Mount Richardson is the highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

of the Slate Range located beside

Pika Peak Pika Peak is a mountain located between Mount Richardson and Ptarmigan Peak in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada The mountain was named in 1928 after the pika, the small "rock rabbit" that inhabits alpine regions. The Lake Louise Mountain R ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The mountain was named in 1859 by

James Hector Sir James Hector (16 March 1834 – 6 November 1907) was a Scottish-New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon who accompanied the Palliser Expedition as a surgeon and geologist. He went on to have a lengthy career as a government employe ...

after Sir John Richardson who was the ship's surgeon and naturalist on

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through ...

's 1819 and 1825 expeditions into the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

. The

Lake Louise Mountain Resort The Lake Louise Ski Resort & Summer Gondola is a ski resort in western Canada, located in Banff National Park near the village of Lake Louise, Alberta. Located west of Banff, Lake Louise is one of three major ski resorts within Banff National P ...

is developed on the southern slopes of the Merlin Ridge, which includes Mount Richardson, Ptarmigan Peak, Pika Peak. A campground is located at the foot of the mountain, near Hidden Lake. The first ascent was made in 1911 by L.L. Delafield who was guided by Edward Feuz jr.

Routes

The scrambling route (rated easy/moderate) begins from Hidden Lake and ascends the southern slopes to the top. The only real challenge on the ascent are a few rubbly gullies just above the lake. A traverse to

can be made via the Richardson-Pika col and the west ridge, however this undertaking is much more difficult.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Mount Three-thousanders of Alberta Mountains of Banff National Park