Mount Selkirk is a mountain summit located in the Vermilion River Valley along the eastern border of Kootenay National Park. Park visitors can see the peak from

Highway 93 Route 93 or Highway 93 can refer to: International * European route E93 Australia - Victoria Canada * Alberta Highway 93 * British Columbia Highway 93 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 93 * Ontario Highway 93 China * G93 Chengyu Ring E ...

, also known as the

Banff–Windermere Highway The Banff-Windermere Highway, also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway, is a highway which runs through the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta in Canada. It runs from Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia to Castle Junction, Albe ...

. It is part of the Mitchell 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 ...

of British Columbia, Canada. The nearest higher neighbor is Catlin Peak, to the northwest.

History

The mountain was named in 1886 by George Mercer Dawson in honor of Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (1771-1820), a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements at the Red River Colony in what is now Manitoba. The mountain's toponym 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 ...

Geology

Mount Selkirk is composed principally of Ottertail limestone, sedimentary rock laid down during the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of 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 ...

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

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Selkirk 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 into tributaries of the Vermilion River.

Gallery

File:Mount Selkirk.jpg, Catlin Peak and Mount Selkirk (right) File:Selkirk and Catlin.jpg, Mount Selkirk (left) and Catlin Peak (center) from northeast at Sunshine Meadows

References

External links