Rogers Pass (British Columbia)

Rogers Pass
At the summit of Rogers Pass
Elevation	1,330 m (4,364 ft)
Traversed by	BC 1Trans-Canada Highway and Canadian Pacific Railway
Location	Glacier National Park, British Columbia, Canada
Range	Selkirk Mountains
National Historic Site of Canada
Official name	Rogers Pass National Historic Site of Canada
Designated	1971

Rogers Pass (elevation 1,330 m or 4,360 ft) is a high mountain pass through the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia used by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway. The pass is a shortcut across the "Big Bend" of the Columbia River from Revelstoke on the west to Donald, near Golden, on the east. The pass was discovered on May 29, 1881, by Major Albert Bowman Rogers, a surveyor working for the Canadian Pacific Railway. A second pass was named for Rogers in 1887 in Montana, c.373 miles to the south-east.

Rogers Pass is in the heart of Glacier National Park, in the midst of mountains popular for ski mountaineering, camping, hiking and mountain climbing ever since the region became accessible in 1886. The location has tourist services including the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre and National Park services. Rogers Pass is commemorated as a National Historic Site of Canada.

Rogers Pass is a narrow valley surrounded by a number of mountains. It is formed by the headwaters of the Illecillewaet River to the west and by the Beaver River to the east. Both of these rivers are tributaries of the Columbia River, which loops about 240 km around to the north of the pass.

Rogers Pass is known for its winter snowfall, which amounts to about 10 metres per year. Because of steep mountains, avalanches are very common in winter. When the railway first went over the pass, 31 snow sheds with a total length of about 6.5 km were built to protect the railway from the avalanches. Snow sheds for the Trans-Canada Highway were built later, including large ones in 1962. To keep the highway and railway open during the winter, the Royal Canadian Artillery uses 105 mm howitzers to knock down the avalanches under controlled circumstances so traffic is not caught in unexpected avalanches.