Resplendent Mountain
(3425 m)
With an impressive glacier on its northern slopes and a near vertical east face, Resplendent Mountain is a striking peak. Like nearby Whitehorn Mountain, it is often overshadowed by Mount Robson, which dominates the area. The peak is located at the head of Resplendent Creek, southeast of the Robson Glacier.

During his 1911 expedition to the area, Arthur O. Wheeler wrote that the mountain was, "Named, and well named, by Coleman." Wheeler went on to note that, "On the east side it is clad from top to bottom in pure white snow, and presents with the sun shining upon it a spectacle of such wonderful brilliance that the aptness of the name became immediately apparent. It rose in great snow masses and ice walls sheer to the summit and showed several of the largest and widest bergschrunds I have ever seen in the Rockies. Enormous cornices overhung on the north and east sides. The mountain was first ascended by Conrad Kain and Byron Harmon. It proved to be altogether a snow and ice climb, and Conrad reported having seen some of the greatest ice cracks he had met with throughout the course of his professional experience. The crest of the mountain he described as an immense cornice reaching far out into space over the depths below."

In 1911, from a ridge below the summit of Lynx Mountain, Arthur Wheeler enjoyed his first view of the Mount Robson area. He later wrote, "As we topped the crest the whole wonderful panorama came into view. At our feet flowed the Robson Glacier. Across the wide river of ice the great massif of Robson, rising supreme above all other peaks. White against a sky of perfect blue it seemed to belong to a world other than our own. Ethereal, snowy Mount Resplendent, crowned with immense sculptured cornices; the splendid sharp conical peak of Whitehorn Mountain; it was the most stupendous alpine scene I had ever gazed upon, setting the blood coursing though the veins as fast as a torrent, with the pure joy of being alive -and there."

According to Chic Scott, author of "Summits and Icefields" and "Powder Pioneers," ski-mountaineering in the Canadian Rockies got its start on Resplendent Mountain in 1930 when Pete L. Parsons made a solo ski ascent of the peak.

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