Does anyone know if there's a site dedicated to the 13 highpoints of Canada ?
I've found a couple of sites which listed the locations of the highpoints and I've come across some sites which sell a book called "Not won in a day" which looks like an autobiography of someone who's done those climbs.
However, I've yet to come across a site which lists online directions to these highpoints.
FYI, I'll be driving from Toronto to Vancouver in a couple of weeks and I'd like to hit the highpoints in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on the way there.
"Not won in a Day" is a great book. Its fun to read, and its a an OK guidebook. It gets you started, but you'd need other info to really do it all. Good luck in the Northwest Territories.
I second the purchase of Jack Bennett's book: a wonderful read and great information. You should have no problem doing Manitoba, Saskatchewan's hp is a rolling tableland area (is that the highest spot, no that place, wait, no ...), however Ontario's hp requires more effort (it isn't a dayhike). Get Jack's book from the HP Bookstore or another store, read it, and enjoy exploring Canada. Anyone for Mount Logan or some of the other remote Canadian hps?
I'll try to get the book before I leave and I'll be sure to start a website upon my return. It's so sad to see that there isn't even a single web site devoted to the Canadian highpoints... considering the vast number of ridiculous/useless sites out there.
is, according to my listings, in the Lewis Hills at an elevation of 2,673 ft. You might check this with Roy Schweiker, as I believe he climbed this one a number of years ago.
When one clicks on the Nunavut link from the Canada's roof page, a map is displayed showing Peak Barbeau and two other mountains, one named "Highpointer Peak!" Anyone know how that one got it's name?
When I climbed Barbeau Peak in 1998, several of us climbed a prominent peak where the glacier splits to the DeVries Glacier flowing west and the Air Force Glacier flowing south. It's a nice exposed climb with a sharp summit. We could find no evidence of it being climbed, so we named it "Highpointer Peak."
I'm told that the listing in Jack's book for the HP of Prince Edward Island is incorrect. You might want to check this with Mike Schwartz (to be found on the cohp forum) who has done this one.
My book does state that the true HP is reported to be just inside the wood adjacet to the potatoe field. It is located on the most recent North Rustico topo. Frankly, it's all pretty flat up there. If I get to the right closed contour interval, can't tell the difference, and walk around a bit, that's good enough for me. The real question for me is Ontario!! (See my other comment dated 11/1/03.)
No. Ishpatina Ridge will not be replaced. But it has two distinct humps 2 miles apart with the same closed contour interval. I have been unable to confirm for sure which hump is the true highpoint. Can anyone solve this mystery?
...of the strikingly handsom youngest son. Except for that one on pg.52, I don't know how he snuck that one past me.
Seriously though, sign me up if anyone's organizing a trip to Barbeau Peak. Actually I was thinking I wouldn't be going until 2005. but if there was a trip going next year that needed one more to fill the plane I might be tempted. My current tentative plans have me finishing off the maritimes and ontario next year.
The source for information about ALL of the recognized Canadian provincial and territorial highpoints is Jack Bennett's book. He has included historical and route information, plus his experiences while becoming the ONLY person known to have ascended the Canadian highpoints. His sons haven't completed them to my knowledge, but only have a few of the eastern hps to finish. The book is a great source of information and the Bennett's are wonderful people!
To get to that highpoint, you'll have to take an airline to Restoule (which costs around $1500 Cdn). Once there, you'll have to charter a twin otter which can carry up to 10 people and equipment for a cost of around $30,000.
I'm presently looking into the highpoint for Quebec/NF which is very hard to access.
It looks like I'll have to drive to Goose Bay, NF, take an airplane to Nain and charter a boat to Hebron and walk for a week. Doh!
I was a member of the 2nd party to ascend Pk. Barbeau which is the high point of Nunavut. When we climbed it on June 3, 1982 it was the highest point in the NWT as Nunavut did not exist at the time. It's completely shrouded in ice except for the summit area where there's a rocky outcrop. It lies at about 81 degrees 54 minutes north latitude and is an easy climb and ski descent. However, getting to it's location (north of Hazen Lake on Ellesmere Island) is fairly costly. Note that it does not lie at 85 degrees north latitude; there is no land that far north as Ellesmere (and hence Canada) only extends to between 82 and 83 degrees while Greenland extends slightly further, but to less than 84 degrees.
Wouldn't Nirvana and Sir James McBrian (and some others) slightly above 9000' have been higher than Barbeau and included within the borders of the NWT at that time?
Hi Tom,
After sending my initial message I also started wondering if Barbeau was truely the highpt. of the NWT when we climbed it. I suspect you're correct and Barbeau was probably touted as the highest point in the Canadian arctic or some such. Perhaps it's only come into its own as a highpoint with the creation of Nunavut.
When we climbed it from the north, while ascendinging other peaks in the British Empire Range, the GPS option was not as available as now and the local maps were not very detailed. So we extrapolated from the known point defined by the crew of the Twin Otter that dropped us off further north up by Winchester Pk. Curiously, the summit register on Winchester indicated that it had been climbed twice before us. We made first ascents of more than a dozen other peaks in the area. Our trip was reported in the 1983 issue of the Canadian Alpine Journal. This trip was one of many high latitude expeditions made during the period 1976-1985 by myself and other members of Seattle Mountain Rescue. These included another Ellesmere trip, one of the first climber visits to the Sam Ford Fiord area of Baffin Island, an ice pack small boat trip to Bylot Island near Baffin, a winter trek around much of King William Island, a ski trip across Iceland's Vatnajokull Glacier, mountaineering on Norway's Spitsbergen island group, as well as several others.
As an informational point, the most northerly point of land in Canada is Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island (83 deg 7 min N latitude). On the other hand, Greenland extends to Cape Morris Jessup (83 deg 39 min N latitude). There is a very small, commonly submerged island about 1 mile north of Cape Morris Jessup. It is named Oodaaq Island (83 deg 40 min N latitude) and constitutes the highest latitude land (above sea) in the northern hemisphere. References to any land features north of 83 deg 40 min N latitude are in error.
As noted in another message, the easiest way to ascend Nunavut's highpt, Pk. Barbeau, is to fly to Resolute on Canada's Cornwallis Island. This flight, usually done via Yellowknife, is a scheduled route flown (usually) by Boeing 737's. From Resolute a chartered flight almost always via a DeHavilland Twin Otter turboprop aircraft can get you to the British Empire Range with a likely refueling stopover at weather station Eureka at 80 deg. N. From Eureka it's a short trip to a glacier landing on the north side of Barbeau.
The Barbeau area is almost completely glaciated, but the glaciers are very gentle once you're on the upper plateau level. Crevasses are nonexistent or at least of little consequence and touring skiis make for delightful travel, with crampons and ice axe on the upper reaches of the local peaks. After several high latitude trips I recommend May as the perfect month for high latitude trips. Winter's cold is gone and the days tend to be idyllic with cloudless skies. Winds are generally quite light and in-the-sun conditions make for shirtsleeves temperatures. In the shade the air temp. generally stays in the 30's, but there's no shade during most approaches.
Note that summer comes fast to the high latitudes, so the fact that an area may have temperatures of -40F or lower in March shouldn't sway you from a May trip to Ellesmere. However, by the same token the fact that May, June, etc. have mild temps. should not encourage you to believe that March and April are options. I've ski toured around much of King William Island (south of Cornwallis) in March and climbed in Spitsbergen in April and the conditions can be very "challenging". On our King Wm. tour we rarely had wind chill temperatures higher than -100F (!). Minus 50F with a 50mph wind (measured, not estimated) tends to be "interesting".
Unfortunately, air charter time is pricey in the far north. But, it may be possible to share flight time with other expeditions (scientific, recreational, etc.) who are in the field the same time that you are there. That is, you might be able to split a fare by flying in when some other group has requested a flight back to Resolute or an in-the-field reposition, etc.
I authored the book "Not Won in a Day," so I can give additional info to anyone wanting directions, advice, etc. I am confident I put my foot on the sacred spot except for 3 HP's. PEI and Sasketchewan's HPs are flat places and it's difficult to tell exactly where it is. Frankly, if I get to the same closed contour interval and walk around a bit, that's good enough for me. Only Ontario really bothers me. Ishpatina Ridge has 2 closed contour intervals above 2250 ft, about 2 miles apart. They look just the same! I climbed the one with a fire tower on it???? If anyone is going up to Ishpatina Ridge, could you please investigate? There is a simple way to sight across to see if another point is higher. Contact me if you can solve the riddle!!!
The HP of Ontario is on Ishpatina Ridge deep in Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Lake Provincial Park. But there are 2 humps on the ridge of about equal height 2 km apart. The southern hump has a trail to the summit and an old firetower, and is generally assumed to be the HP. The northern hump is difficult to access and covered with low trees, mostly bur oak & some connifers. It may never have been properly surveyed.
A few months ago Dan Dwyre went to the southern hump and sighted to the north with two homemade sighting devices. He reports that the tops of the trees of the northern hump were definitely higher. He sighted to the nearest land he could see (basically the edge of a cliff)and found it to be lower, but it seems likely that there is higher land somewhere in the woods.
I find it remarkable that after all this time we still are unsure of the location of the Ontario HP. I think someone should make a concerted effort this year to solve the mystery! I am more than willing to go, but I do not have the surveying skill to make a conclusion if the points are very close, which they certainly are.
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