Mount Garibaldi (, ) is a dormant stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has a maximum elevation of and rises above the surrounding landscape on the east side of the Cheakamus River in New Westminster Land District. In addition to the main peak, Mount Garibaldi has two named sub-peaks. Atwell Peak is a sharp, conical peak slightly higher than the more rounded peak of Dalton Dome. Both were volcanically active at different times throughout Mount Garibaldi's eruptive history. The northern and eastern flanks of Mount Garibaldi are obscured by the Garibaldi Névé, a large snowfield containing several radiating glaciers. Flowing from the steep western face of Mount Garibaldi is the Cheekye River, a tributary of the Cheakamus River. Opal Cone on the southeastern flank is a small volcanic cone from which a lengthy lava flow descends. The western face is a landslide feature that formed in a series of collapses between 12,800 and 11,500 years ago. These collapses resulted in the formation of a large debris flow deposit that fans out into the Squamish Valley.
Mount Garibaldi has been the focus of intermittent volcanic activity over the last 260,000 years. This activity produced mostly dacite, the main type of volcanic rock forming Mount Garibaldi. Volcanism between 260,000 and 220,000 years ago constructed an ancestral cone that was subsequently destroyed. Another growth period began with the eruption of Atwell Peak about 13,000 years ago when Mount Garibaldi was surrounded by an ice sheet during the last glacial period. The latest period of volcanic activity took place about 10,000 years ago with eruptions from Dalton Dome and Opal Cone after the ice sheet retreated. Although the mountain is not known to have been volcanically active since that time, it could erupt again, which could endanger the nearby populace. If this were to happen, relief efforts could be organized by teams such as the Interagency Volcanic Event Notification Plan who are prepared to notify people threatened by volcanic eruptions in Canada.
The area surrounding Mount Garibaldi has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Their oral history includes a story of the mountain and a great flood. The non-indigenous name of the mountain was given by George Henry Richards in 1860 in honour of the Italian patriot and soldier Giuseppe Garibaldi. Several mountaineers had climbed Mount Garibaldi by the early 1900s, some of whom were members of mountaineering clubs. A plane operated by Pacific Western Airlines crashed on the slopes of Mount Garibaldi in 1953; all five people aboard were killed. The construction of a ski resort was begun in the late 1960s, but developments were halted in 1969 due to financial difficulties. Several climbing routes ascend the flanks of Mount Garibaldi and involve traversing glaciers, snow slopes or loose rock. Mountain climbing hazards include crevasses, avalanches and rockfalls. Access to Mount Garibaldi is via hiking trails from Alice Ridge, Brohm Ridge, and the Diamond Head parking lot at the end of Garibaldi Park Road.
Geography
Background
Mount Garibaldi is located on the east side of the Cheakamus River between Squamish and Whistler in New Westminster Land District.
thumb|left|alt=A rocky mountain with little snow at its summit overlooking hilly vegetated terrain in the foreground.|Mount Garibaldi from Squamish
The Pacific Ranges Ecoregion is subdivided into seven ecosections, the Eastern Pacific Ranges Ecosection being the main ecosection at Mount Garibaldi. This ecosection is characterized by a rugged landscape of mountains that increase in elevation from south to north; the northern summits contain large icefields. A transitional climate between coastal maritime and interior continental climates dominates the Eastern Pacific Ranges Ecosection. It is characterized by little precipitation and mild temperatures due to air from the Pacific Ocean often passing over this area. During winter, cold Arctic air invades from the Central Interior, resulting in extreme cloud cover and snow. A number of other volcanoes are situated within the Eastern Pacific Ranges Ecosection. This includes Mount Cayley, which lies in the Squamish River watershed, and Mount Meager, which lies near the headwaters of the Lillooet River. mountain goats, wolverines, cougars and grizzly and black bears are locally present. Several individually named outlet glaciers drain the Garibaldi Névé. These include Garibaldi Glacier northwest of Opal Cone, North Pitt Glacier on the northeastern face of Mount Garibaldi, South Pitt Glacier southeast of Glacier Pikes, Lava Glacier west of Mamquam Lake, Sentinel Glacier southeast of Garibaldi Lake, Warren Glacier at the headwaters of Culiton Creek, Bishop Glacier south of the head of the Pitt River, Phoenix Glacier south of Deception Peak and Pike Glacier east of Glacier Pikes. The Garibaldi and Lava glaciers issue from the south side of the Garibaldi Névé, sending their muddy waters to the Mamquam River. Immediately to the north of Mount Garibaldi and directly below its northern face, the Warren Glacier flows towards the Cheakamus River. The Garibaldi Névé and its outlet glaciers have a combined area of about . Other glaciers on Mount Garibaldi include Cheekye Glacier south of the summit and Diamond Glacier between Atwell Peak and Diamond Head. Although the glaciers at times have seen surges reaching further down slope, a 2009 study published in the Global and Planetary Change journal found that they overall have been progressively retreating since the early 1900s. A study conducted by the University of British Columbia in 2015 determined that 70% of all the glacial ice in Canada would be melted away by the year 2100. However, observations of the nearby Helm Glacier and other glaciers throughout Canada in 2022 suggest that the 2015 estimate may be an underestimation.
Mount Garibaldi contains a number of individually named peaks. Atwell Peak is a conical plug dome in elevation. It is named after Atwell Duncan Francis Joseph King, an ardent mountaineer who led the first ascent of Mount Garibaldi in 1907. Dalton was a Vancouver architect, city assessor and mountaineer who took part in the first ascent of Mount Garibaldi. Opal Cone on the southeastern flank of Mount Garibaldi is a parasitic cone near the south side of Garibaldi Glacier. A spur known as The Sharkfin separates the Warren and North Pitt glaciers on the northeast side of Mount Garibaldi. Diamond Head is a subsidiary peak on the south side of Mount Garibaldi named for its resemblance to Diamond Head in Hawaii.
Mount Garibaldi lies within the Squamish River watershed. The Cheekye River flows west into the Cheakamus River which flows south and southwest into the Squamish River. Cheekye is a Squamish name meaning "strong rushing water". It flows west and southwest into the Mamquam River which flows west and south into the mouth of the Squamish River. Zig Zag Creek drains Lava Glacier and flows southeast into Skookum Creek. The Pitt River also originates at Mount Garibaldi and flows southwest from the North Pitt and South Pitt glaciers into the Fraser River.
Geology
thumb|right|alt=A prominent, rocky mountain with heavily glaciated lower slopes rising over mountainous terrain and an alpine lake.|Mount Garibaldi, Mount Price and The Table from The Black Tusk
Mount Garibaldi is one of the three principal volcanoes in the southern segment of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt, the other two being Mount Price and The Black Tusk. This volcanic field consists of at least twelve eruptive centres that are in the form of stratovolcanoes, lava domes, cinder cones and subglacial volcanoes. These include Mount Price, The Black Tusk, The Table, Cinder Cone and Round Mountain, all of which formed in the last 1.3 million years.
Structure
thumb|right|alt=A rocky pyramid-shaped mountain peak with forested lower slopes.|Atwell Peak from the south
Mount Garibaldi is a moderately eroded stratovolcano overlooking the town of Squamish at the head of Howe Sound north of Vancouver. It is one of the three Cascade Arc volcanoes made exclusively of dacite, the other two being Glacier Peak and Mount Cayley. Rhyodacite is also a common volcanic rock at Mount Garibaldi and Mount Cayley, although high-silica rhyolite is uniquely present at Mount Garibaldi. Subordinate andesite erupted at all three volcanoes relatively early in their histories. At Mount Garibaldi, the total volume of volcanic rocks amount to and represent many episodes of activity spanning from about 670,000 years ago to the Holocene. Andesite-dacite lavas and their pyroclastic accompaniments from several vents initially filled paleovalleys glacially incised into the Coast Plutonic Complex basement. Several dacitic domes and derivative pyroclastic material then built the main volcanic edifice starting about 260,000 years ago. Much of the volcano was rebuilt in the last 50,000 years by a series of violent eruptions similar in character to the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée. The modern volcanic edifice is a supraglacial volcano, having been partially constructed over glacial ice during the Pleistocene epoch. At the time of its formation, the Cheekye Fan extended across Howe Sound, resulting in the impoundment of a freshwater lake upstream of the fan. The Squamish River subsequently built a delta into this lake during the Holocene. It then filled in the lake with sediment over the last 3,300 years to create the Squamish River floodplain. Extending from the southern flank of Mount Garibaldi is the unusually long Ring Creek lava flow. It is dacitic in composition, attains a length of approximately and contains well-defined levees along its margins. The western slopes of Mount Garibaldi are underlain by sheared and altered quartz diorite, which has undergone stream and glacial erosion to form rugged topography with relief up to . The initial Cheekye stage took place between 260,000 and 220,000 years ago with the eruption of dacite and breccia, resulting in the formation of a broad composite cone. Parts of this "proto-Garibaldi" or ancestral volcano are exposed on Mount Garibaldi's lower northern and eastern flanks and on the upper of Brohm Ridge. Around where Columnar Peak and possibly Glacier Pikes are now located, several coalescing dacitic domes were constructed. This catastrophic collapse produced the Cheekye Fan and the scarp exposing the internal structure of Mount Garibaldi. Soon before or after the buried ice had melted away, the Dalton Dome stage commenced with the eruption of dacite lava down Mount Garibaldi's north and northeastern flanks.
At least two debris flows in the order of occurred at Mount Garibaldi in the 1930s and 1950s, both of which swept down the Cheekye River. The 1950s debris flow was caused by heavy rains and reached the Cheakamus River where it formed a temporary landslide dam. This is the latest debris flow to reach the Cheakamus River from the Cheekye basin. In contrast to Mount Cayley and Mount Meager, no hot springs are known in the Garibaldi area. However, there is evidence of anomalously high heat flow in Table Meadows and elsewhere. At least three seismic events have occurred at Mount Garibaldi since 1985, indicating that the volcano is potentially active and poses a significant hazard to the area.
Volcanic hazards
thumb|right|alt=Snow-covered mountains rising over hilly vegetated terrain.|Mount Garibaldi with Mount Price and Clinker Peak in the left-centre
thumb|right|alt=A snow-covered, cone-shaped mountain overlooking snow-covered and exposed slopes.|Mount Garibaldi as seen from the north-northeast
Mount Garibaldi is one of two volcanoes in Canada classified as a very high threat by Natural Resources Canada, the other volcano being Mount Meager to the northwest. Although Plinian eruptions have not been identified at Mount Garibaldi, Peléan eruptions can also produce large amounts of volcanic ash that could significantly affect the nearby communities of Whistler and Squamish. Peléan eruptions might cause short and long term water supply problems for the city of Vancouver and most of the Lower Mainland. The catchment area for the Greater Vancouver watershed is downwind from Mount Garibaldi. An eruption producing floods and lahars could destroy parts of Highway 99, threaten communities such as Brackendale and endanger water supplies from Pitt Lake. Fisheries on the Pitt River would also be at risk. These volcanic hazards become more serious as the Lower Mainland grows in population. As a result, the Cheekye linears pose potential landslide hazards to Brackendale and several Squamish Nation villages nearby. The danger of catastrophic landslides from Mount Garibaldi has restricted development on the Cheekye Fan. in composition, containing 62–69% silica content. This high percentage in silica content increases the viscosity of dacitic melts relative to that of andesite or basalt, generally resulting in the formation of steep-sided lava domes and stubby lava flows. An exception is the Ring Creek dacite flow from Opal Cone, a length that is normally attained by basaltic lava flows. If Mount Garibaldi were to erupt, mechanisms exist to orchestrate relief efforts. The Interagency Volcanic Event Notification Plan was created to outline the notification procedure of some of the main agencies that would respond to an erupting volcano in Canada, an eruption close to the Canada–United States border or any eruption that would affect Canada.
Human history
Indigenous peoples
thumb|right|alt=A multi-coloured pole with three faces and two sets of wings.|The thunderbird on top of a totem pole in [[Victoria, British Columbia]]
To the Squamish people, the local indigenous people of this area, Mount Garibaldi is called Nch'ḵay̓ (). In their language it means "Dirty Place", referring to the muddy waters of the Cheekye River. Mount Garibaldi is considered sacred to the Squamish people as it is an important part of their history. In their oral history, they passed down a story of the great flood that covered their land after the last ice age. The Squamish people headed for Mount Garibaldi and latched their canoes to the mountain with a rope made from woven cedar bark in order to prevent being swept away.
Later history
Mount Garibaldi was witnessed by George Henry Richards in 1860 while surveying Howe Sound on board the Royal Navy ship HMS Plumper. The first ascent of Mount Garibaldi was made by Vancouver mountaineers Gordon B. Warren, Arthur Tinniswood Dalton, Tom C. Pattison, William Tinniswood Dalton, James John Trorey and Atwell Duncan King on August 11, 1907. This mountaineering party had recognized the volcanic origin of the mountain. Another party led by A. T. Dalton ascended the main peak and dome of Mount Garibaldi by a new and better route in 1908. This was followed by an ascent to the summit in 1910 by members of the Alpine Club of Canada and a local mountaineering club. Party members included A. Morkill, B. S. Darling, A. Cawdry, W. G. Barker, A. J. Armistead and Mr. Wedgwood. A party consisting of 13 members of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club ascended Mount Garibaldi from the southeast face on August 13, 1911. The first women to attain the summit of Mount Garibaldi were Vancouver climbers Pansy Munday and L. C. Hanafin on July 16, 1913. They ascended the west face of Mount Garibaldi by approaching from the southwest, which involved traversing along the Mamquam River and then climbing Round Mountain and The Gargoyles. Hanafin and Munday also climbed neighbouring Mamquam Mountain during the same expedition. The leader of the climbing party, Joseph T. Hazard, stated that "while a little less than 9,000 feet high, Mount Garibaldi is much more difficult of ascent than any of the major peaks of Washington". In 1927, Mount Garibaldi was incorporated into the newly formed, Garibaldi Provincial Park. Despite being the namesake of Garibaldi Provincial Park, Mount Garibaldi is not its highest mountain.
Vancouver teachers Christopher Clifford Harris, 33, and Margo Anne Fowler, 26, got married on the summit of Mount Garibaldi on April 14, 1973, to express their passion for mountain climbing. The couple managed to get to the nearly inaccessible, summit by helicopter. They wore traditional mountaineering garb for their wedding. According to Harris, "You can see snow and mountain tops forever. Even Mount Baker, and that's 100 miles away."
Ski resort development
A multi-million dollar ski resort, Mount Garibaldi Glacier Resorts, was to be built on Brohm Ridge in the late 1960s. It was designed by West Vancouver resident Adi Bauer in 1954 to feature a luxury lodge, three Swiss-style chalets and the world's longest gondola lift. Access to the ski resort was to be by helicopter or snowshoes in winter, although a rough road winding up the ridge to the ski resort lodge was to provide four-wheel drive access in summer. The ski resort was to open in the winter of 1970, but financial difficulties in 1969 halted all developments. In January 1970, the three Swiss-style chalets remained unfinished, the gondola lift consisted only of towers with no lift cables, and the gondola cars were stored in another building at the foot of Mount Garibaldi. Under that plan, the project had a January 2026 deadline for work to "substantially start", however the developer claims that such a deadline was impossible due to disputes with the District of Squamish, and asked the provincial government for an extension, which was denied.
Recreation facilities
thumb|right|alt=A dark brown building surrounded by trees in the background and snow, skis and people in the foreground.|The Elfin shelter
Overlooking the Tantalus Range is the Brohm Ridge Chalet, a three-story European-style lodge built in the 1960s as part of the attempted ski resort development. It is now operated by the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club, a non-profit organization founded in 1971 in the community of Squamish. The Brohm Ridge Chalet sleeps a total of 40 people whilst the nearby Black Tusk Snowmobile Clubhouse sleeps a further 14.
The Rampart Ponds Campground, located northeast of the Elfin Lakes shelter, offers food storage facilities, pit toilet facilities and 12 tent platforms. It was Landauer's first accident as an expert skier, having occurred as the 46-year-old neared Diamond Head Lodge. Landauer was brought down Mount Garibaldi by a party of 25 holidayers at Diamond Head Lodge and then transferred to a light truck which took him to Squamish via logging road. The 46-hour rescue operation ended on April 11 when a speedboat waiting at Squamish brought Landauer to St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.
Frank de Bruyn, a 16-year-old mountain climber from Vancouver, was killed by a small avalanche near the snow-covered summit of Mount Garibaldi on July 19, 1961. De Bruyn was one of three youths climbing Mount Garibaldi, the other two being 18-year-olds James Hebden and James Fowler. Hebden got caught in the edge of the avalanche and was sent to the Squamish General Hospital after sustaining a lung injury. Fowler escaped injury, but underwent shock treatment the next day after stumbling down the mountainside with word of the accident.
Vancouver mountaineers Lloyd Williams, 26, Heinz Rostek, 22, and Don Hoover, 22, were trapped on Mount Garibaldi for four days in April 1963. The trio left the Diamond Head chalet on April 11 for a skiing trip around Mount Garibaldi to Garibaldi Lake where they were to meet another group of skiers on April 14. They became trapped by a blizzard on the level of Mount Garibaldi on April 13 where the three men set up a camp. The trio remained at the camp until April 17 when the weather cleared. Fresh ski marks left by the three mountaineers were spotted that morning by ground searchers and a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter found the trio at noon.
Climbing routes
Garibaldi Peak routes
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|+ style="text-align: center;" | Yosemite Decimal System grades and classes for Mount Garibaldi