DECEMBER, 2003 NEWSLETTER

Peakfinder Updates
 Some of us tend to get used to the "standard" view of particular mountains, Mount Victoria from the Chateau Lake Louise or Mount Rundle from Vermilion Lakes. Photographer Allan Schierman has contributed several photos that are unusual because they are taken from locations that are rarely visited and produce a different view than what we are used to. For two examples of these take a look at Allan's photo of Tornado Mountain from the north and Mount Etherington from the northwest. Thanks to Allan for these interesting photos. 

As well, Allan has contributed photos of Mount Domke, Mount Secord, and Mount Erris. This completes the websites collection of photos of the twenty-seven peaks of the High Rock Range that forms the Continental Divide from Weary Creek Gap to the Crowsnest Pass (Please see this month's esoteric list).
If you have a favourite mountain photo or any information about the peaks of the Canadian Rockies that you would like included in Peakfinder please contact <dave@peakfinder.com>.

Please note that all of the previous newsletters have been archived and are available on the site. If you're interested in other esoteric lists, unusual mountain names, etc. browse through the earlier issues. 


December's Unusual Canadian Rockies Name

MOUNT COLLEMBOLA
Mount Collembola is an outlier of Mount Allan in the Kananaskis Valley, lying to the northeast of the main mountain. In the early 1970's, Jan Sharp was studying collembolas (sixteen eyed snow fleas) on Devon Island in the Arctic for her doctorate. As the species was also found between 2600 metres and 2800 metres on the mountain, she regularly hiked up to the appropriate level to take samples. Don Gardner and Dave Smith, who were working at the Ribbon Creek Hostel at the time, were so impressed with her tenacity that they named the mountain after the creature she was studying. [Ruth Oltmann]
Enter "Mount Collembola" in the Finding Peaks search box to learn more about this mountain. 

Look who's honoured in the Canadian Rockies

THOMAS DRUMMOND
 Thomas Drummond, a native of Scotland, was the first botanist to visit the Canadian Rockies. As the assistant naturalist on the second Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin he was introduced to much of the Northwest Territories. During this trip he was working with Sir John Richardson (see Mount Richardson). In the autumn of 1825, Franklin and Richardson decided to spend the winter at Great Bear Lake but sent Drummond on a one-man botanical expedition to the Rockies. After spending the winter near Edson, Drummond travelled widely in the Rockies collecting some five hundred varieties of plants. Probably the best known one that bears his name is the yellow-flowered dryas, whose silky seed plumes spread a silvery sheen over gravel bars throughout much of the Rockies. Richardson referred to him as a great botanist, one of untiring energy and unrivalled quickness of eye.
For information about Mount Drummond enter the name in the "Finding Peaks" search box on the main page.

December's Esoteric List

MOUNTAINS OF THE HIGH ROCK RANGE
The High Rock Range forms the continental divide from Weary Creek Gap in the upper Highwood Valley south to the Crowsnest Pass.

Allison Peak, Mount Armstrong, Baril Peak, Beehive Mountain, Mount Bolton, Mount Cornwell, Courcelette Peak, Mount Domke, The Elevators, Mount Erris, Mount Etherington, Mount Farquhar, Mount Gass, Mount Holcroft, Mount Lyall, Mount MacLaren, Mount Muir, Mount O'Rourke, Phillipps Peak, Mount Pierce, Mount Scrimger, Mount Secord, Mount Strachan, Mount Tecumseh, Tornado Mountain, Mount Ward, Window Mountain
For information regarding any of these mountains enter the name in the "Finding Peaks" section on the front page.

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