Mount Stephen

---

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

::summary Mountain in British Columbia, Canada ::

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

Field	Value
name	Mount Stephen
photo	Mount Stephen Yoho Park.jpg
photo_caption	Mount Stephen towers over the Kicking Horse Valley
elevation_m	3199
elevation_ref
prominence_m	989
prominence_ref
range	Park Ranges ← Canadian Rockies
listing	Mountains of British Columbia
location	British Columbia, Canada
district	Kootenay Land District
map	Canada British Columbia#Canada
map_caption	Location in British Columbia##Location in Canada
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	8
mapframe-caption	Interactive map of Mount Stephen
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	NTS
rock	Sedimentary rock
age	Cambrian
first_ascent	1887 by James J. McArthur, T. Riley
easiest_route	Scramble (difficult)
::

| name = Mount Stephen | photo = Mount Stephen Yoho Park.jpg | photo_caption = Mount Stephen towers over the Kicking Horse Valley | elevation_m = 3199 | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = 989 | prominence_ref = | range = Park Ranges ← Canadian Rockies | parent_peak = | listing = Mountains of British Columbia | location = British Columbia, Canada | district = Kootenay Land District | map = Canada British Columbia#Canada | map_caption = Location in British Columbia##Location in Canada | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 8 | mapframe-caption = Interactive map of Mount Stephen | coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | topo = NTS | rock = Sedimentary rock | age = Cambrian | first_ascent = 1887 by James J. McArthur, T. Riley | easiest_route = Scramble (difficult)

Mount Stephen, 3199 m, is a mountain located in the Kicking Horse River Valley of Yoho National Park, km east of Field, British Columbia, Canada. The mountain was named in 1886 for George Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The mountain is mainly composed of shales and dolomites from the Cambrian Period, some 550 million years ago. The Stephen Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin was first described at the mountain and was named for it. Stephen has a subpeak known as Stephen SE1, at the end of a 1 km ridge, 132° from the main peak, visible from Lake O'Hara.

Climbing

The first ascent was made on September 9, 1887 by James. J. McArthur and his assistant T. Riley, which was made even more difficult by the surveying equipment they also carried with them. Unfortunately for them, smoke from forest fires limited visibility from the top. Beginning at 4:30 am, it took them four hours to pierce dense forest to reach tree line. After another three hours, the final rocks were reached which bore the inscription "Hill, Whatley, Ross, September 6, 1886". Above the rocks, they had to navigate an ice couloir and a knife-edged arete before reaching the summit. Sometime between this ascent and one in 1892, an estimated 200000 ft3 of rock had fallen in the upper section of the mountain, making the climb notably easier.

The main route (a scramble) ascends slopes on the southwest face but requires much route finding and the final section of 125 m to the top is rated difficult. A cornice on the summit may prevent parties from reaching the top so if in doubt of conditions, attempts should wait until August. The route also passes through a fossil bed and thus requires a special park permit to be in the area. The elevation gain is 1920 m.

For rock climbers, a route on the north ridge is rated III 5.7 with generally good rock formations composed mainly of quartzite.

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Stephen is located in a subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Temperatures can drop below -20 °C with wind chill factors below -30 °C. Weather conditions during winter make Mount Stephen one of the better places in the Rockies for ice climbing. Precipitation runoff from Mount Stephen drains into the Kicking Horse River.

Gallery

File:MtStephenAugust2009.JPG|Mount Stephen as seen from Field, British Columbia, Canada File:Mt. Stephen, northeast view from Yoho Valley Road 20240823 2.jpg|View from Yoho Valley Road File:Northwest face of Mt. Stephen from the top of Mt. Field, Showing North Gully and Fossil Gully (21234082902).jpg|Northwest face of Mt. Stephen from the top of Mt. Field, showing North Gully and Fossil Gully File:Canadian Pacific Railroad Hotel and Mount Stephen, Field, British Columbia, c. 1908.jpg|Hotel and Mount Stephen in 1908 File:Mount Stephen - panoramio.jpg|Mount Stephen and Field, British Columbia File:Mt Odaray & Stephen SE1 from Odaray Prospect.jpg|Stephen SE1 (Centre) from Odaray Prospect

References

| publisher =Royal Ontario Museum| access-date = 2019-06-13}} | publisher=Gem Trek Publishing|location=Cochrane, AB|isbn=1-895526-15-9 | url=https://www.gemtrek.com/maps/lake-louise-yoho-map/ | access-date=2019-06-13}} | author1 = Kane, Alan | publisher = Rocky Mountain Books | location = Calgary, AB | isbn = 0-921102-67-4 | year = 1999 | pages = 272–273}} | publisher = MountainProject.com| access-date=2019-06-13}} | author1 = Thorington, J. Monroe | publisher = American Alpine Club | isbn = 978-1376169003 | others = With the collaboration of Putnam, William Lowell | year = 1966 | orig-year = 1921 | pages = 109-110 | chapter = Vermilion Pass to Kicking Horse Pass | edition = 6th}}

References

1. "Mount Stephen".
2. {{cite cgndb
3. {{Cite Köppen-Geiger cc 2007
4. {{cite crdb

::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. ::