Everything about Kicking Horse Pass totally explained
Kicking Horse Pass (el. 1627 m, 5339 ft) is a high
mountain pass across the
Continental Divide of the
Canadian Rockies on the
Alberta/
British Columbia border, and lying within
Yoho and
Banff National Parks. The pass is of historical significance because the main line of the
Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed between
Lake Louise, Alberta and
Field, British Columbia using this route in
1880s, in preference to the originally planned route through the more northerly
Yellowhead Pass.
The pass was first explored in
1858 by the
Palliser Expedition led by Captain
John Palliser. The pass and the adjacent
Kicking Horse River were given their names after
James Hector, a
naturalist,
geologist, and surgeon who was a member of the expedition, was kicked by his horse while exploring the region.
The original route of the CPR between the
summit of the pass near
Wapta Lake and Field was known as "
The Big Hill"; with a
ruling gradient of 4.5 percent (1 in 23), it was the steepest stretch of main-line
railroad in
North America.
Due to frequent accidents and expensive helper engines associated with railroading in the pass, the CPR opened a pair of
Spiral Tunnels in
1909 that replaced the direct route. Although these tunnels add several
kilometres to the route, the ruling grade was reduced to a more manageable 2.2 percent (1 in 46).
The
Trans-Canada Highway was constructed through the pass in 1962 following essentially the original CPR route. It reaches its highest point at the Kicking Horse Pass with an elevation of . The winding, narrow roadbed in this area is currently being upgraded to improve safety and capacity.
Divide Creek, a creek that forks onto both sides of the Continental Divide, is located at Kicking Horse Pass.
It was made famous by
Dave Broadfoot in the
CBC Television series
Royal Canadian Air Farce. Broadfoot played The Honourable Member for Kicking Horse Pass in the satirical series, and in his personal standup routines.
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