Pacific Ranges
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The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. They run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to Bella Coola, north of which are the Kitimat Ranges.
The Pacific Ranges include four of the five major coastal icecaps in the southern Coast Mountains. These are the largest temperate-latitude icecaps in the world and fuel a number of very major rivers (by volume, not length). One of these contains Mount Waddington, the highest summit entirely within British Columbia. Also within this region is Hunlen Falls, among the highest in Canada, located in Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park.
Other than logging and a large ski resort at Whistler most of the land in the range is completely undeveloped. Historically the southern part of the range minng was important at various times in the Lillooet, Bridge River and Squamish areas, and large pulp and paper mills at Powell River, Port Mellon and Woodfibre. The largest hydroelectric development in the Pacific Ranges is the Bridge River Power Project, though smaller hydro plants are on the Stave River-Alouette Lake system in Mission and Maple Ridge, the Daisy Lake-Squamish River division of the Cheakamus Powerhouse, and another power dam and power plant at Clowhom. Although the range was extensively surveyed for possible rail routes, only that of the Pacific Great Eastern (now part of CN) was eventually built; the Homathko River-Bute Inlet route, however, was one of the two main choices in the deliberations of the CPR's routing.
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[edit] Major Named Subranges:
- Rainbow Range
- Niut Range
- Pantheon Range
- Waddington Range
- Whitemantle Range
- Chilcotin Ranges
- Bendor Range
- Lillooet Ranges
- Douglas Ranges
- Garibaldi Ranges
- North Shore Mountains (Front Ranges)
- Tantalus Range
- Clendinning Range
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- the Camelsfoot Range running north along the west bank of the Fraser from Lillooet is sometimes considered to be part of the Chilcotin Ranges, but in other definitions is part of the Interior Plateau
Many smaller ranges and subranges are not listed at present.
[edit] Major Icefields:
(Other than the Waddington Range these are also considered to be "ranges" but are listed separately here because of their unique character).
- Monarch Icefield
- Ha-Iltzuk Icefield (Silverthrone Glacier)
- Waddington Range
- Homathko Icefield
- Lillooet Icecap (Lillooet Crown)
- Pemberton Icecap
[edit] Major Peaks
- Mount Queen Bess
- Mount Good Hope
- Mount Raleigh
- Monmouth Mountain
- Mount Tatlow
- Taseko Mountain
- Mount Silverthrone
- Mount Meager
- Mount Cayley
- Mount Garibaldi
- Wedge Mountain
[edit] Provincial Parks
- Garibaldi Provincial Park
- Golden Ears Provincial Park
- Cypress Provincial Park
- Mount Seymour Provincial Park
- Sasquatch Provincial Park
- Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park
- Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park
- Big Creek Provincial Park
- South Chilcotin Provincial Park
- Ts'il?os Provincial Park
- Tweedsmuir North Provincial Park and Protected Area
- Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park
List is incomplete
Protected areas, recreation areas and other non-park preservation areas are not listed.
[edit] Major Rivers
- Fraser River
- Chilcotin River
- Bridge River
- Lillooet River
- Squamish River
- Homathko River
- Klinaklini River
- Bella Coola River
Many relatively unknown rivers of considerable size along the coastal flank of the range are not listed, partly because they are largely unknown and also very difficult to access.
