Diadem Peak is a peak

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 located in the Sunwapta River

Sunwapta River

The Sunwapta River is a major tributary of the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.-Course:The headwaters of the Sunwapta River are near the Columbia Icefield in the valley west northwest of Sunwapta pass, which divides Jasper National Park from Banff National Park...

 Valley of Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, north of Banff National Park and west of the City of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Diadem Peak is essentially the high point of a ridge leading down from the slightly higher Mount Woolley

Mount Woolley

Mount Woolley is a mountain in Alberta, Canada, located in the Sunwapta River Valley of Jasper National Park, 1½ km south of Diadem Peak and is part of Sir Winston Churchill Range of the Canadian Rockies.-History:...

 (3460 m (11,352 ft)). This peak was the first 11,000er north of the Columbia Icefield

Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield is an icefield located in the Canadian Rockies, astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 km² in area, 100 to 365 metres in depth and...

 to be climbed and one of the few peaks in the Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

 to be climbed before 1900.

The mountain was named in 1898 by the first ascent team of J. Norman Collie

J. Norman Collie

John Norman Collie FRS , commonly referred to as J. Norman Collie, was a British scientist, mountaineer, and explorer.- Life and work :He was born in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, the second of four sons...

, Hugh Stutfield and Hermann Woolley. Upon reaching the summit, they discovered a crown (diadem

Diadem (personal wear)

A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by Eastern monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. The word derives from the Greek "διάδημα" , "band" or "fillet", from "διαδέω" , "I bind round", or "I fasten"....

) of snow about 30 m (98 ft) high covering the almost flat layer of rocks on top.

Climbing history

In the summer of 1898, J. Norman Collie, Hugh Stutfield and Herman Woolley, had made their way up Woolley Creek and initially had their sights on reaching the top of Mount Woolley by climbing the icefield that separates Mt. Woolley from Diadem Peak. However, after a brief downpour which forced them to seek shelter among some rocks, they had just begun preparing the rope for ascending the icefield when a large collapse of ice from the summit made them switch their objective to Diadem Peak. The party ascended the southeast ridge along loose shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

 and ice, eventually finding a small rock rib that took them to the summit on August 25. Collie recorded an initial elevation of 11500 feet (3,505 m) using a mercurial barometer

Barometer

A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...

. With the use of crampons

Crampons

Crampons are traction devices used to improve mobility on snow and ice. There are three main attachment systems for footwear: step-in, hybrid, and strap bindings. The first two require boots with welts, the last adapt to any type....

, the difficulties of the southeast ridge route are reduced by following a shallow snow gully up much of the way.

In 1962, William Buckingham and Bill Hooker, ascended Diadem Peak by what is now known as the South Ridge route. This route initially traverses loose rock ledges to reach a snow/ice couloir

Couloir

A couloir is a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain. A couloir may be a seam, scar, or fissure, or vertical crevasse in an otherwise solid mountain mass...

which is followed until the glacier levels off and is no longer fractured. Traversing left across rock to the glacier, the route follows the glacier up to the Woolley-Diadem col where Diadem's summit is reached after an easy ascent up the ridge. Jim Elzinga and Jeff Marshall made the first ascent up a mixed route on the North face of Diadem in July 1981. This route is known as "Humble Horse" (IV, 5.7, W4).