Peak Finder

Photo: The three summits of Mount Edith from the junction of the Bow Valley Parkway and the Trans-Canada Highway

Mount Edith

  • 2554 m (8,381ft)
  • First Ascent
  • Naming History
51.2053N -115.669W
Located in the Bow River Valley south of Forty Mile Creek

Range: Sawback
Province: Alberta
Park: Banff
Headwater: Bow
Major Valley: Bow
Visible from Highway: 1
Ascent Date: 1900
Ascent Party: J. Norman Collie, Fred Stephens
Year Named: 1886
Named for: Orde, Edith (Edith Orde worked as an assistant to Lady Agnes Macdonald, the wife of Canada's first prime minister.)

Mount Edith has three summits, the highest being the northernmost. Mount Edith, Mount LouisMount FifiEdith Pass. The pass provides views of the three peaks and a park surveyor named them after the two hikers and the dog. Norman Collie and outfitter/packer Fred Stephens made the first ascent of the northernmost peak in 1900. Collie was a very experienced climber but his partner that day was not. Although Fred had travelled extensively in the mountains as an outfitter according to Collie he thought that, "climbing peaks, for the mere sake of climbing them, was foolishness" and that, "only if sheep or goats could be shot by doing so, there might be some use in taking the trouble to get to the top of a mountain." (See Mount Lady Macdonald)

Photo: The three summits of Mount Edith from the west on Mount Cory; Mount Norquay beyond at right, Cascade Mountain at left (courtesy www.canadasmountains.com)

The southeast peak of Mount Edith from Barney's Viewpoint on the Trans-Canada Highway

The southeast peak of Mount Edith from the eastern junction with the Bow Valley Parkway on the Trans-Canada Highway

Looking northwest to Mount Edith