THE PELLY MOUNTAINS 199 



the appearance of the outer range as observed from the 

 Pelly River. 



Once inside the outside range, they present an entirely 

 different appearance, and it becomes clear that the 

 denudation has not reached such an advanced stage. 



The Pelly Mountains may be somewhat loosely defined 

 as a group extending from the valley of the upper Liard 

 in a north-west trend of crest outlines to the Orchay 

 River, where they swing westward toward the Rose River. 

 A gap of twenty miles of low ridges connects them with 

 the Glenlyons, which may be considered as an interrup- 

 ted continuation of the Pellys. 



The series of parallel ranges extends through a width 

 of from thirty to perhaps fifty miles, the peaks rising 

 above sea-level from five to eight thousand feet. 



They were formed by erosion from an uplifted plateau, 

 and although a general trend can be detected, the ranges 

 are so intersected by others, equally high, that it may be 

 more proper to call them a complex, rather than a well- 

 defined series. 



In appearance they are more similar to the Ogilvie 

 ranges than any other mountain group I have seen in 

 the north. But in general they are higher, bolder, more 

 irregular, and rougher; the valleys and canons are deeper, 

 the crests hold more snow during the summer, the rivers 

 draining them are larger in volume. 



Timber-line, about 4,500 feet, is higher, and willow 

 and dwarf-birch grow so much more densely on the lower 

 slopes that all the mountains are more difficult to climb 

 than those of the Ogilvies. Nature has carved the Pellys 



