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Title: Glaciers of the Rockies and Selkirks, 2nd. ed. - With Notes on Five Great Glaciers of the Canadian National Parks
Author: Coleman, Arthur Philemon, Wheeler, Arthur Oliver
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Glaciers of the Rockies and Selkirks, 2nd. ed. - With Notes on Five Great Glaciers of the Canadian National Parks" ***
[Illustration]
FRONT OF TUMBLING GLACIER ON BERG LAKE
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
DOMINION PARKS BRANCH
Glaciers of the Rockies and Selkirks
By
A. P. Coleman, M.A., Ph. D., F.R.S.
President Alpine Club of Canada
Author of “The Canadian Rockies”
With Notes on Five Great Glaciers of the Canadian National Parks
By
A. O. Wheeler, Director Alpine Club of Canada
Re-Published under the direction of
Sir James Lougheed
Minister of the Interior
First Edition, 1914
Second Edition, 1921
Glaciers of the Rockies and Selkirks
The traveller going westwards from the prairie finds the way blocked by
a grim wall of cliffs rising 7,000 or 8,000 feet above the sea and
justifying the name of the “Rockies” given to our greatest chain of
mountains. Toward the end of the summer these desolate precipices are
snowless and except for a glimpse of white peaks through some pass there
is scarcely a suggestion of the glacier region within. Then the train
enters the “Gap” and before long the summits around show fields or
patches of midsummer snow; and as one draws nearer to the heart of the
Rockies there is blue ice to be seen clinging to the cliffs or reaching
as glaciers down into the wooded valleys, and one is thrilled with the
wild charm of alpine scenery.
However, engineers are strict utilitarians and always choose the lowest
pass for a railway, so that the passenger in the observation car catches
only tantalizing glimpses of the wonders and beauties of the ice world a
few miles away and a few thousand feet above the valley. One must stop
at some place like lake Louise in the southern Rockies or Tête Jaune in
the north or Glacier in the Selkirks to come into real contact with snow
fields and glaciers. What a joy it is to get rid of the hot and dusty
everyday world of cities for a while and come close to Nature in one of
her wildest moods! It is not only the mountaineer who feels the
seduction of the cool, clean solitudes where glaciers are born and do
their wonderful work. Every healthy manor woman must yield to the
delight of living in those inspiring surroundings.
It is worthwhile to put on warm strong clothes and hob-nailed shoes and
fill your lungs with mountain air in a scramble up to the snow fields to
see how the glacial machinery works, machinery which some thousands of
years ago shaped almost the whole surface of Canada, doing its work on
the plains as well as the mountains and leaving it the splendid land of
lakes and rivers and fertile prairies and rolling hills which it is
to-day.
_Snowline._
To reach the snows generally means some miles of walking and climbing,
often through forest covered slopes at first where the outside world is
lost. Then the trees begin to thin and grow stunted, revealing between
the trunks blue valleys with a lake or two and far off cliffs and
mountains. At last the trees cease at 7,500 feet and you are at
timberline. Here the three Rocky mountain heathers spread soft thick
carpets between stiff bushes only a few feet high but with trunks a foot
through, so buffeted have they been by the storms of centuries. The rows
of dwarfed spruces leaning back against some rock ledge give fine
shelter for the mountain goats, wisps of whose white wool cling to the
stubborn branches.
Then come cliffs and rocky slopes and grassy or sedgy uplands (the true
alps as the word is used in Switzerland) where mountain sheep or goats
pasture and wild flowers grow by the million, blue ones such as lupines,
gentians, fox-gloves and forget-me-nots; yellow ones such as
adder-tongues, columbines and a multitude of starry composite flowers;
the red or orange Indian paint brush; and white flowers innumerable. You
have reached the edge of the snow rapidly melting on a July day under a
sun that is hot even on high mountains. The plants just freed from their
winter covering are all bursting into bloom together, bees are humming,
butterflies lazily flutter past and a humming bird poises over a
blossom; for it is spring at these altitudes and there is a whole
season’s work to be done, seeds ripened and all, before autumn comes in
September with its snowstorms burying all under the white silence of a
nine-months winter again.
It is a thrilling experience to set foot at last on midsummer snow
sweeping upwards, gleaming toward the higher summits, snow that never
entirely melts and that is so dazzling in the July sunlight that one
needs dark or colored glasses to avoid snow blindness if the tramp is to
be a long one.
[Illustration]
GLACIER ON PRESIDENT RANGE, YOHO PARK
We have no special word in English for these perpetual snow fields and
so the French term NÉVÉ is commonly used. Snowline is not nearly so
definite as timberline and varies with latitude, exposure and snowfall.
In the eastern Rockies of Alberta, where only a few feet fall in winter,
the line is scarcely below 9,000 feet; while in the western Selkirks,
which catch the full brunt of the Pacific winds laden with moisture and
have a snowfall of 40 or 50 feet in a year, snowline is depressed almost
to timberline, about 7,500 feet. This accounts for the bareness of the
eastern Rockies as compared with the splendid Alpine features of the
Selkirk range, which is the lower of the two.
While one gazes entranced at the array of lakes and valleys, of
snowfields and dark cliffs, the wind rises and mountains to the west put
on a cap of cloud. This grows and darkens and presently a mantle of mist
sweeps up with the wind, the sun is dimmed and in a few minutes the wide
world is shut out by a blizzard. We must make our way down to lower
levels where sleet whitens the closing flowers, and then through a belt
of rain swept hillside into the valley where the sun may still be
shining hotly.
Since snow falls every month in the year on the névé fields and never
melts away one might expect the mountains, especially the Selkirks, to
grow as snowheaps into the sky; but of course this does not take place.
Under the increasing load of snow the lower beds are compressed into
ice; so that the névé, beginning as loose or hard drifted snow above
passes downwards into ice banded with blue and white layers, the whole
sometimes hundreds of feet in thickness.
The snow accumulates only on the gentler slopes or in the higher
valleys. On cliffs it cannot lodge but piles upon the névé beneath; and
on steep slopes it may lie for a time but now and then, especially
toward spring, it breaks loose and thunders down into the valley as an
avalanche.
_The Motion of Glaciers._
The final disposal of the snowfield, turned to ice in its lower parts,
comes by a slow creep downwards. That the névé is actually in motion can
be seen by following the slope of snow to its upper edge against some
mountain wall where a “BERGSCHRUND” generally yawns between the
snowfield and the cliff. This may be several feet wide, and may go down
many feet to obscure depths. No amount of snow fall can fill the chasm
permanently, though it may be bridged with fresh snow for a time, making
a risky passage for the climber.
[Illustration]
CAVERN ON ILLECILLEWAET GLACIER
[Illustration]
SNOUT OR FOREFOOT OF ROBSON GLACIER, JASPER PARK
The névé is always pulling away from the rocks at its upper border, and
its general motion follows the direction of the lowest depression
beneath, finally extending below snowline as a tongue of ice which
reaches down into the valley until it is melted by the increasing warmth
of the lower levels. Thus a glacier is born. Unless whitened by recent
storms the glacier is bare of snow in summer with a rough uneven surface
of a dirty blue green color, partly covered with rocky debris, and its
volume diminishes downward by thawing until at a definite point the
whole is melted and flows away as a river of water instead of ice. The
lower end is sometimes called the “tongue” or “snout” or “foot” of the
glacier—a bad case of mixed metaphors.
[Illustration]
CREVASSE ON GREAT GLACIER
Remembering that ice is a hard and brittle solid, it comes as a surprise
to find that it can flow like a plastic body under the pull of gravity;
but this can be easily proved. A row of stakes or of metal plates put
across a glacier gradually gets out of line, the middle parts moving
fastest as in a river; but the motion is very slow, even in the middle,
seldom more than a few inches a day in our mountain glaciers, though
some of the great Alaskan and Greenland glaciers are reported to move
several feet a day and in one or two cases as much as 60 or 70 feet.
[Illustration]
MOULIN (IN MORNING BEFORE THAW BEGINS) ROBSON GLACIER
[Illustration]
MORAINE OF VICTORIA GLACIER
At a sudden descent, where a river would leap as a waterfall, a glacier
simply breaks across in what are called “CREVASSES,” fissures which may
be several feet wide and hundreds of feet long, going down to blue black
depths appalling to the inexperienced climber. As the glacier advances
these crevasse are bent out of shape and may be crossed by fresh
crevasses, splitting up the ice into wild lumps and pinnacles called
“SERACS.” Seen from a distance across some valley such an ice fall looks
like a cascade or a violent rapid covered with breakers. Below these
steep descents the crevasses and seracs disappear by the pressure of the
moving ice and the glacier becomes a solid mass again. Small glaciers
hanging from cliffs may send down avalanches of ice which combine to
make a lower glacier, the masses being welded together once more. It is
evident that one cause of glacier motion is the power which ice has to
break and then to freeze together again.
[Illustration]
GLACIER TABLE, NEAR TEN PEAKS, ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK
[Illustration]
LAKE AGNES, A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A CIRQUE LAKE
Since glaciers are often the easiest way up a mountain, climbing parties
make use of them, starting at dawn so as to have a long day and
following up the rough and rigid slope, zigzagging round crevasses and
avoiding regions of seracs. Toward the upper end there may be fresh snow
bridging the crevasses and the party should be roped together and travel
in single file, the leading guide thrusting his ice axe into the snow at
every step to make sure of safe going. A fall into a crevasse when
unroped may be fatal. Seventeen years ago, while climbing Mt. Gordon
north of lake Louise, Mr. C. S. Thompson slipped 60 feet into a crevasse
where he was wedged in between the narrowing walls. Dr. Collie was
lowered to rescue him, and he was finally pulled out by a glacier rope
fastened round his arms, but it was a narrow escape.
When the sun shines warmly on the glacier melting begins and water
trickles down the ice ridges, and towards afternoon torrents of pale
blue water are racing downwards in ice channels, here and there plunging
into a crevasse. This becomes hollowed into a tube like the penstock of
a water power and the foamy torrent springing into the blue chasm is
called a “moulin,” or mill. In this way the waters thawed from the
surface reach the bottom and there roar along through an ice tunnel to
the end of the glacier, bursting into daylight as a full fledged river.
Glacial streams are capricious. On a frosty morning scarcely any water
flows and one can go far into the ice cave, but in the late afternoon
there is a raging torrent loaded with mud and stones spreading into half
a dozen channels on the broad flood ground. On a rainy or snowy day when
the sun is hidden, the glacial river almost goes out of business, but
comes to life again when the clouds vanish and the sun shines. At those
heights with a clear sky the heat of the sun may be intense though it is
freezing a few feet away where some rock casts a shadow.
_The Work of Glaciers._
One of the most interesting points in a glacier is its carrying power.
Though it is in motion like a plastic substance it is solid and strong
enough to support any weight loaded upon it. Debris quarried by frost
from the mountain side buries its edge so that often one may walk 50
yards out before the ice can be seen. This fringe of broken rock carried
on the edge of the glacier is called a marginal moraine. When two
glaciers join, the marginal moraines between them unite to form a medial
moraine, and when several tributaries combine to make a large glacier
the dark lines of the medial moraines can be followed by the eye for
long distances upwards to rocky peaks rising out of the névé, the source
from which the train of rocks was derived.
Blocks even as large as cottages now and then roll down upon the ice and
are transported without trouble. Medium size blocks a few feet across
called “glacier tables” are left standing on pedestals of ice, as
thawing goes on all round them, since they protect the ice beneath from
the sun.
The whole mass of stony material is carried steadily onwards until the
end is reached where melting is complete and no more burdens can be
borne. Then a terminal moraine is piled up, a steep and rugged crescent
of loose blocks by no means easy to scramble over.
Work just as important is going on out of sight beneath the glacier,
where fragments of stone frozen into the bottom of the ice form tools
for gouging, carving and scouring the rocky floor, both tools and rocks
being ground up into the “rock flour” that makes the glacier streams so
milky and opaque. The ground up material mixed with stones of all shapes
and sizes without any assortment is left behind when the glacier thaws
as “boulder clay.” A little search in this clay shows stones with
polished and striated surfaces, well worn tools, often called “soled
boulders” and the rock surface beneath the boulder clay is seen to be
rounded, smoothed and grooved in a very striking way.
_The Retreat of Glaciers._
Our glaciers, like those of other countries, are now almost all in
retreat, either because the climate is slowly growing warmer so that
thawing goes on faster or because the snowfall is lessening so that the
névé fields no longer feed the glaciers as substantially as before. On
this account one can often see several terminal moraines down the valley
below the one now forming. The nearest to the present end of the ice is
almost bare, the next, a few hundred yards away, may have bushes growing
on it, and others a mile or two away may be covered with ancient forest.
For some years past the Vaux family of Philadelphia, two brothers and a
sister, all admirable photographers, have fixed the position of the end
of all accessible glaciers by marking points and directions on rocks
near by and by photographing the snout of the glacier. This work
determines their rate of advance or recession from year to year, and a
record of the results is published in the journal of the Alpine Club of
Canada and elsewhere.
[Illustration]
LAKE LOUISE AND VICTORIA GLACIER
Glaciers once filled all the mountain valleys and even pushed out
through the passes into the prairies and through the fiords to the sea,
for everywhere one finds boulder clay and moraines and valleys with U
shaped cross sections that can only be accounted for by glacial action
on a large scale. This work was done during the Ice Age, and one may
truly say that the higher mountains are still in the Glacial Period.
One of the most beautiful results of former ice action is to be found in
the “cirques,” half Kettle or arm chair valleys, high up among the
mountains overhanging the main valleys and enclosed by vertical cliffs
on all sides except in front. These are the deserted nests of cliff
glaciers, hollowed out by the ice itself and often deepened so that a
turquoise blue lake lies within rock rims. If not too high up these
cirque lakes are surrounded by evergreen forest, behind which rise the
gray or purple walls of rock with some snow in the ravines above, the
whole mirrored in the lake, until some catspaw of breeze shatters the
reflection. Lake Agnes in the mountains behind lake Louise is an easily
reached example of a cirque basin, and there are hundreds of others
scattered through the fastnesses of the mountains, all gems in their
way, many not yet seen by the eye of a white man. The higher cirque
lakes, above timberline, enclosed only by cliffs and snow, have an
austere beauty of their own, but lack the graces and the wild flowers of
their sisters below in the forest zone.
Often the walls of such valleys are leaped by streams from some melting
snowfield falling hundreds of feet and reaching the bottom as mere
threads of spray.
_Glaciers Reached by the Canadian Pacific_
There are very few parts of the world where fine glacial scenery can be
found so close to a great railway as in our mountain parks. If one stops
at lake Louise, in Rocky Mountains Park, the splendid Victoria glacier
is in view doubled by reflection in its waters, which get their
exquisite color from the last remaining particles of mud brought down by
the glacial stream. Two miles walk or ride along a good trail brings one
into its presence, and often great masses of ice may be seen avalanching
down from cliff glaciers above to the surface of the lower glacier. From
lake Louise as a centre one can reach the well named Paradise valley by
ten miles ride or drive over a good road and visit the fine Horseshoe
glacier at its head. The valley of the Ten Peaks farther to the
southeast requires a somewhat longer ride or drive, passing the splendid
front of Mt. Temple, the highest summit in sight from the railway
(11,626 feet). Moraine lake, eleven miles from lake Louise lies near the
entrance of the valley but farther up can be seen the great Wenkchemna
glacier, and several small glaciers lying between the Ten Peaks. Beyond
the Ten Peaks to the south there is a broad snowfield and glacier
leading over to Prospector’s valley and Vermilion pass, but for an
excursion of such length and difficulty one should be equipped for
serious climbing and have a light camp outfit.
From any high point west of lake Louise one can catch glimpses of a much
larger snowfield towards the north near Mts. Daly and Balfour, but the
glaciers flowing from it are not so easily reached as those to the south
of the railway.
There are glaciers in sight during most of the descent by rail from the
summit of the pass through the wild Kickinghorse valley to Field, in the
Yoho Park, from which the Yoho valley may be visited with Yoho glacier
at its head. Descending beyond this into the warm depths of the Columbia
valley the alpine type of scenery is lost for a time. As the railway
climbs laboriously westward out of the valley into the Selkirks, Glacier
Park is entered. Here the scenery grows more striking until at Rogers
pass one is once more surrounded by snow peaks—hidden, alas! too often
by the long snowshed. The five mile tunnel now being pierced to avoid
the heavy grades of the pass will cut out many a ravishing view of snow
peak and ice tongue; but a stay at Glacier, just beyond the pass, gives
an unrivalled chance to study a fine glacier with the least possible
trouble.
The Illecillewaet or Great glacier is only a mile and a half from
Glacier station and as its foot may be reached with very little
climbing, more travellers visit it than any other glacier in Canada. A
climb to Mt. Lookout just west of the glacier gives a magnificent view
over the Illecillewaet glacier and névé and over the grand mountains
surrounding it. This region was the first part of our snowy mountains to
be carefully explored and mapped by a skilful climber. The Rev. W.
Spotswood Green made Glacier his headquarters for this work in 1888 and
published his interesting book “Among the Selkirk Glaciers” in 1890.
[Illustration]
THE ILLECILLEWAET OR GREAT GLACIER, GLACIER PARK
There are still finer snowfields and glaciers in the little explored
region to the north around Mt. Sir Sandford, the highest point in the
range (11,634 feet), though these are out of reach for the present; but
any of the higher peaks near Glacier give a marvellous view over a
wilderness of snow and ice broken by cliffs too steep for snow to lie.
[Illustration]
CREVASSES, GLACIER SOUTHEAST OF TEN PEAKS
Some of the lower points of the Selkirks, just west of the Columbia
valley, not more than 7,000 or 8,000 feet in height, face the opposite
Rocky mountains with 100 or more glaciers in sight at once, the view
beyond the wide and deep valley sweeping 150 miles of the main chain on
its snowy western side. Unfortunately up to the present no path has been
made to such a lookout point, and the dense forest makes the ascent
difficult.
The greatest névé in Canada, so far as known, is the Columbia snowfield
covering 100 square miles and sending tongues of ice down into a dozen
valleys, but this is 80 miles northwest of Lake Louise and can only be
visited with a camp outfit and packtrain. Its northern limit will be
within new boundaries of Jasper Park and some day a good road will lead
through the mountains past this splendid glacier region from the Grand
Trunk Pacific to the Canadian Pacific opening up to the public the
finest glacial playground in Canada.
_The Robson Region._
The beauties of the Louise, Field and Glacier regions on the Canadian
Pacific are well known to the public and have been seen by thousands but
the exceedingly impressive glacial surroundings of Mt. Robson near the
Yellowhead Pass on the Grand Trunk Pacific have so far been little
visited. Mt. Robson, rising 13,087 feet above the sea, the highest point
in the Canadian Rockies, is invisible from the pass itself, hidden by
the nearer Rainbow mountains but bursts upon the view where Grand Forks
river enters the Fraser. Only a few miles away at the head of the low
valley its tremendous cliffs, mostly too steep for snow to lie, rise for
10,000 feet, crowned with a snowy pyramid. A trail leads up the Grand
Forks through the valley of a Thousand Falls where the main river
tumbles 1,500 feet in a wild canyon and reaches the rear side of Mount
Robson 5,700 feet above the sea. From some low mountains to the
northwest there is perhaps the most splendid view in North America of
mountains, glaciers and lakes. The blue seracs of the Tumbling glacier
seem to be rushing down thousands of feet from the Helmet and the main
peak of Robson to plunge into Berg lake, which doubles them by
reflection. To the left the main glacier, starting in great icefalls on
the northeast of the peak, sweeps a curve of five or six miles round the
dark rocks of the Rearguard. Behind the main glacier toward the south
rises the unbroken snow slope of Mt. Resplendent ending with a
projecting cornice of snow at 11,000 feet.
[Illustration]
CREVASSE, ROBSON GLACIER
The water coming from the ice caves of the main glacier flows chiefly
into Berg lake and the Grand Forks, but a smaller part reaches lake
Adophus and Smoky river, a tributary of the Mackenzie river, the same
glacier sending tribute to the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans.
There are other striking mountains in the region, such as Mt. Geikie to
the south of the Yellowhead pass and the Whitehorn to the north, though
none rival Mt. Robson itself; but much remains for exploration and it
will be years before this northern region of the Rockies, all the
Alberta side of which is in Jasper Park, is thoroughly known and mapped.
Trails are being rapidly built in the park, however, and with the
erection of hotels at Jasper and other points it will soon be possible
for the alpine climber and the tourist to find easy access to this
delightful region.
_Some Comparisons._
Much of the exploration of the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks has been
done by Englishmen and eastern Americans who received their training as
mountaineers in the Alps, and one naturally asks why they should travel
thousands of miles to our western mountains when the Alps are so much
more accessible. There is, of course, the charm of a virgin and
unexplored wilderness in our Rockies and Selkirks, so seductive to one
who loves adventure; but there are other attractions as well which make
our mountains fully the equal of the famous European range. Every type
of Alpine scenery is as well illustrated in Canada as in Switzerland and
the area of snow mountains in Alberta and British Columbia is several
times that of the Alps. The whole length of the Alps is less than 400
miles and its breadth from 50 to 80; as compared with a length of 1,200
miles and a breadth of 140 miles for the Rockies and Selkirks, not to
mention the Gold ranges, the Coast range and the Vancouver Island
mountains, all of which have their snow fields and glaciers. Stuttfield
and Collie in their delightful book “Climbs and Explorations in the
Canadian Rockies” say of the Rockies that “they have a remarkable
individuality and character in addition to special beauties of their own
which Switzerland cannot rival.”
[Illustration]
GLACIAL STREAM, MT. ROBSON, DIVIDING ITS WATERS BETWEEN THE PACIFIC
AND ARCTIC OCEANS
[Illustration]
ICE BRIDGE ON ILLECILLEWAET GLACIER
Though there are higher mountains in the Rockies of the United States,
they rise from a dry and lofty tableland and most of them have little
snow and no glaciers. But for the row of extinct volcanoes beginning
with Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Shasta, the United States has very
little truly alpine scenery except where our Rocky mountain ranges
extend for a degree or two south of the boundary. A great many of the
mountain climbers of the eastern states come to Alberta or British
Columbia when they want to use an ice axe or a glacier rope and most of
their experienced climbers are members of the Alpine Club of Canada.
Canadians themselves are often not aware of the splendid scenery and the
unsurpassed opportunities for climbing of all grades of difficulty
offered by their own mountains. There is no more exhilarating sport than
that of the mountaineer, and there is no more interesting region for the
geologist, the botanist or the zoologist than the grand ranges of
mountains that run parallel to the Pacific in our western territory.
While tourists from all over the world are being attracted more and more
to our glorious alpine region it is especially important that our own
people should seek a delightful holiday and gain health and vigor in our
mountain parks. As good roads and trails and cabins for shelter are
extended to the wilder and more impressive parts of the mountains it
becomes easier for the ordinary visitor to study the sublimities of
valleys, glaciers and mountain peaks once out of reach without an
expensive camp equipment.
A few good Swiss guides are available at the more important centres in
the mountains and the inexperienced climber should not undertake any
difficult glacier work nor bad rock climbing without the aid of a guide.
There is of course a wide range of less difficult walks and climbs that
brings one without risk into the heart of the mountains where one may
study the ways by which snowfields and glaciers and glacial rivers do
their work of shaping the mountains.
[Illustration]
A. P. Coleman in “The Canadian Rockies”
If one halts by chance anywhere on a mountain pass, all sorts of
thrilling things are going on around. Lovely flowers are opening eagerly
to the sun and wind of Spring—in mid August, with September snows just
at hand, a whole year’s work of blossom and seed to be accomplished
before the ten months’ winter Sleep begins. Bees are tumbling over them
intoxicated with honey and the joy of life while it is summer. Even the
humming-birds, with jewels on their breasts as if straight from the
tropics, are not afraid to skim up the mountain sides, poise over a
bunch of white heather, and pass with a flash from flower to flower. The
marmots with aldermanic vests are whistling and “making hay while the
sun shines,” and one may see their bundles of choice herbs spread on a
flat stone to dry, while the little striped gophers are busy too. Time
enough to rest in the winter.
Everything full of bustle and haste and of joy, what could be more
inspiring than the flowery meadows above tree-line when the warm sun
shines in the six weeks of summer! The full splendour and ecstacy of a
whole year’s life piled into six weeks after the snow has thawed and
before it falls again!
Higher up even the snow itself is alive with the red snow plant and the
black glacier flea, like the rest of the world making the most of
summer; and as you take your way across the snow to the mountain top,
what a wonderful world opens out! How strangely the world has been
built, bed after bed of limestone or slate or quartzite, pale grey or
pale green or dark red or purple, built into cathedrals or castles, or
crumpled like colored cloths from the rag-bag, squeezed together into
arches and troughs, into V’s and S’s and M’s ten miles long and two
miles high; or else sheets of rock twenty thousand feet thick have been
sliced into blocks and tilted up to play leap-frog with one another.
And then the sculpturing that is going on! One is right in the midst of
the workshop bustle where mountains are being carved into pinnacles,
magnificent cathedral doors that never open, towers that never had a
keeper—all being shaped before one’s eyes out of the mighty beds and
blocks of limestone and quartzite that were once the sea bottom. You can
watch the tools at work, the chisel and gouge, the file and the
sandpaper. All the workmen are hard at it this spring morning in August;
the quarryman Frost has been busy over night, as you hear from the
thunder of big blocks quarried from the cliffs across the valley; there
is a dazzling gleam on the moist, polished rock which craftsman Glacier
has just handed over to the daylight; and you can watch how recklessly
the waterfall is cutting its way down, slicing the great banks of rock
with canyons!
It is inspiring to visit the mountains any day in the year, but
especially so in the July and August springtime when a fresh start is
made, and plants, animals, patient glaciers, hustling torrents, roaring
rivers, shining lakes are all hard at work rough hewing or putting
finishing touches on an evernew world.
* * * * * *
“From the physical geographer’s point of view, every feature of the Alps
has its counterpart somewhere in the Rockies; folds and faults and
tilted strata are carved into an infinitude of shapes, including risky
peaks and aiguilles; snow and ice are present in every form, smooth and
easy or torn with blue crevasses and splintered into daring seracs.
There is every variety of stream at work, clear or muddy, gentle or
furious, including much larger rivers in much longer valleys than any in
the Alps. Small lakes are far more numerous and beautiful. Every element
of interest and beauty on the physical side is as well developed
somewhere in the Rockies as it is in the Alps but from my own
observation I may suggest that often the Alpine mountain group is better
posed, the picture better composed from the point of view of the
beholder, than in the Rockies. The reason for this is I believe, largely
one of area. The comparatively small mass of the Alps is more statuesque
and more easily seen from the proper point of view than any part of the
Cordilleran region, which sprawls over a hundred thousand square miles.
This seeming lack of focus and concentration of dramatic points seems to
me the greatest defect of the Rockies as compared with the Alps.
On the other hand, there is a cleanness and virginity, an exquisite
loneliness about many of the Rocky Mountain peaks and valleys that has a
peculiar charm. There is the feeling of having made a new discovery, of
having caught Nature unawares at her work of creation, as one turns off
from a scarcely-beaten route into one never trodden at all by the feet
of white men; and this experience may be had in a thousand valleys among
the Rockies.”
[Illustration]
Five Great Glaciers in the Canadian National Parks
By A. O. Wheeler
Director Alpine Club of Canada
_Yoho Glacier._
The Yoho glacier is situated at the head of the Yoho valley and is of
very spectacular appearance. It presents a magnificent cascade of broken
ice falling into the valley a long way below timber line and the forest
is seen thickly clothing the heights far above it.
The glacier is of the alpine type. It has its origin in the Wapta
icefield, a wide snow covered tract of ice with an area of some
twenty-five square miles, and affords one of the principal overflows
that maintain the yearly accumulation of snow on this great basin at a
constant level.
The glacier presents a splendid opportunity for study and observation.
It is readily accessible by the pony trails that traverse the valley and
can be reached in a day from either Emerald lake chalet or the Takakkaw
falls summer camp, to both of which places good driving roads are open
from the village of Field on the C.P.R. railway.
From glaciers at the summit of Balfour pass, lying some two and a half
miles east of Yoho glacier, Waves creek flows westward and is the main
source of Yoho river. Until recently the bed of Waves creek, a deep,
narrow rock canyon, lay, at its terminal point, beneath the icefall of
the Yoho glacier and there joined with the flow from it, reappearing at
the nose of the glacier as the Yoho river. As a result of this
combination, during the summer months, a very beautiful ice cave was
formed at the nose of the glacier, which was a source of much delight to
visitors. The ice, however, has been in retreat for many years and has
now gone back so far that the bed of Waves creek is quite clear of it
and the great ice arch formed yearly by its torrent is no longer seen.
In 1906, the Alpine Club of Canada, through the writer, began
observations and measurements of the flow and advance of retreat of the
ice. Such observations were carried on steadily, year by year, until
1919, when, owing to the ice tongue having shrunken very greatly and
having become much crevassed, they were discontinued.
During the period of twelve years it has been found by measurements from
marked rocks that the ice has receded 396 feet; also by means of metal
plates placed on the surface of the forefoot the movement of which was
annually measured, it was found that the mean average rate of surface
flow of the ice has been 3·3 inches per day for the period mentioned.
The Yoho glacier is but one half a dozen that flow from the Wapta
icefield, and the icefield itself one of many such wide snow-filled
basins that lie among the crest of the Main Range of the Rocky mountains
and culminate in the great Columbia icefield with an area of 110 square
miles of ice and snow, reaching out with numerous ramifications and many
magnificent ice-falls.
_Victoria Glacier._
The Victoria glacier is of the _alpine type_, that is, has its origin in
the snow that accumulates at the summit of the Abbot pass, and is fed by
snow and ice avalanching from the adjacent slopes of Mts. Lefroy and
Victoria.
It flows in a narrow channel between the precipitous sides of the two
mountains named, which is known as the death Trap, owing to the number
of avalanches that are precipitated from side to side directly across
its bed. It is wise to make the traverse of this part of the glacier
during the early morning hours before avalanches begin to fall. The
altitude of the pass is 9,588 feet above sea level. The snow covered
part of the glacier, or névé, below the pass lies at an altitude of
about 7,500 feet. The Lefroy glacier comes in as a tributary from the
southeast from below the cliffs of Mt. Lefroy.
The length of the Victoria glacier is about 2¾ miles. The Lefroy glacier
is about 1 mile in length. The combined glaciers flow down the valley.
The forefoot or tongue of the glacier is covered by a thick veneer of
rock detritus carried down by the flow of the ice and fallen from the
cliffs of Popes peak on the west side, and Mt. Aberdeen on the east. The
ice terminates at from 1½ to 2 miles from the end of lake Louise. Owing
to the close proximity of the glacier to Lake Louise Château, the C.P.R.
tourist hotel, and its easy access therefrom it is of great interest on
account of the many spectacular features it present and its unique
setting of cliffs and snow clad mountains. Particularly may be mentioned
the number of avalanches that thunder into Death Trap daily and the
exhibit of semi-circular markings, known as “Forbes dirt bands” seen on
the body of the ice opposite the junction with the Lefroy glacier.
The Victoria glacier has been steadily receding for many years.
Observations carried on by George and William S. Vaux, and later by Miss
Mary Vaux of Philadelphia (now Mrs. Charles Walcott), show that between
1898 and 1903 the glacier receded about 17 feet annually or about 85
feet for the 5 years. Subsequent measurements by Miss Vaux show that for
the year 1909 to 1912 the ice receded 43 feet. The amount of recession
is small compared with that of other glaciers, but a reason is found in
the fact that the whole ice forefoot is thickly covered with a veneer of
broken rock which protects it from the sun’s rays and reduces the
melting process to a minimum.
Of late years no measurements have been made for advance or retreat of
the ice but, as all the most prominent glaciers of the Canadian Rockies
are known to be receding, it is assumed that the same has been the case
with the Victoria glacier.
_Wenkchemna Glacier._
The Wenkchemna glacier lies at the northern base of the Ten Peaks in the
valley of Moraine lake. The name is of Sioux Indian origin, Signifying
ten, and was given to the glacier by Mr. S. E. S. Allen, an early
explorer, in relation to the Ten Peaks.
It is of the _piedmont type_ of glacier, that is, has its source from a
number of commensal streams of ice, fed by snow falling upon the eastern
slopes of the Ten Peaks. These independent streams descend to the valley
of Moraine lake and are so close to one another that when they reach the
floor of the valley they spread out laterally and join together, forming
a single glacier with a breadth of about three miles and a length of
from one-half to one mile. Its supply is maintained by the independent
ice streams referred to above. Glaciers so formed are known as the
“piedmont type.”
The Wenkchemna glacier lies at an altitude between 6,400 feet and 7,500
feet and the easternmost nose is about 400 feet higher than that of the
Victoria glacier.
No systematic observations of the Wenkchemna glacier have been made but
it has been visited and photographed several times by Messrs. William S.
and George Vaux, and Miss Vaux of Philadelphia. Their observations have
shown that the glacier has made an advance while all the other glaciers
in the district have been in retreat. In its advance, it has encroached
on the living forest and has crushed and thrown down the green timber.
Its advance is probably due to the fact that its surface is thickly
covered with broken rock, fallen from the precipitous sides of the Ten
Peaks, and the melting of the ice has been less than the accession it
receives from the ice streams that feed it.
In the absence of systematic observations and measurements it is not
known whether it is continuing to advance, is stationary or is in
retreat. Like the Victoria glacier it affords a feature of very great
interest for observation and scientific study, owing to its easy access
from Lake Louise Château and the summer camp for visitors which is
maintained at Moraine lake close to the glacier.
_Illecillewaet Glacier._
The Illecillewaet glacier is commonly referred to as the Great glacier
of the Selkirks, although it is by no means the largest one. It is,
however, one of the most spectacular, and is seen from Glacier House,
the C.P.R. Hotel near the railway summit of the range, falling some five
thousand feet from skyline of the icefield in which it has its source.
Seen from high up on the opposite mountain side, it presents a
bird’s-eye view that is unique and altogether entrancing.
The glacier is of the _alpine type_ and is fed by the overflow from the
Illecillewaet icefield, which contains an area of some ten square miles.
The icefall is of special interest, owing to the fact that it is
situated about one and a half miles from the hotel and is reached by a
delightful pony trail through primeval forest—forest presenting a most
picturesque setting of giant cedar, hemlock and spruce trees, and, at
their base, an impenetrable tangle of thick undergrowth, midst which the
many-spined devil’s club repels the would-be explorer by its poisonous
punctures. This barrier is of semi-tropical luxuriance and is justly
famous in the valleys of the Selkirks. It is, however, not without its
attractions, for the wonderful collection of ferns, the bright berries
of the devil’s club, the handsome white flowers of the wild rhododendron
and the luscious fruit of the huckleberry are most alluring.
There are two other special features for which the Illecillewaet glacier
is famous. One is the low altitude at which the nose of the ice-fall is
found, 4,800 feet, while timber line lies at 7,300 feet; consequently
the ice extends 2,500 feet down into the virgin forest. The other is the
immense terminal moraines, consisting of great blocks of rock weighing
hundreds of tons, which are seen across the valley below the glacier.
These moraines have been deposited by the ice many hundred years ago and
are now grown with huge trees and other forest growth. Owing to their
appearance and the frequent cave-like openings between blocks, they are
referred to by Dr. Sherzer, in his treatise on the subject, as “Bear Den
Moraines”. The ice has now retreated a long way from them.
Some years ago the Illecillewaet glacier presented a fine ice cave at
its snout which was much visited by tourists from Glacier House, but
owing to the continued retreat and shrinkage to which the icefall has
been subjected for many years, it is now a feature of the past.
Observations and measurements of the ice-fall were carried on during a
series of years by Messrs. Vaux and Miss Vaux (Mrs. Charles Walcott) of
Philadelphia, the results of which may be summarized as follows:
August 17th, 1898, the most advanced point of the ice forefoot was 60
feet from a deeply imbedded marked boulder. On July 24, 1906, it was 327
feet from the same boulder. On the 19th July, 1912, the ice was found to
have retreated 615 feet from the boulder. Since then the ice has receded
very considerably and the forefoot shrunken greatly in size and
spectacular appearances. Of late years the measurements do not seem to
have been continued and the distance from the boulder is not known to
the writer. The average maximum surface flow of the ice forefoot during
the periods 1898 to 1912 appears from the observations referred to above
to have been approximately five inches per day.
Directly above the icefall towers the Selkirk giant, Mt. Sir Donald,
10,808 feet above sea level, which furnishes one of the most attractive
climbs of the region for mountaineers. From its summit is seen a world
of snowy peaks, widespread icefields, tumbling glaciers and winding
silver streams in the depths of darkly forested valleys filled with
violet haze.
_Asulkan Glacier._
Tributary to the valley of the Illecillewaet glacier is the Asulkan
(Wild Goat) valley, which is, perhaps, the most beautiful specimen of a
mountain valley traversed by a rushing glacier torrent, that can be
found. On either hand are towering mountain slopes and precipices,
exalted rock ledges from which spectacular waterfalls leap from great
heights, overhanging snow crests which often send roaring avalanches
sweeping all before them into the valley below and far up the opposite
side.
At the head of the valley lies the Asulkan glacier. It is of the
_piedmont type_, created by three commensal streams of ice. According to
Dr. Sherzer, it is now in its second childhood. The piedmont
characteristics are disappearing and the glacier resolving itself into
the original glaciers of alpine type which gave rise to it.
It is easy of access from Glacier House, and of great interest to
observers. It has its chief source in the Asulkan icefield, which leads
to a snow crest or col, known as the Asulkan pass. On the opposite side
of the pass a steep descent brings one to the ice stream of the Geikie
glacier, the southern overflow of the Illecillewaet icefield. Beyond,
lies the steep icefall of the Dawson glacier and Mts. Dawson and Selwyn,
over 11,000 feet above sea level.
In the case of the Asulkan glacier, also, observations and measurements
were carried on by Messrs. Vaux and Miss Vaux.
On August 12, 1899, a rock in line with the farthest advanced ice of the
forefoot was marked. On August 8, 1900, the ice had receded 24 feet. On
August 6, 1901, the ice had advanced 36 feet. On July 23, 1906, the ice
was again in line with the rock; that is in the same position as in
1899.
Subsequent observations by Miss Vaux show that between August 20, 1909,
and July 27, 1912, the ice had retreated 259 feet from the marked rock.
During the interval the observations on August 9, 1911, show that the
ice had again advanced 51 feet. No measurements made since that date
have come to the knowledge of the writer.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes
--Some palpable typographical errors were corrected.
--Copyright and publisher’s information was included from the printed
copy: this eBook is public domain in the country of publication.
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