Mount Chephren is located west of the Icefields Parkway above Chephren Lake and north of Howse Peak. The walls of the East Face rise over 1600 metres from the valley floor, and most who see it are left gazing in awe. On any given summer day throngs of tourists can be seen parked along the Icefields Parkway taking pictures. This has to be one of the most photographed peaks in the Rockies.It was originally named Pyramid Mountain in 1897 by J. Norman Collie who also named White Pyramid. Around 1918 the government tendered the prominent mountaineer J.M Thorton to come up with a different name because there was already a mountain northwest of Jasper named Pyramid Mountain. After careful research about Egypt, he named the peak Chephren, who was the fourth pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. Chephren was also the builder of the second of the three Great Pyramids.
The East Face of the mountain is home to two extreme Alpine Climbing Routes. The East Face is graded at V 5.9 A1 and was ascended by P.A. Geiser, J.R. Hudson, and A. Gran in 1965. The Wild Thing is graded at VI 5.9 A3 W4 and was ascended by Barry Blanchard, W. Robinson, and P. Arbic in March 1987. The normal route is a Grade II climb that goes up the south slopes directly below the impressive East Face of White Pyramid and was ascended by J.W.A Hickson and E. Feuz Jr. in 1913. The mountain can also be scrambled up the south slopes proper to gain the west ridge.
There is also a new/recent route called "Leftover Rib" on the left side of the face which is described in the 2001 AAJ. It was put up by Raphael Slawinski and Jeff Nazarchuk and is graded V 5.8.
For all routes except the Wild Thing, access is from the Chephren Lake Trail out of the Waterfowl Lakes Campground. Take the trail to the lake, then go around the left side. For the Wild Thing, park at the pullout at the northernmost Waterfowl Lake.
