the geographic centre of the province and is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's crude oil, the Athabasca oil sands and other northern resource industries.
About 290 km south of the capital is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton centre Alberta's two census metropolitan areas, both of which have populations exceeding one million, while the province has 16 census agglomerations. Tourist destinations in the province include Banff, Drumheller, Sylvan Lake and Lake Louise. Alberta is named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada. Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were named in her honour. Alberta, with an area of 661,848 km2, is the fourth-largest province after Quebec and British Columbia. To the south, the province borders on the 49th parallel north, separating it from the U. S. state of Montana, while to the north the 60th parallel north divides it from the Northwest Territories. To the east, the 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan, while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends 660 km east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 m at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 m on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast. With the exception of the semi-arid steppe of the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous lakes used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan; the longest river in the province is the Athabasca River which travels 1,538 km from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca. The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of 2161 m3/s; the Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is located at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada, serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada; the region, with its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about 280 km south of Edmonton and 240 km north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railroads served as a means to populate the province in its early years. Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are forested; the southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population.
Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain or to dairy farming, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south. The Alberta badlands are located in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the lush landscape. Alberta has a humid continental climate with cold winters; the province is open to cold arctic weather systems from the north, which produce cold conditions in winter. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic
Fifty Classic Climbs of North America
Fifty Classic Climbs Of North America is a climbing guidebook and history written by Steve Roper and Allen Steck. It is considered a classic piece of climbing literature, known to many climbers as "The Book", has served as an inspiration for more recent climbing books, such as Mark Kroese's Fifty Favorite Climbs. Though much of the book's contents are now out of date, it is still recognized as a definitive text which goes beyond the traditional guidebook; the first edition was published in 1979, by Sierra Club Books in the United States and in Great Britain by the now defunct Diadem Books. This was followed by a paperback printing by Random House in 1981. Two subsequent editions were published by Sierra Club Books in 1982 and 1996. Between 1979 and 1999 it sold nearly thirty thousand copies, a considerable achievement for a climbing guide book. Reviewing the book in American Alpine Journal, Fred Beckey wrote: "Roper and Steck have presented a profile of what could be considered the Great American Dream climbs with a writing style that provides much Lebensraum for speculation and meditation.
While reading, one is tempted to meditate: the challenge of the alpine adventure is always there. To choose the list of climbs, the coauthors solicited opinions from a number of leading climbers of the era, narrowing a list of more than 100 climbs according to three basic criteria: that the peak or route appear striking from afar, have a noteworthy climbing history, offer climbing of excellent quality. Precedence was given to climbing quality over appearance, appearance over historical significance. In order to judge historical significance and continuing popularity, routes were limited for the most part to those first ascended before 1970. A lower limit on the length of the route, at 500 feet, was established. Steck and Roper had ascended or attempted most of the selected routes; the list of fifty climbs has served as a challenge to climbers, providing them with a "tick list" of challenging routes that span a wide section of western North America. Author Steve Roper has emphasized that the climbs were chosen from a list of about 120 climbs he and Steck considered classic, are simply'50 classic climbs', not'the 50 classics'.
The book brought great popularity to many of the routes it featured, prospective climbers pursuing one of the "fifty classics" found crowds on the more accessible climbs and unexpected company on the more remote routes, earning them the nickname "Fifty Crowded Climbs". No one person has yet climbed all fifty routes; this has been attributed to the difficulty of some of the Canadian routes. The fifty climbs included in the book are listed below, along with their grades as given in the first edition, which may differ from those found in a modern guidebook due to changes in climbing standards or route conditions
Rocky Mountain Foothills
The Rocky Mountain Foothills are an upland area flanking the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, extending south from the Liard River into Alberta. Bordering the Interior Plains system, they are part of the Rocky Mountain System or Eastern System of the Western Cordillera of North America. List of mountain ranges
Normal route
A normal route or normal way is the most used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is the simplest route. In the Alps, routes are classed in the following ways, based on their waymarking and upkeep: Footpaths Hiking trails Mountain trails Alpine routes Climbing routes and High Alpine routes in combined rock and ice terrain, graded by difficultySometimes the normal route is not the easiest ascent to the summit, but just the one, most used. There may be technically easier variations; this is the case on the Watzmannfrau, the Hochkalter and Mount Everest. There may be many reasons these easier options are less well-used: the simplest route is less well known than the normal route; the technically easiest route is more arduous than another and is therefore used on the descent. The technically easiest route carries a much higher risk of e.g. rockfalls or avalanche and is therefore avoided in favour of a more difficult route. The technically easier route requires a complicated or long approach march, or all access may be banned via one country.
The term tourist route may sometimes be applied by those wishing to suggest that other routes up a mountain are somehow more "worthy". This belittling of the "normal route" therefore maintains a distinction between those perceiving themselves as serious mountaineers who disparage the incursion of tourist climbers into their domain
Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard is an American rock climber and outdoor industry billionaire businessman. His company, Patagonia, is known for its environmental focus. Chouinard is a surfer and falconer and is fond of tenkara fly-fishing, he has written on mixing environmentalism and business. Chouinard's father was a French-Canadian handyman and plumber. In 1947, he and his family moved from Maine to Southern California, his early climbing partners included Royal Robbins and Tom Frost. A Sierra Club member, in his youth he founded the Southern California Falconry Club, it was his investigations of falcon aeries that led him to rock climbing. To save money, make adaptations for the way he was climbing, he decided to make his own climbing tools, teaching himself blacksmithing, started a business. In 1971, Chouinard met and married his wife, Malinda Pennoyer, an art and home economics student at California State University, Fresno, they have a daughter. Chouinard was one of the leading climbers of the "Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing."
He was one of the protagonists of the film made about this era: Valley Uprising. He participated in the first ascent of the North America Wall in 1964; the next year, his and TM Herbert's ascent of the Muir Wall on El Capitan improved the style of previous first ascents. Chouinard became the most articulate advocate of the importance of style, the basis of modern rock climbing. In 1961, he visited Western Canada with Fred Beckey, made several important first ascents, including the North Face of Mount Edith Cavell, the Beckey-Chouinard Route on South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos, the North Face of Mount Sir Donald; these climbs opened his eyes to the idea of applying Yosemite big-wall climbing techniques to mountain climbing, his advocacy was important to modern, high-grade alpinism. In 1961, he visited Shawangunk Ridge for the first time, freeclimbing the first pitch of Matinee. In 1968, he climbed Cerro Fitzroy in Patagonia by a new route with Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores and Douglas Tompkins.
Chouinard has traveled and climbed in the European Alps and in Pakistan. In 1957, he bought a second-hand coal-fired forge, started making hardened steel pitons for use in Yosemite Valley. Between time spent surfing and climbing, he sold pitons out of the back of his car to support himself; the improved pitons were a big factor in the birth of big-wall climbing from 1957 to 1960 in Yosemite. The success of his pitons caused him to found Ltd.. In the late 1960s, Chouinard and business partner Tom Frost began studying ice climbing equipment, re-invented the basic tools to perform on steeper ice; these new tools and his book Climbing Ice started the modern sport of ice climbing. Around 1970, he became aware that the use of steel pitons made by his company was causing significant damage to the cracks of Yosemite; these pitons comprised 70 percent of his income. In 1971 and 1972, Chouinard and Frost introduced new aluminum chockstones, called Hexentrics and Stoppers, along with the less successful steel Crack-n-Ups, committed the company to the advocacy of the new tools and a new style of climbing called "clean climbing."
This concept revolutionized rock climbing and led to further success of the company, despite destroying the sales of pitons his most important product. They applied for a U. S. patent on Hexentrics in 1974, it was granted on April 6, 1976. These are still manufactured by Black Diamond Equipment. In the latter 1960s, Chouinard attempted a number of significant technological and technique changes to ice climbing after trips to the Alps in Europe and Sierra Nevada ice gullies in autumn, he removed the flex from crampons. He drew the taper of a rock hammer into a point for better ice purchase, he increased the cross section of ice screws while using lighter materials. He experimented with blade issues with ice axes. Prior to this, much of ice climbing was seen as mere step cutting, he attempted to replace hand ice picks with a small ice axe head called a Climaxe. In 1989, Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection in order to protect it from liability lawsuits. The hard assets of Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. were acquired by its employees through the Chapter 11 process, the company was reestablished as Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd.
Chouinard is most known for founding Patagonia. In 1970 on a trip to Scotland, he sold them with great success. From this small start, the Patagonia company developed a wide selection of rugged technical clothing. Recognizing that the financial success of the company provided the opportunity to achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to being an outstanding place to work, to be an important resource for environmental activism. In 1984, Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering "healthy vegetarian food," and started providing on-site child care. In 1986, Chouinard committed the company to "tithing" for environmental activism, committing one percent of sales or ten percent of profits, whichever is the greater; the commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their ef
Summit
A summit is a point on a surface, higher in elevation than all points adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex and zenith are synonymous; the term top is used only for a mountain peak, located at some distance from the nearest point of higher elevation. For example, a big massive rock next to the main summit of a mountain is not considered a summit. Summits near a higher peak, with some prominence or isolation, but not reaching a certain cutoff value for the quantities, are considered subsummits of the higher peak, are considered part of the same mountain. A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top. Summit may refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route; the highest summit in the world is Everest with height of 8844.43 m above sea level. The first official ascent was made by Sir Edmund Hillary, they reached the mountain`s peak in 1953. Whether a highest point is classified as a summit, a sub peak or a separate mountain is subjective; the UIAA definition of a peak is.
Otherwise, it's a subpeak. In many parts of the western United States, the term summit refers to the highest point along a road, highway, or railroad. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit and the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit. A summit climbing differs from the common mountaineering. Summit expedition requires: 1+ year of training, a good physical shape, a special gear. Although a huge part of climber’s stuff can be left and taken at the base camps or given to porters, there is a long list of personal equipment. In addition to common mountaineers’ gear, Summit climbers need to take Diamox and bottles of oxygen. There are special requirements for crampons, ice axe, rappel device, etc. Geoid Hill – Landform that extends above the surrounding terrain Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder Summit Climbing Gear List
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies or Canadian Rocky Mountains comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, a system of multiple ranges of mountains which runs from the Canadian Prairies to the Pacific Coast; the Canadian Rockies mountain system comprises the southeastern part of this system, lying between the Interior Plains of Alberta and Northeastern British Columbia on the east to the Rocky Mountain Trench of BC on the west. The southern end borders Montana of the United States. In geographic terms the boundary is at the Canada/US border, but in geological terms it might be considered to be at Marias Pass in northern Montana; the northern end is at the Liard River in northern British Columbia. The Canadian Rockies have numerous high ranges, such as Mount Robson and Mount Columbia; the Canadian Rockies are composed of limestone. Much of 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 continuous sequence of mountain ranges that runs all the way from Alaska to the tip of South America; the Cordillera, in turn, 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, 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, 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, are not considered to be part of the Rockies by Canadian geologists.
Mount Robson is the highest peak in 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, is close to the Yellowhead Highway, its base is985 m above sea level, with a total vertical relief of 2,969 m. Mount Columbia is the second-highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, is the highest mountain in Alberta. Snow Dome is the hydrological apex of North America. Water flows off Snow Dome into three different watersheds, into the Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean via Hudson Bay; the Canadian Rockies are not the highest mountain ranges in Canada. Both the Saint Elias Mountains and the Coast Mountains 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, 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, for the many rivers within the range itself; the Rockies form the divide between 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, North Saskatchewan 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 the American Rockies are made 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 glaciated, resulting in 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, more glaciers. The tree line 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 and Yoho. The fifth national park, Waterton is not adjacent to the others. Waterton lies farther south, straddling the Canada–US border as the Canadian half of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. All five of these 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 the Rockies, 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 p
