Athabasca Pass (el. 1,753 m or 5,751 ft) is a high mountain pass in the Canadian Rockies. It is the headwaters of the Whirlpool River, a tributary of the Athabasca River. In fur-trade days it connected Jasper House on the Athabasca River with Boat Encampment on the Columbia River.
The pass lies between Mount Brown and McGillivray Ridge. It is south of Yellowhead Pass and north of Howse Pass.
Since the first documented crossing by David Thompson and his Native American guide in 1811, the pass became a major point on the fur trade route between Rupert's Land and the Columbia District, used by the York Factory Express. The pass was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1971.
Famous quotes containing the word pass:
“The style, the house and grounds, and “entertainment” pass for nothing with me. I called on the king, but he made me wait in his hall, and conducted like a man incapacitated for hospitality. There was a man in my neighborhood who lived in a hollow tree. His manners were truly regal. I should have done better had I called on him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)