Canadian Rockies Facts
Interesting Facts about Canadian Rockies
1. Amazing fact: The UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of four Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks is a total protected area of over 20,000 square kilometers.2. Interesting fact: The highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies is Mt. Robson, whose summit is 12,972 ft above sea-level. Don't tell anyone, but that's 6579 ft lower than Canada's tallest mountain, Mt. Logan.
3. Jasper Park's Snow Dome is North America's hydrological apex, meaning that its run-off goes in three different directions to the Pacific, Artic, and Hudson's Bay.
4. Random fact: Kootenay National Park is Canada's only park with both glaciers and cactus plants.
5. Fun fact: Banff National Park has over 1,600 kilometers of hiking trails.
6. Weird fact: Alberta was originally meant to have straight borders like Saskatchewan, but the Federal government gave British Columbia the mountain-lands up the the Continental Divide in compensation for Alaska annexing BC's northwest coast line.
7. The region is serviced by three international airports: Calgary (YYC), Canadian Rockies/Cranbrook (YXC), and Glacier Park (GPI).
8. Incredible fact: Kimberley mine produced 75% of the lead used by Allies forces in WWII.
9. Interesting fact: Banff National Park's wildlife can cross the Trans-Canada Highway on specially built over and under passes, designed to reduce vehicular collisions with the animals. These have set the world-standard for animal-highway relations.
10. Sparwood's Terex Titan sits next to the highway as a unique display. It is the largest mining vehicle of its kind in the world.
11. Random fact: Banff is the highest elevated town in Calgary at 4,537 ft above sea level.
12. The time changes from Mountain Standard Time to Pacific Standard Time somewhere between Golden and Revelstoke.
Banff
Province:Alberta
Population: 7615
Average Winter Temperature: -10 °C/ 13 °F
Average Summer Temperature: 14 °C/ 58 °F
Most Precipitation: 23.4 mm/ .9 in
Average Snowfall: 200 mm/ 8 in
Elevation: 1383 m/ 4537 ft
Electricity: 110 volts, 50 cycles, AC
Time Zone: GMT-7, Mountain Standard Time
Country Dialing Code: 1 Area Code: 403
Jasper
Province: Alberta
Country: Canada
Population: 2167
Elevation: 3480 feet
Average Annual Rainfall: 13.1 inches
Average Winter. Temperature: 12 degrees F
Average Summer Temperature: 59 degrees F
Electricity: 110 volts, 50 cycles, AC
Time Zone: GMT-7, Mountain Standard Time
Country Dialing Code: 1 Area Code: 780
Things to See in Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies History
Originally inhabited by First Nations, such as the Kootenay, Cree, Sarcee, and Blackfoot tribes, the Canadian Rockies became a tourist destination in the late nineteenth century because the Canadian Pacific Railway built through the Rogers Pass in the 1880s. During construction of the railway, three workers discovered the hot springs at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site, near the modern day Banff townsite. The Federal government designated the area around the hot springs as Canada's first national park, Rocky Mountains Park. In order to facilitate tourist traffic, the Railway built the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise to draw people westward. Banff quickly gained a reputation for its luxury and revitalizing mineral pools.In 1962, the Federal government build the Trans-Canada Highway, which opened up the park even more. The Sunshine Village and Lake Louise ski areas joined Mount Norquay as destinations, and the popularity of down hill skiing soared. Banff became a thriving resort destination, full of world-class restaurants, hotels, and shops, and it is now one of Canada's top tourist attractions.
First created as a trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1824, Jasper has an older, but more humble history, than Banff. The flood of tourists flocking to Banff is thanks in large part of the railway and the Trans-Canada Highway, and as a result, Jasper has developed a reputation among big game hunters, glacier trekkers, and naturalist, as opposed to the more posh European tourists found in Banff. Marmot Basin ski area is the only one in Jasper, but it is well liked for its shorter lift lines.
