Mount Wardle is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located in British Columbia, Canada.

Description

Mount Wardle is situated in Kootenay National Park at the southern end of 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 ...

. Mount Wardle is home to the largest population of mountain goats within the national park. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) above 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 ...

in three kilometers (1.9 mile). Mount Wardle 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. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the mountain drains east into Wardle Creek which is a tributary of the Vermilion River, and west into Lost Creek, a tributary of the Kootenay River.

History

The first ascent of the summit was made in 1922 by a Topographical Survey party. The mountain's toponym was applied by Morrison P. Bridgland (1878–1948), a Dominion Land Surveyor who named many peaks in the Canadian Rockies. It was officially adopted 9 September 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 James Morey Wardle (1888–1971), a highway design engineer and then-director of special projects for

Parks Canada Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...

. Wardle also served as superintendent of Banff National Park from 1919 through 1921.Glen W. Boles, 2006, ''Mountain Place Names: The Rockies and Columbia Mountains'', Rocky Mountain Books, , p. 264

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Wardle 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. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

Gallery

File:Mount Wardle aerial.jpg, Aerial view of Mt. Wardle (centered), Mt. Verendrye (top, left) and Vermilion River (right) File:Kootenay Route 93 highway.jpg, Distant view looking north at Mt. Verendrye (center) and Mt. Wardle (right)

References

External links