Ha Ling Peak is a peak at the northwestern end of Ehagay Nakoda — a mountain located immediately south of the town of Canmore just east of the Spray Lakes road in

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 ...

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 ...

. It was previously named Chinaman's Peak but the name was changed to be less offensive. It was the subject of a 2018 CBC Documentary titled 'Ha Ling Peak' that follows the controversy and renaming of the mountain .

Origin of the name

The name of the mountain has been subject to much controversy. Originally, the mountain was referred to locally as The Beehive. In 1896 Ha Ling, a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

cook for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(some say the Okaloosa Hotel in Canmore) was bet 50 dollars that he could not climb the peak and plant a flag on the summit in less than 10 hours. According to the

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

News of October 22, 1896, he started the ascent at 7:00 am the previous Saturday morning and was back in time for lunch. As nobody believed his story, he led a party of doubters to the summit where he planted a much larger flag beside the original, this one visible to the naked eye from Canmore. The townsfolk referred to the mountain as Chinaman's Peak in his honour. The name Chinaman's Peak did not become official until 1980. Later, in 1997 it was renamed Ha Ling Peak as the term Chinaman was viewed as derogatory.

Climbing routes

There is a hiking route up the south side. On the north side there are several technical climbing routes up the face and a difficult

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing (as a “scramb ...

route up Canmore Couloir, located between Mount Lawrence Grassi and Miner's Col.

References

External links

Scramble description from www.scrambling.ca
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Ha Ling Peak Hiking Trail from hikealberta.com
{{Canadian Rockies, state=collapsed Two-thousanders of Alberta History of Alberta Canadian people of Chinese descent Ethnic and religious slurs Asian-American issues Anti-Chinese sentiment in Canada Alberta's Rockies

Origin of the name

Climbing routes

See also

References

External links