Or 
Or 
The Mountaineer 
born ice streams. Interglacier, on the contrary, must have 
impressed him by its relative insignificance. It is easy to see 
how his intimate acquaintance with these glaciers on the north- 
east side of the mountain influenced him in the formulating 
of his scheme. 
Had he been able to extend his investigations to the west 
side of the mountain, most probably he would have revised his 
views. He would have realized that the “Wedge” between the 
Winthrop and Emmons Glaciers is not really representative of 
the interglacier tracts on the other portions of the cone; indeed 
that it is merely an adventitious division point far down on 
the mountain flank, while the other great wedges all head high 
up, on the ancient crater rim, as they normally should on a 
voleano with the geological history of Mount Rainier. He 
would further have realized that on the extensive and deeply 
sculptured surfaces of such great wedges (as those culminating 
in Peak Success and Liberty Cap) there is abundant oppor: 
tunity for the generation of large glaciers. 
In Russell’s days the manner in which cirques act as catch- 
ment basins for windblown snow was but dimly understood, 
nor was the role played by the wind in distributing the snows 
on mountains of great altitude fully appreciated. Yet that 
such is the case we now positively know. The cirques and 
other hollows on a peak lke Mount Rainier fill with snow 
not as the result of simple vertical precipitation, but mainly 
through drifting under the influence of high winds. The ridges, 
between the hollows after every storm are quickly bared, while 
in the wind sheltered depressions the snows accumulate to great 
depths. It is herein that lies the secret of the remarkable 
capacity that cirques possess for the collecting of névé and 
the generating of glaciers. 
Had these things been clear to Russell, he never would have 
classed the Willis and Carbon Glaciers as primary, that is, as 
summit born glaciers. He classed them as such because he 
conceived them to be fed largely by avalanches from the sum- 
mit névés. That they receive such avalanches is true enough, 
but these accretions are not to be regarded as constituting the 
glaciers’ main source of supply. Large and imposing though 
the avalanches may seem, they probably are quite subordinate 
in volume to the snows gathered in the cirques by drifting. 
