Mount Gray is a mountain summit located on the western border of Kootenay National Park in the Vermilion Range, which is a sub-range of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

in British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is

Tumbling Peak Tumbling Peak is a mountain summit located on the western border of Kootenay National Park in the Vermilion Range, which is a sub-range of the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. The mountain takes its name from the Tumbling Glacie ...

, to the southeast. The mountain is part of what is known as the Rockwall which is an escarpment of the Vermilion Range. The Rockwall Trail is a scenic 55 kilometre (34 mile) traverse of alpine passes, subalpine meadows, hanging glaciers, and limestone cliffs, in some places in excess of above the trail.

Geology

Mount Gray is composed of Ottertail limestone, a sedimentary rock laid down during the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

period and pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the Laramide orogeny.

History

"Mount Cambria" or "Cambria Peak" were names originally proposed in 1918 for the mountain by Charles Doolittle Walcott because it was formed entirely of Cambrian rocks. However, the mountain's name was officially adopted in 1924 by the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Canada ...

to honor William J. Gray, a University of British Columbia student and founding member of the

British Columbia Mountaineering Club The British Columbia Mountaineering Club (BCMC) is a mountaineering organization, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded on October 28, 1907 as the Vancouver Mountaineering Club, it became one of the centres of Canadian Mountaineering, par ...

who drowned in the Kootenay River on July 10, 1917, along with Charles Wales Drysdale when their raft capsized and both were swept away while working on a geologic field survey.

Mount Drysdale Mount Drysdale is a mountain summit located on the western border of Kootenay National Park in the Vermilion Range, which is a sub-range of the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Rockwall Peak, to the we ...

and Mount Gray form the buttresses on opposite sides of Wolverine Pass.

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Gray is located in a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains east into tributaries of the Vermilion River, or west into tributaries of the Beaverfoot River.

References

External links

* Parks Canada web site
Kootenay National Park
* Weather
Mount Gray
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray Two-thousanders of British Columbia Canadian Rockies Kootenay Land District