SEPTEMBER, 2002 NEWSLETTER

Peakfinder Updates

The only significant change to the website over the past month is an improvement to the "Peaks by Park" section. It is now possible to get a complete list of the mountains in each of the parks and then click on any peak of interest within the selected park.

Many new photos have been added to the site and many more will be added soon. Many are better quality than the photo previously displayed but many more are photos not previously available. Many thanks to Peakfinder users who have contributed their pictures including David Wasserman who's website, "Illustrated Hiking Trails in the Canadian Rockies" <http://IHTCR.bivouac.com> is worth a look, and George Brindle.

If you have a favourite mountain photo and would like it included please forward a jpeg to <dave@peakfinder.com>.

Additional features will soon be available on Peakfinder.

Please note that all of the previous newsletters have been archived and are available on the site.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. look through the earlier issues. 


September's Unusual Canadian Rockies Name

UTOPIA MOUNTAIN

Morrison Bridgland named this peak in 1916, not because of any particular beauty that he saw on or around it but rather because a breeze on the summit brought relief from flies that had been tormenting his survey party.

Enter "Utopia Mountain" in the Finding Peaks search box to learn more about this mountain. 
Look who's honoured in the Canadian Rockies

SIMON FRASER

The massif known as Mount Fraser is made up of Simon, Bennington, and McDonnell Peaks. Simon Peak is the highest of the three, Fraser had been born in Bennington, Vermont, U.S. of A., and McDonnell was his wife's maiden name.

In his book, "The Glittering Mountains of Canada," J. Monroe Thorington wrote, "From high peaks of the Whirlpool we had glimpsed its (The Tonquin Valley's) towers and glaciers in the north, and had looked into misty, forested valleys at the Fraser's headwaters. We knew that Simon Peak, the highest elevation of Mount Fraser and the loftiest summit of the Divide between Fortress Lake and Yellowhead Pass, had yet to be climbed. And so we went."

"The difficulties had been less than expected," and upon reaching the summit, "It was a pleasurable surprise to find a rock outcrop on the very highest point of our mountain, and we sat down in a comfortable spot to have lunch. It was not the best of days for a distant view, as smoke his many of the far peaks that we had hoped to see. Most spectacular, however, was the gorge of Bennington Glacier. Formed by the snows that lie in the northern cirque of Mount Fraser's three peaks, it winds sinuously below the barren west wall of the Ramparts and disappears around the corner of Casement -the lowest portion of visible ice being more than four thousand feet below our viewpoint."

For information about Simon Peak, Bennington Peak, and McDonnell Peak enter the names in the Finding Peaks search box on the main page.
September's Esoteric List

THE TEN HIGHEST PEAKS IN KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK

Deltaform Mountain, Mount Ball, Mount Allen, Sentry Peak, Mount Tuzo, Mount Fay, Neptuak Mountain, Foster Peak, Quadra Mountain, Wenkchemna Peak 

For information regarding any of these mountains enter the name in the "Finding Peaks" section on the front page.

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