Stawamus Chief Mountain
Feature Type:Mountain - Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks.
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: Just E of Squamish, at head of Howe Sound, New Westminster Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 49°41'02"N, 123°08'30"W at the approximate centre of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 92G/11
Other Recorded Names:
The Chief
Origin Notes and History:

Stawamus Chief (mountain) adopted 12 December 1939 on 92/SE.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

The original name is Siám' Smánit. This mountain is an enormous longhouse which was transformed to stone by Xáays (Transformer Brothers). If you look closely at the face of this mountain you can see the outlines of the animals and people who were celebrating in this longhouse when it was changed. Also visible on the face of the cliff is a dark black vertical line created by the corrosive skin of Sínulhka (giant two-headed sea serpent) when it slithered over the face.

Source: included with note

Identified as "Squamish Chief" in Canadian Alpine Journal, vol 50, 1967, pp 56-57. Identified as "The Chief" in Culbert's Climber's Guide to the Coastal Ranges of British Columbia, 1969, p.37. Identified as "Goose Rock" in American Alpine Journal, volume 12, No. 1, 1960, p.133.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"The Stawamus Chief (often referred to as simply The Chief) is a granite dome located adjacent to the town of Squamish, British Columbia. It towers over 700 metres above the waters of nearby Howe Sound. It is often claimed to be the "second largest granite monolith in the world" [after El Capitan in California's Yosemite valley in California] but is considerably smaller than granite formations on Baffin Island, in Pakistan, or Yosemite valley. The Squamish First Nation people consider the Chief to be a place of spiritual significance." (Wikipedia, September 2007.)

Source: included with note

"The Chief" is a granite monolith with a 450-m high vertical face. Dominating the view from nearby Squamish, it has become one of North America's premier rock climbing bluffs. It has three separate summits, which can be reached via a steep trail along the back side of the face... (Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia, September 2007).

Source: included with note