The Hart Ranges are a major subrange of the Canadian Rockies located in northeastern British Columbia and western Alberta. The mountains constitute the southernmost portion of the Northern Rocky Mountains.
The Hart Ranges were named in honour of British Columbia Premier John Hart, as is the highway which traverses the Pine Pass in the northern part of the range, connecting the north-central Interior of the province to the Peace River Regional District to the northeast.
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The Canadian Rockies (French: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, which is the northern segment of the North American Cordillera, the expansive system of interconnected mountain ranges between the Interior Plains and the Pacific Coast, that runs northwest–southeast from central Alaska to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.
Canada officially defines the Rocky Mountains system as the mountain chains east of the Rocky Mountain Trench extending from the Liard River valley in northern British Columbia to the Albuquerque Basin in New Mexico, not including the Mackenzie, Richardson and British Mountains/Brooks Range in Yukon and Alaska (which are all included as the "Arctic Rockies" in the United States' definition of the Rocky Mountains system). The Canadian Rockies, being the northern segment of this chain, is thus defined as comprising the central-eastern section of the North American Cordillera, between the Prairies of Alberta and the Liard Plain of northeastern British Columbia to the east and the Interior Mountains/Plateau and Columbia Mountains to the west. It is divided into the Northern Rockies (which is further subdivided into the Muskwa and Hart Ranges) and Continental Ranges, separated by the McGregor River valley, the McGregor Pass and the Kakwa River valley.
The Northern Rocky Mountains, usually referred to as the Northern Rockies, are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains. While their northward limit is easily defined as the Liard River, which is the northward terminus of the whole Rockies, the southward limit is debatable, although the area of Mount Ovington and Monkman Pass is mentioned in some sources, as south from there are the Continental Ranges, which are the main spine of the Rockies forming the boundary between British Columbia and Alberta. Some use the term to mean only the area north of the Peace Arm of the Williston Reservoir, and in reference to Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, while others consider the term to extend all the way south, beyond the limit of the Hart Ranges at Mount Ovington, to include the McBride area, the Sir Alexander Group and Mount Robson.
The area south of the Williston Reservoir, the Hart Ranges, is much more accessible and better known, while north of Lake Williston the Northern Rockies are extremely remote and rarely visited or photographed. The Hart Ranges are traversed by B.C. Highway 97 (the John Hart Highway) and the Peace River extension of the former BC Rail line (now part of Canadian National Railways), which use the Pine Pass, and also by the Tumbler Ridge spur line to the Sukunka River coalmines. The Alaska Highway traverses the northernmost part of the range via Stone Mountain and Muncho Lake Provincial Parks.
The Muskwa Ranges are a group of mountain ranges in northern British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Northern Rockies section of the Rocky Mountains and are bounded on their west by the Rocky Mountain Trench and on their east by the Rocky Mountain Foothills. They are delimited on the north by the Liard River and on the south by the Peace Reach of the Lake Williston reservoir (formerly the Peace River), south of which the next major grouping of the Rockies is the Hart Ranges.
The Muskwa Ranges cover a surface of 97,388 square kilometres (37,602 mi) and stretch for 424 kilometres (263 mi) from north to south.
The Continental Ranges are a major grouping of mountain ranges in the Rocky Mountains primarily located in the Canadian Rockies of eastern British Columbia and western Alberta, with small portions extending into the U.S. states of Idaho and Montana. It is a physiographic designation primarily geologists and is not used by the general public; it is not recognized in Alberta, and does not appear on topographic maps, although the names of its subranges (the Kootenay, Front, and the Park or Main Ranges) are in common use. It is the largest and best-known of the Canadian Rockies' three main subdivisions (the others being the Hart and Muskwa Ranges).
McGregor Pass, 1,555 metres (5,102 ft), is a mountain pass located on the Continental Divide in the Canadian Rockies and near the head of the McGregor River, to the north of Wishaw Mountain and to the west of Kakwa Pass, which is in the same vicinity. McGregor Pass forms the division between the Hart Ranges of the Rockies, which begin at Mount Sir Alexander just to the northwest and extend to the Peace Reach of Lake Williston, and the Continental Ranges, the largest and most well-known segment of the Canadian Rockies, which extend to Marias Pass, at the head of the North Fork Flathead River in Montana, United States.
McGregor Pass is the prominence col for Mount Buchanan, giving it 1,181 metres (3,875 ft) of prominence.