GLACIERS OF MOUNT RAINIER 



that rises to an elevation of 11,117 f eet - I n i ts steep, 

 ice-carved walls one may trace ascending volcanic 

 strata aggregating 2,000 feet in thickness that point 

 upward to the place of their origin, the former sum- 

 mit of the mountain, which rose almost half a mile 

 higher than the present top. 



Nor is the great crater rim left by the explosion 

 that carried off the original summit preserved in its 

 entirety. Peak Success and Liberty Cap are the only 

 two promontories that give trustworthy indication of 

 its former height and strength. Probably they repre- 

 sent the more massive portions on the southwest and 

 northwest sides, respectively, while the weaker por- 

 tions to the east and south have long since crumbled 

 away under the heavy ice cascades that have been over- 

 riding them for ages. Only a few small rocky points 

 remain upon which the snows split in their descent. 

 The most prominent, as well as the most interesting, 

 is the one on the southeast side, popularly known as 

 Gibraltar Rock. Really a narrow, wedge-shaped mass, 

 it appears in profile like a massive, square-cut promon- 

 tory. The trail to the summit of the mountain passes 

 along its overhanging south face and then ascends by 

 a precipitous chute between ice and rock. It is this 

 part of the ascent that is reputed as the most precarious 

 and hazardous. 



From the rim points downward the ice cover of the 

 cone divides into a number of distinct stream-like 

 tongues or glaciers, each sunk in a great hollow path- 

 way of its own. Between these ice-worn trenches 

 the uneroded portions of the cone stand out in high 

 relief, forming as a rule huge triangular "wedges," 

 heading at the sharp rim points and spreading thence 

 downward to the mountain's base. There they as- 

 sume the aspect of more gently sloping, grassy table- 

 lands, the charming alpine meadows of which Para- 

 dise Park and Spray Park are the most famous. Sep- 

 arating these upland parks are the profound ice-cut 



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