Mount John Laurie is a mountain in the Canadian Rockies, officially named in 1961 and famous as Mount Laurie, or by the Nakoda name Yamnuska (unofficial name), or simply Yamnuska which means (wall of stone). It is located in the province of Alberta, Canada.
The word Yamnuska” is perceived from the Stoney Nakoda word “Iyamnathka” that describes steep cliffs or “the flat-faced mountain.” Actually, John Lee Laurie, (1899-1959), was an educator and political activist, and founder of the Indian Association of Alberta.
Mount Laurie is the most easterly mountain in the valley and features a very steep, often vertical, and overhanging south cliff 360 meters in height and almost two KM in width. The mountain’s 1961 renaming came at the request of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Laurie, an educator, and political activist served as secretary of the Indian Association of Alberta from (1944-1956), encouraging the causes of Alberta native peoples.
Mount Laurie is standing at about 2,240 meters above sea level and is the first mountain on the north side of the Bow River valley (Bow Valley) as it exits the mountains for the foothills and prairie of Alberta. It is well situated close to Calgary; it is a widespread “Great Scramble”. It is also very famous for rock climbing destinations, with more than hundreds of routes of all difficulty levels spread out across its face.
Mount John Laurie is the result of the McConnell Thrust Mistake, which put the resistive, cliff-forming Cambrian carbonate rock of the Eldon Formation on top of the much younger and weaker Cretaceous aged, clastic Belly River Formation. The error, which sits at the base of the cliff face, represents an age variance of around 450 million years. The access to mount Laurie is at the Highway 1X and Highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail) intersection, travel east for two kilometers. Turn into the signed parking lot that says “Yamnuska”.
10 other mountain peaks closest to Mount John Laurie:
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Mount Yamnuska (2240 meters) 0.0 km
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Mount Fable (2702 meters) 7.6 km
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Heart Mountain (2135 meters) 9.2 km
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Grotto Mountain (2706 meters) 11.4 km
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Mount Sparrowhawk (3121 meters) 11.5 km
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Mount Lady MacDonald (2605 meters) 14.0 km
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Mount Baldy (2192 meters) 15.0 km
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Squaw’s Tit (2514 meters) 15.4 km
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Mount Charles Stewart (2809 meters) 15.5 km
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Middle Sister (2769 meters) 17.2 km