Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park

Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a magnificent place of shimmering alpine lakes, glacier-clad mountains, sky scraping peaks and alpine meadows filled with wildflowers and larch trees.

World renowned Mount Assiniboine, at an elevation of 3,618 metres, is situated along the Continental Divide near the south east corner of the park and has defined mountain splendour in the Canadian Rockies for over 100 years.

The mountain sits in beautiful isolation and soars above its neighbors. It is distinctive for its size and pryamidal shape and is often referred to as the "Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies".

The core area of the Park sits at 2180 meters (7200 feet). It is a remote backcountry park with no road access. It is accessible by hiking, cross-country skiing or three days a week by helicopter.

Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park lies within the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa or Kootenai First Nations people. Mount Assiniboine is named in honour of the Assiniboine people. It means “stone boiler”, a name that comes from the practice of putting hot rocks into animal pouches or holes filled with water to cook food. This area was well known to the indigenous peoples of the foothill and mountain country. There was much trading between the the different sides of the Rockies. The Peigans, the Assiniboines, the Blackfoot and the Kootenai travelled the routes over many mountain passes through the Rockies.

The Park was created in 1922 upon the urging of the Alpine Club of Canada. In 1973, the park area was increased sevenfold to its present size of 39,050 hectares.