Mount Burgess
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mount Burgess | |
|---|---|
 Mount Burgess background and Emerald Lake foreground |
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| Elevation | 2,599 metres (8,527 feet) |
| Location | Alberta-BC, Canada |
| Range | Canadian Rockies |
| Coordinates | |
| First ascent | 1892 (James J. McArthur) |
| Easiest route | scramble |
Mount Burgess 2599m (8527ft.) is a mountain in Yoho National Park and is part of the Canadian Rockies. It was named in 1886 by Otto Koltz after Alexander MacKinnon Burgess, the Deputy Minister of the Interior at the time. For 17 years it was featured on the Canadian ten-dollar bill.
It is located in the southwest buttress of Burgess Pass in the Emerald River and Kicking Horse River Valleys.
In 1892, James J. McArthur was the first to ascend this mountain. He was completing a survey of the lands adjacent to the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1909, geologist Dr. Charles D. Walcott discovered fossils with fine details on Mount Burgess. The mount has two summits. The north summit was named Walcott Peak in his honour. The Burgess Shale is a black shale fossil bed (Lagerstätte) named after nearby Burgess Pass, in which are found new and unique species, many in fact constituting entire new phyla of life, and even today some of these unique species have proven impossible to classify. The fossils are especially valuable because they include appendages and soft parts that are rarely preserved.
Between 1954 and 1971, Mount Burgess was featured on the back of the Canadian ten-dollar bill. It is still informally called the "Ten Dollar Mountain" because of this.
In 1984, UNESCO declared the area a World Heritage Site.
[edit] Climbing
June through September is the driest time. Consult with local experts for routes. Be aware that this area is populated by Grizzly bears.
