Toronto Peak is a Mountain in the Canadian Rockies

There are hundreds of mountains in the Canadian Rockies and dozens of them are famous worldwide, such as Temple, Robson, Assiniboine and Howse. But did you know that rising above the Athabasca River Valley near Mount Columbia and King Edward is a mountain called Toronto Peak.

Toronto Peak is one of many on the Toronto Glacier, which is close to six other glacial systems near the famous Snow Pass: Aqueduct, Watershed, Upper Waled, Sundial, Col and South Chaba. The Toronto Glacier was named in 1901 by Jean Habel on an expedition to explore a large area of the Rockies. The first ascent of the Toronto Glacier was in 1936 by J. Monroe Thorington.

Above the Toronto Glacier are two peaks: Northwest Toronto at 2,800 metres and Toronto Peak at 2,940 metres. The first ascent of Northwest Toronto was in 1979 by Bill Petroske solo in a 2.5-hour up-and-down ascent.

Toronto Peak, originally called Mount Ontario by Jean Habel in 1901, but changed to Toronto in Thorington’s 1921 guidebook, has a glaciated south slope and steeper north ridge. The first ascent was in 1975 by P. Benson, A. Maki, H. Microys and M. Rosenberger via the Kind Edward Glacier. The second ascent was in 1979 and third not until 1986.

Snow Pass is the name first used by the Alberta/British Columbia Interprovincial Boundary Survey in 1919 for the low point between the Athabasca and Sullivan Rivers. In 1936, Francis North called it Toronto Pass, but the name was never adopted.

Toronto Peak is rarely climbed, hardly known about and sits in the shadow of larger mountains like King Edward, but it offers moderate climbing and stunning views of the surrounding. See a photo here by Vern Dewit with Toronto Peak in the foreground bottom left.