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Mtkitchener

Mountain·CanadaCanada

Mount Kitchener

3,505m

Winston Churchill Range

Summit weather

No machine-readable author provided. Geoffl assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation
3,505m
Prominence
280m
Relief
1,831mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope
65°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit
All yearSee month by month ↓
First ascent
1927
Summit
52.2172°N, 117.3217°W

Mountain in Alberta, Canada

Mount Kitchener is a mountain in the Winston Churchill Range (Canada). Its summit stands 3,505 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 280 m. It was first climbed in 1927.

From the lowest point within 5 km (1,674 m), it rises 1,831 m. The steepest side is the north-east face: 49° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 65° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Scores

Mount Kitchener for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

5.0/10

Difficulty to the top

Alpine climb

Most path sections around the top are T4 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

  • 0.5/2.50 waymarked routes and 10 path sections nearby
  • 0.0/1.50 huts and shelters
  • 1.8/21,831 m of ascent from the valley
  • 1.1/1.5280 m of prominence
  • 1.0/1.54 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
  • 0.6/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

Snow

When there is snow on Mount Kitchener

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Summit3,505 msnow all year round
Snow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all month
Halfway up2,590 msnow from October to July (some years from September to July)
Snow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthNo snowSnow some of the timeSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all month
Foot of the mountain1,674 msnow from October to June
Snow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthNo snowNo snowNo snowSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all monthSnow on the ground all month
  • Snow on the ground all month
  • Snow some of the time
  • No snow
  • This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Mount Kitchener, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average July afternoon the summit reaches about 5 °C; on February nights it falls to about -28 °C. In 9 months of the year it stays below freezing at the top even in the afternoon. In July the 0 °C line climbs to about 4,250 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, February is the driest month (67 mm) and November the wettest (107 mm).

0 m1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m4,000 mSUMMIT · 3,505 mJanuary: 570 mFebruary: 660 mMarch: 1,220 mApril: 1,760 mMay: 2,680 mJune: 3,710 mJuly: 4,250 mAugust: 4,140 mSeptember: 3,340 mOctober: 2,120 mNovember: 970 mDecember: 320 mJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit
MonthSummit high °CSummit low °C0 °C line (m)Rain & snow (mm)Wet daysSun h/day
January-19-2657092192.3
February-18-2866067164.0
March-15-241,220100214.7
April-11-191,76070185.8
May-5-122,68077186.7
June1-73,710107216.5
July5-44,25089198.0
August4-54,14069167.4
September-1-103,34082155.5
October-9-162,120100183.7
November-16-24970107212.0
December-21-2832079182.0

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 1,971 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. Heights drawn 2× taller than lengths, so the shape can be seen.

West – east
3,505 m1,929 m0 km2 km4 km6 km8 km10 km12 km14 km16 kmWE
South – north
3,505 m1,612 m0 km2 km4 km6 km8 km10 km12 km14 km16 kmSN
Steepness by direction
30°N: 48°NNE: 49°NEE: 20°ESE: 38°SES: 14°SSW: 9°SWW: 10°WNW: 13°NW

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Mount Kitchener

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

Mount Kitchener seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

  • —mountain huts and shelters
  • —cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
  • —ski areas
  • —waymarked hiking routes
  • —via ferratas
  • 1climbing crags and routes

    Tangle Creek Wall

  • 6named glaciers

    Columbia Icefield, Columbia Glacier, Dome Glacier, Athabasca Glacier and 2 more

  • 6viewpoints

    Athabasca Glacier, Wilcox Ridge Viewpoint, Stutfield and 3 more

  • 1campsites

    Columbia Icefield Campground

  • 1hotels, B&Bs and chalets

    Glacier View Lodge

  • 3restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

10 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T2T4
  • T2 mountain hiking
  • T4 alpine hiking

OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

Mount Kitchener and Snow Dome at Columbia Icefield
Harpsz · CC BY-SA 4.0
Snow Dome, Forbes, Lyells, Et al from Mt. Kitchener
BrettA343 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1991–2020 average-19-18-15-11-5154-1-9-16-21
2020+0.2+0.5−1.4−1.7−1.1−0.8−1.5−0.8+1.6−1.5+0.5+3.0
2021+0.9−3.3+0.9+0.3−1.3+3.5+3.6−0.2−0.6+0.1+2.1−4.0
2022+0.2+0.8+0.8−1.9−3.5−0.5+1.7+3.0+3.9+5.8−2.4−2.8
2023+1.5−0.9−1.2+0.2+6.1+2.8+1.5+1.8+0.9+2.7+1.7+4.8
2024−1.1+2.3+0.2+0.3−1.1−1.3+2.9+1.1+2.1+0.5−0.4+4.3
2025−0.6−2.4+1.7+1.1+1.3+1.0+0.1+1.7+5.3+0.9+2.1+3.5

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominenceWikidata (Q1170479) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profilesCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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