Stawamus Chief

Stawamus Chief
Stawamus Chief
Highest point
Elevation	702 m (2,303 ft)
Prominence	417 m (1,368 ft)
Coordinates	49°41.2′N 123°08.1′W / 49.6867°N 123.1350°W / 49.6867; -123.1350Coordinates: 49°41.2′N 123°08.1′W / 49.6867°N 123.1350°W / 49.6867; -123.1350
Geography
Location	British Columbia, Canada
Parent range	Pacific Ranges
Topo map	NTS 92G/11
Geology
Age of rock	Formed Late Cretaceous Exposed Holocene
Mountain type	Granite dome
Climbing
First ascent	Prehistoric
Easiest route	Hike

The Stawamus Chief, officially Stawamus Chief Mountain (often referred to as simply The Chief, or erroneously as the Squamish Chief), is a granite dome located adjacent to the town of Squamish, British Columbia. It towers over 700 m (2,297 ft) above the waters of nearby Howe Sound. It is often claimed to be the "second largest granite monolith in the world".

The Squamish, indigenous people from this area, consider the Chief to be a place of spiritual significance. The Squamish language name for the mountain is Siám' Smánit (siám' is usually translated as "chief" though it is really a social ranking), and their traditions say it is a longhouse transformed to stone by Xáays, as the Transformer Brothers are known in this language. The great cleft in the mountain's cliff-face in Squamish legend is a mark of corrosion left by the skin of Sínulhka, a giant two-headed sea serpent.

The mountain gets its name from their village near its foot, Stawamus (St'a7mes), as is also the case with the Stawamus River and Stawamus Lake, though the pronunciation of the village name is different than as commonly used in English (/ˈstɑːʔəməs/ is an approximation of the Squamish language, vs /stəˈwɑːmᵿs/ as commonly used in English).