Mount Assiniboine

Mount Assiniboine, elevation 3618 m, the highest mountain between the Trans-Canada Highway and the US border in the Rocky Mts, is often called "The Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies." Situated on the Continental Divide, 35 km south of Banff, its western slopes are in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, the eastern slopes in Banff National Park. It was named in 1885 after the Stoney natives by Dr G.M. Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada. Father de Smet and his guides were probably the first white men to see the peak in 1845. After several other attempts to climb the peak, Sir James Outram, with Swiss guides, made the first ascent in 1901. It is an easy ascent by today's standards, but numerous accidents have occurred on the mountain.