The Purcell Mountains are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in southeastern

British Columbia, Canada 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, for ...

. They are a subrange of the

Columbia Mountains The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km² (52,491 sq mi). The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain T ...

, which includes the Selkirk,

Monashee The Monashee Mountains are a mountain range lying mostly in British Columbia, Canada, extending into the U.S. state of Washington. They stretch from north to south and from east to west. They are a sub-range of the Columbia Mountains. The highes ...

, and

Cariboo Mountains The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of ...

. They are located on the west side of the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a s ...

in the area of the

Columbia Valley The Columbia Valley is the name used for a region in the Rocky Mountain Trench near the headwaters of the Columbia River between the town of Golden and the Canal Flats. The main hub of the valley is the town of Invermere. Other towns include Rad ...

, and on the east side of the valley of

Kootenay Lake Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed th ...

and the Duncan River. The only large settlements in the mountains are the

Panorama Ski Resort Panorama Mountain Resort is a ski and golf resort in Canada, located in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern British Columbia. Part of the Columbia Valley sub-region of the East Kootenay region, it is a tourist destination known for its rollin ...

and

Kicking Horse Resort Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (KHMR) is a ski resort located west of Golden, British Columbia, Canada. It features over 120 trails across more than of skiable terrain and a vertical drop, currently the sixth largest of any North American ski ...

, adjacent to the Columbia Valley towns of

Invermere Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. It is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden to the north and Cranbrook to the south. Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake and ...

and

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

, though there are small settlements, such as

Yahk Yahk is an unincorporated hamlet in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, just north of the Canada-U.S. border. Yahk Provincial Park borders the village to the south. Yahk is located on the Moyie River. CBC Television talk show '' The Hour ...

and Moyie along the

Crowsnest Highway The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection b ...

, and residential rural areas dependent on the cities of Creston,

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

and Cranbrook, which are located adjacent to the range.. The Purcells are shown on some

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

maps as the Percell Mountains, where their southern limit protrudes into the states of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, abutting

Lake Koocanusa Lake Koocanusa () is a reservoir in British Columbia (Canada) and Montana (United States) formed by the damming of the Kootenai River by the Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975. The lake ...

, a reservoir on the

Kootenai River The Kootenay or Kootenai river is a major river in the Northwest Plateau, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the l ...

. American geographic classifications consider the Percells to be part of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

but in Canada that terminology is reserved for ranges on the east side of the

. In the Purcell Mountains, most of the peaks are near or above 10,000 feet in elevation. The

Purcell Supergroup The Purcell Supergroup is composed primarily of argillites, carbonate rocks, quartzites, and mafic igneous rocks of late Precambrian ( Mesoproterozoic) age. It is present in an area of about 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq. mi.) in southwestern Alberta ...

rocks that make up the Purcells were formed in the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

eon (in 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 ...

period), which spans from 2,500 million years ago to about 540 million years ago.

Sub-ranges

Carbonate Range A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

Dogtooth Range Dogtooth or dog tooth may refer to: * Dogtooth (anatomy), a relatively long, pointed tooth * Dogtooth, North Dakota, United States * ''Dogtooth'' (film), a 2009 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos * Dog-tooth, an ornament found in medieval archite ...

Farnham Group The Farnham Group is a sub-range of the Purcell Mountains, containing the highest summit of that range, Mount Farnham Mount Farnham is British Columbia's 17th highest peak, and 21st most prominent. It was named after Paulding Farnham from New Y ...

* MacBeth Group * McGillivary Range * Moyie Range *

Septet Range A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...

* Spillimacheen Range * Starbird Ridge *

Stockdale Group The Stockdale Group is a Silurian lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in the southern Lake District and Howgill Fells of the Pennines of northern England. The name is derived from the locality of Stockdale near the top of Longsle ...

* Toby Glacier * Truce Group *

Yahk Range Yahk is an unincorporated hamlet in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, just north of the Canada-U.S. border. Yahk Provincial Park borders the village to the south. Yahk is located on the Moyie River. CBC Television talk show '' The Hour'' ...

Highest peaks

The ten highest summits of the Purcells: #

Mount Farnham Mount Farnham is British Columbia's 17th highest peak, and 21st most prominent. It was named after Paulding Farnham from New York. It is the highest peak in the Purcells (a subset of the larger Columbia mountain range). See also * Geography of B ...

3493 m #

Jumbo Mountain Jumbo MountainBeckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008. is a summit near the western edge of the North Cascades, in Snohomish County of Washington (U.S. state), Washington state. I ...

3437 m #

Howser Spire Howser Spire, or Howser Spire Massif, is a group of three distinct granite peaks, and the highest mountain of the Canadian Bugaboo Spires. The mountain is located at the southwest corner of the Vowell Glacier, within the Bugaboo mountain range ...

3412 m # Karnak Mountain 3411 m # Mount Delphine 3406 m # Mount Hammond 3387 m #

Commander Mountain Commander Mountain is a glaciated mountain summit located west-southwest of Invermere in the Purcell Mountains of southeast British Columbia, Canada. It is the seventh-highest mountain in the Purcells. The nearest higher peak is Jumbo Mountai ...

3371 m # South Howser Tower 3364 m #

Eyebrow Peak Eyebrow Peak is a prominent glaciated mountain summit located in the Purcell Mountains in southeast British Columbia, Canada. It is the ninth-highest peak in the Purcells. It is situated south of The Bugaboos, west of Invermere, north of ...

3362 m # Mount Peter 3357 m

References

{{Authority control Kootenays