Coquihalla Pass

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Coquihalla Summit
Elevation	1,244 metres (4,147 ft)
Location	British Columbia, Canada
Range	Cascade Mountains

Coquihalla Summit is a highway summit along the Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada. At 1244m in elevation, the Coquihalla Summit is the highest point on the highway between the cities of Hope and Merritt. It is located in the middle of near the toll booth plaza on the Coquihalla Highway, about 50km north of Hope, and 65km south of Merritt.

The ascent to the Coquihalla Summit is very steep, especially from the south. The ascent is particularly steep after passing northbound through the Great Bear Snowshed.

[edit] History

• The pass was first used in 1986 after construction of the first phase of the Coquihalla Highway (from Hope to Merritt).

• It is named after both the Coquihalla Highway and the Coquihalla River, after which the highway also derrived its name. Kw'ikw'iya:la (Coquihalla) in the Halq'emeylem language of the Stó:lō, is a place name meaning "stingy container". It refers specifically to a fishing rock near the mouth of what is now known as the Coquihalla River. This rock is a good platform for spearing salmon. According to Sto;lo oral history, the skw'exweq (water babies, underwater people) who inhabit a pool close by the rock, would swim out and pull the salmon off the spears, allowing only certain fisherman to catch the salmon.

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