Victoria Cross Range

Victoria Cross Range (83D; 83E)

This range is located north-west of Jasper. It lies north and east of the Miette River and south of the Snaring River.

Six of the seventeen peaks are named after Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross.

The peaks of the Victoria Cross Range are gently contoured and have a reddish-orange hue to them that comes from the oxidization of iron minerals that are found in the rock that forms much of this range. They are of Pre-Cambrian age, the rock being significantly older than the mountains to the south. Most are made of rock that was formed over a billion years ago. Composed largely of gritstone (sandstone, with the addition of grains of feldspar and mica) and slate, they are "softer" than those to the south and erode more easily, leaving a more rounded and worn profile. They are similar in age and in composition to the mountains in the very southern part of the province from the Castle River to Waterton National Park.