Mount John Laurie

Officially named Mount John Laurie in 1961,[3] it is also known as Mount Laurie, or by the Nakoda name Mount Yamnuska, or simply Yamnuska.[3] Yamnuska translates to "wall of stone"[4] and is derived from the Stoney Nakoda word Iyamnathka that describes steep cliffs or "the flat faced mountain."

John Lee Laurie, 1899–1959, was a founder of the Indian Association of Alberta. The mountain's 1961 renaming came at the request of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Laurie, an educator and political activist, served as secretary of the Indian Association of Alberta from 1944 to 1956, promoting the causes of Alberta native peoples.[5]

Standing at approximately 2,240 m (7,350 ft) above sea level,[6] Mount John Laurie is the last mountain on the north side of the Bow River valley (Bow Valley) as it exits the mountains for the foothills and prairie of Alberta. Located close to Calgary, it is a popular "great scramble". It is also a popular rock climbing destination, with over 100 routes of all difficulty levels spread out across its face.

Mount John Laurie is the result of the McConnell Thrust Fault, which put the resistive, cliff forming Cambrian carbonate rock of the Eldon Formation on top of the much younger and weaker Cretaceous aged, clastic Belly River Formation[7][8] The fault, which sits at the base of the cliff face, represents an age difference of around 450 million years.[7]

At the Highway 1X and Highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail) intersection, travel east for two kilometres (1.2 mi). Turn into the signed parking lot that says "Yamnuska."[6]