Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the
Coast Mountains
The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...
of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
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 ...
. Although it is lower than
Mount Fairweather
Mount Fairweather (officially gazetted as Fairweather Mountain in Canada but referred to as Mount Fairweather), is the highest mountain in the Canadian province of British Columbia, with an elevation of . It is located east of the Pacific Ocean ...
and
Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
and British Columbia, Mount Waddington is the highest peak that lies entirely within British Columbia.
It and the subrange which surround it, known as the
Waddington Range
The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about 4,000 km2 (1,545 sq mi) in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is t ...
, stand at the heart of the
Pacific Ranges
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, m ...
, a remote and extremely rugged set of mountains and river valleys.
It is not as far north as its extreme Arctic-like conditions might indicate, and Mount Waddington and its attendant peaks pose some of the most serious expedition mountaineering to be had in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
— and some of the most extreme relief and spectacular mountain scenery.
From Waddington's fang to sea level at the heads of
Bute and
Knight Inlet
Knight Inlet (Kwakʼwala: ''Tsawatti'') is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast. It is fifth in sequence of the great saltwater inlets north from the 49t ...
s is only about 20 miles; across the gorges of the
Homathko and the
Klinaklini River
The Klinaklini River ( Kwak'wala name T̓linat̓łina also spelled ƛ̓inaƛ̓ina) is one of the major rivers of the Pacific Ranges section of the Coast Mountains in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Pantheon Range ...
s stand mountains almost as high, and icefields even vaster and whiter, only a few aerial miles away, with a maw deeper than the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
, comparable in relief to the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
(to which the terrain of British Columbia was compared by colonial-era travellers).
Mount Waddington is the namesake of the
Mount Waddington Regional District
The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia. It takes in the lower Central Coast region centred on the Queen Charlotte Strait coast of northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining parts of mainland ...
, which takes in the seaward slope of the Waddington Range and the adjoining coastline and parts of northern Vancouver Island adjacent to
Queen Charlotte Strait
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...
.
Discovery and exploration by Europeans
![Mt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Mt._Waddington.jpg)
In 1925, while on a trip to
Mount Arrowsmith
Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region and as of September 18, 2009 is designated part of hectare ...
,
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
,
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
and
Phyllis Munday Phyllis B Munday, CM (née James) (24 September 1894 – 11 April 1990) was a Canadian mountaineer, explorer, naturalist and humanitarian. She was famed for being the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson (with Annette Buck) in 1924, ...
spotted what they believed to be a peak taller than
Mount Robson
Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies.
The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of ...
, the then accepted tallest peak entirely within
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. In the words of Don Munday, "The compass showed the alluring peak stood along a line passing a little east of
Bute Inlet
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and perhaps 150 miles away, where blank spaces on the map left ample room for many nameless mountains."
[Munday p. 4] While there is debate as to whether the peak they saw was Mount Waddington (Don Munday observed that the feat is impossible), they almost certainly saw a peak in the
Waddington Range
The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about 4,000 km2 (1,545 sq mi) in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is t ...
, and this led the Mundays to explore that area.
Over the next decade, the Mundays mounted several expeditions into the area in an attempt to climb it.
Known to them as "The Mystery Mountain", in 1927 the height was measured at 13,260 feet by triangulation; they reached the lower summit in 1928, deeming the main summit too risky. On their recommendation 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 ...
gave it the name Mount Waddington after
Alfred Waddington
Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of British Columbia, Canada.
From 1860 to 1861 he was a re ...
who was a proponent of a road route, known as
Waddington's Road
Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of British Columbia, Canada.
From 1860 to 1861 he was a re ...
, and again later
the same for a railway, via the
Homathko River
The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...
valley and
Bute Inlet
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, which would connect to Vancouver Island via
Seymour Narrows
Seymour Narrows is a section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the ea ...
.
In the summer of 1934, two expeditions attempted to climb the mountain. The first expedition, made up of climbers from
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, made their attempt on the northwestern flank which had not been explored by the Mundays. After crossing
Tatlayoko Lake
Tatlayoko Lake is a lake on the Homathko River in the western Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located on a north-south axis just upstream of the entrance of the series of canyons of the Homathko, including ...
and making their way down the Homathko River, they then spent two days constructing a bridge over Nude Creek before reaching the
Tiedemann Glacier on June 23. It took them three days to reach the shoulder of Mt. Waddington at . They attempted the summit on June 28 but poor weather and route conditions on the final tower forced them to retreat, from the top. The second expedition, consisting of climbers
Neal Carter, Alan Lambert, Alec Dalgleish and Eric Brooks from British Columbia, made their attempt from the southeast.
[Scott, p. 114] On June 23, they established their base camp on the
Franklin Glacier.
[Scott, p. 114] The ascent abruptly ended three days later when Dalgleish fell to his death from the southeast ridge.
[Scott, p. 114]
In 1935, a group of climbers from the Sierra Club of California made three attempts from their base camp at the
Dais Glacier. The group failed in two attempts on the south face due to stormy conditions, poor route conditions and falling ice. Two climbers succeeded in reaching the northwest summit (first climbed by the Mundays) on a third attempt but proceeded no further.
[
]
First ascent
On July 4, 1936, Fritz Wiessner
Fritz Wiessner (February 26, 1900 – July 3, 1988) was a German American pioneer of free climbing. Born in Dresden, Germany, he immigrated to New York City in 1929 and became a U.S. citizen in 1935. In 1939, he made one of the earliest att ...
, Bill House
William Pendleton House (1913–1997) was an American climber. Bill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 30, 1913 and died on December 18, 1997 in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In 1936, along with Fritz Wiessner, he and Wiessner became the fi ...
, Elizabeth Woolsey and Alan Willcox reached the head of the Knight Inlet
Knight Inlet (Kwakʼwala: ''Tsawatti'') is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast. It is fifth in sequence of the great saltwater inlets north from the 49t ...
. For the next twelve days they ferried loads to their base camp at Icefall Point on the Dais Glacier. While on the glacier, they were joined by another expedition led by members 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, part ...
and the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
. Wiessner and House agreed to allow the others a first chance at the summit but this group failed to find a route up the south face.[Scott, pp. 114-116]
On July 20, Wiessner and House first attempted the line of a great couloir
A ''couloir'' (, "passage" or "corridor") is a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p. 121. .
Geology
A couloir may be a seam, scar, or fissu ...
that comes directly down between the main summit tower and the northwest peak. It was an excellent line for quickly ascending but they were unable to traverse onto the south face proper due to poor rock conditions and were forced to retreat to base camp. By 3 am the next morning they were already climbing up a couloir to the right of the face. Good weather the past few days had cleared most of the snow away from the ledges making for good climbing conditions. Following the left branch of the couloir, they reached a snow patch in the middle of the face. The final of the south face then presented a fierce hurdle of "sheer forbidding-looking rocks" as noted by Wiessner. While Wiessner initially started in boots, he quickly changed to rope-soled shoe
Rope-soled shoes have soles (and possibly other parts) made from rope or rope fibres. They were formerly a cheap, disposable, hand-made item. However, the widely made espadrille comes in many styles and can include expensive fashion items.
Es ...
s and gave his ice axe and extra rope to House. Wiessner led several pitches up technically difficult rock including several overhangs. After traversing east across the face they rested on a ledge just below the southeastern ridge, a full 9 hours since leaving the snow patch on the south face. After climbing a short chimney they finally reached the small snowy mass at the top, 13 hours after their start in base camp. They aborted their earlier plan of descending the shorter north face and retraced their ascent line, reaching their tent on the Dais Glacier at 2 am. The ascent to the summit and back to base camp had taken over 23 hours.[
]
Notable ascents
* 1936 ''South Face'' FA by Fritz Wiessner
Fritz Wiessner (February 26, 1900 – July 3, 1988) was a German American pioneer of free climbing. Born in Dresden, Germany, he immigrated to New York City in 1929 and became a U.S. citizen in 1935. In 1939, he made one of the earliest att ...
and Bill House.
* 1942 ''South Face'' 2nd ascent by Helmut and Fred Beckey
Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of the tallest peaks and best ro ...
.
* 1960 ''Bravo Glacier'' ascent by Elfrida Pigou Elfrida Mary Pigou (February 28, 1911 – July 30, 1960) was a prominent Canadian mountaineer and pioneer with many first ascents to her credit.
She was born in Vernon, British Columbia, the daughter of Meynell Henry Pigou and his wife Lilian ...
who did not summit after being killed by an avalanche.
* 1977 ''South Face variation'' FA of route, 3rd ascent of south face by Jack Tackle and Kenneth Currens.
* 2012 ''Flavelle-Lane Route'' First solo ascent of the peak by Colin Haley
Colin Haley (born 2 September 1984) is an American alpinist known for fast ascents of technical routes on mountains around the world. Haley is perhaps best known for his traverse of The Torres (Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Punta Herron, and Aguja ...
.[Haley, Colin]
"Mt. Waddington to Mt. Asperity, high peaks solo traverse; first solo ascents"
American Alpine Journal
The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado.
Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...
, 2013, Retrieved on 23 June 2018
Climate
The Waddington Range
The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about 4,000 km2 (1,545 sq mi) in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is t ...
massif is known for fierce as well as unpredictable weather, located as it is at the brunt of the warm, wet winds that soak the British Columbia Coast, of which it is the highest point. Precipitation levels in the area of the peak are among the highest in the Coast Mountains
The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...
. The peak has an ice cap climate
An ice cap climate is a polar climate where no mean monthly temperature exceeds . The climate covers areas in or near the high latitudes (65° latitude) to polar regions (70–90° north and south latitude), such as Antarctica, some of the northe ...
( EF).
Access
To reach Mount Waddington, one could take a long approach originating from Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, with the bulk of the journey consisting of a long boat ride through the Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...
and the Knight Inlet
Knight Inlet (Kwakʼwala: ''Tsawatti'') is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast. It is fifth in sequence of the great saltwater inlets north from the 49t ...
, taking up to three days. A shorter water approach from Port McNeill
Port McNeill is a town in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada with a population of 2,356 (2021). Located on Vancouver Island's north-east shore on Queen Charlotte Strait, it was originally a base camp for logger ...
, British Columbia, a northern community of Vancouver Island accessible by scheduled daily air connections and/or road from Victoria, reducing the water journey to less than a day may be undertaken.
Alternately trails and rough roads do exist from the Chilcotin side of the range, and may be accessed via BC Highway 20, from Williams Lake, departing from the main route to Bella Coola at Tatla Lake to connect to the Homathko River
The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...
and up a side creek or glacier from there. This inland route is also the access route for the neighbouring Niut and Pantheon Range
The Pantheon Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia. It is located between the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau at Tatla Lake on its northeast and the Klinaklini River on its west, with a southeastern ...
s.
Mount Waddington is a popular destination among mountain climbers since it is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains and a challenging climb. It has been compared to Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...
's structure.
See also
*List of mountain peaks of North America
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
**Mountain peaks of Canada
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All s ...
***Mountains of British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of it is Canada's third-largest province. The province is almost four times the size of the United Kingdom and larger than every United States ...
*** List of the most prominent summits of Canada
*Franklin Glacier Complex
The Franklin Glacier Complex is a deeply eroded volcano in the Waddington Range of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Located about northeast of Kingcome, this sketchily known complex resides at Franklin Glacier near Mount Waddington. It i ...
References
;Sources
*
*
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External links
*
*
* Mt. Waddington aerial photo
PBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waddington, Mount
Four-thousanders of British Columbia
Waddington Range
Range 2 Coast Land District