Just outside the town of Canmore, Alberta sits a towering mountain by the name of Ha Ling. Though breath-taking in its own right, Ha Ling, sandwiched between the legendary Mt. Rundle and Three Sisters, is often over looked. His story is not often told. So today I will share the story of Ha Ling and how it has become known as Chinaman's Peak.
On a late night, back when the valley in which Canada's highway 1 sits was being taken full advantage of by the mining industry, a small group of miners were enjoying a few drinks in a Canmore bar after a long week. It was about two in the morning and each member had had his fair share to drink. Glancing out the window at the peak of Ha Ling, one miner of Asian descent boasted, "I could climb that!" Not about to let him back down from his claim, his friends bet him another round that he couldn't. To the happily drunk miner this sounded like an easy way to earn a free drink, so off he trudged into the night toward the mountain. He wandered up the steep southern slope in a nearly perpendicular path through the trees and scrambled up the scree right to the very top. Having completed his challenge he headed back to the bar to enjoy his reward.
Since that night, Ha Ling has been granted the nickname of Chinaman's Peak.