Mount Ball

---

title: "Mount Ball" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["three-thousanders-of-alberta", "three-thousanders-of-british-columbia", "ball-range", "borders-of-alberta", "borders-of-british-columbia", "mountains-of-kootenay-national-park", "mountains-of-banff-national-park"] description: "Mountain in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ball" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Mount Ball
photo	Mount Ball.jpg
photo_caption	East aspect of Mount Ball reflected in Shadow Lake
elevation_m	3311
elevation_ref
prominence_m	1187
prominence_ref
range	Ball Range, Canadian Rockies
parent_peak	Deltaform Mountain
isolation_km	23.16
isolation_ref
listing	{{ubl
country	Canada
subdivision1_type	Provinces
subdivision1
map	Canada British Columbia#Canada Alberta#Canada
map_caption	Location in British Columbia##Location in Alberta##Location in Canada
map_size	220
label_position	left#right
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo_map	NTS
first_ascent	1904 by J.D. Patterson, guided by Christian & Hans Kaufmann
easiest_route	Difficult scramble
::

| name= Mount Ball | photo= Mount Ball.jpg | photo_caption= East aspect of Mount Ball reflected in Shadow Lake | elevation_m= 3311 | elevation_ref= | prominence_m= 1187 | prominence_ref= | range= Ball Range, Canadian Rockies | parent_peak= Deltaform Mountain | isolation_km = 23.16 | isolation_ref = | listing = {{ubl|Mountains of Alberta| Mountains of British Columbia}} | country= Canada | subdivision1_type= Provinces | subdivision1= | map= Canada British Columbia#Canada Alberta#Canada | map_caption= Location in British Columbia##Location in Alberta##Location in Canada | map_size= 220 | label_position= left#right | coordinates= | coordinates_ref= | topo_map= NTS | first_ascent= 1904 by J.D. Patterson, guided by Christian & Hans Kaufmann | easiest_route= Difficult scramble

Mount Ball is a mountain located on the Continental Divide, on the borders of Banff and Kootenay national parks in Western Canada. Mt. Ball is the highest peak of the Ball Range in the Canadian Rockies.

The mountain was named in 1858 by James Hector after John Ball, a politician who helped secure funding for the Palliser expedition. The name was officially adopted in 1924 based on Palliser's 1863 map of British North America.

Mt. Ball can be ascended from a scrambling route by late summer but involves remote bushwhacking, which limits the number of attempts per year. The trailhead is located at the Marble Canyon Campground in Kootenay National Park. NOTOC

Geology

Mount Ball is composed of sedimentary rock laid down during the Precambrian to Jurassic periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the Laramide orogeny.

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Ball is located in a subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports glaciers on its slopes. Precipitation runoff from the east slope drains to the Bow River via Redearth Creek, and the west slope drains into tributaries of the Vermilion River.

References

References

1. {{cite crdb
2. {{cite bivouac
3. "Saint Julien Mountain AB, BC - 10,144'".
4. {{cite peakbagger
5. "Mount Ball".
6. (2006). "Canadian Mountain Place Names". Rocky Mountain Books.
7. (1928). "Place-names of Alberta". Geographic Board of Canada.
8. Gadd, Ben. (2008). "Geology of the Rocky Mountains and Columbias".
9. Peel, M. C.. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci..

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::