Mystic Peak 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 ...

in 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 ...

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.

Description

Mystic Peak, elevation 2,960 meters (9,711 feet), is located in the

Sawback Range The Sawback Range is a mountain range of the Canadian Rockies that stretches from the Bow Valley in Alberta into southeastern Banff National Park. Mountains This range includes the following mountains and peaks: See also * Ranges of the Cana ...

northeast of the

Bow Valley Parkway Alberta Provincial Highway No. 1A is the designation of two alternate routes off the Alberta portion of Trans-Canada Highway 1. However, it is not the only name used for spurs off Highway 1 - Highway 1X is another such designation ...

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 ...

. The prominent peak is situated 10 kilometers east of Castle Junction, two kilometers southwest of Mystic Pass, two kilometers northwest of Mystic Lake, and three kilometers north of

Mount Ishbel Mount Ishbel is a mountain peak in Banff National Park of Alberta, Canada. The peak is located in the Sawback Range in Alberta's Rockies, north of the Bow Valley Parkway and east of Johnston Canyon. It was named in 1956 after Ishbel MacDonald ...

. The peak and pass are named in association with Mystic Lake which is a popular destination for fishing for cutthroat trout.Russell Mussio (2016), ''Canadian Rockies Backroad Mapbook'', , p. 55 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 west into Johnston Creek which is a tributary of the Bow River, and east to the Cascade River via Forty Mile Creek. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,320 meters (4,430 feet) above Johnston Creek in three kilometers (1.9 mile).

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, Mystic Peak 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.

Geology

Like other mountains in Banff Park, the mountain is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

laid down from 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 ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

References

External links

* Weather
Mystic Pass
* Parks Canada web site
Banff National Park
* Mystic Peak (photo)
Flickr
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Mystic Peak , North =

Block Mountain Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

, Northeast = Mystic Pass , East = Vermilion Range , Southeast = Mystic Lake , South =

, Southwest =

, West = Johnston Creek , Northwest =

Castle Mountain Castle Mountain ( bla, Miistukskoowa) is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits ...

Two-thousanders of Alberta Alberta's Rockies Canadian Rockies Mountains of Banff National Park