The Mountaineer 53 
a length of slightly over four and one-half miles. Its front 
reaches down to a level of 4,600 feet, the same level reached by 
the much greater Tahoma Glacier. The reasons for this anoma- 
lous state of things will be made clear on another page. 
The snout of the Puyallup Glacier affords many points of 
interest. In the last half mile of its course the glacier de- 
scribes a beautiful curve flanked by precipitous cliffs which 
it evidently has undercut. Just above the bend it splits upon 
a diminutive wedge, the little lobe thus separated hanging 
like a triangular tongue down a steep slope. Evidently the 
glacier before it had receded to its present position, used to 
easeade over the little wedge as a solid stream, filling the 
capacious amphitheater below that marks the head of the 
Puyallup Valley. 
Edmunds Glacier. This ice stream is the shortest of the 
series of eleven main glaciers of Mount Rainier. It les on the 
west flank between the Puyallup and Willis Glaciers, and par- 
takes of the characteristics of both of these ice bodies. Like 
the Willis Glacier it originates in a shallow cirque at an eleva- 
tion of about 11,000 feet. This cirque is fed by direct precipi- 
tation, by drifting and by avalanches from the steep rocky 
flanks of the Liberty Cap massif. In addition the glacier re- 
ceives, as stated before, considerable contributions from the 
Puyallup Glacier. 
About a mile and a half above its terminus the Edmunds 
Glacier splits on a narrow moraine covered ridge. The north 
lobe, which is the shorter of the two, is of interest principally 
for the strong morainic ridges that parallel it. The south or 
main lobe carries a great deal of debris, only a narrow lane of 
clear ice extending between the ever broadening moraine bands 
on the sides. The south edge of the glacier is shielded by a 
long and high cliff of columnar basalt, aptly termed the colon- 
nade. 
The total length of the Edmunds Glacier is three miles; its 
average width some 2,000 feet. It reaches down to an elevation 
of 4,400 feet. 
Nameless Interglacier. On the broad platform between the 
Edmunds and the Willis Glacier lies a great névé field one and 
one-half miles long and about a mile wide. At an altitude of 8,200 
feet it splits on a narrow crest, sending a small portion of its 
