GLACIERS OF MOUNT RAINIER 



In the Rainier region the height of the storm clouds 

 is in large measure regulated by the relief of the Cas- 

 cade Range ; for it is really this cooling mountain bar- 

 rier that compels the moisture-laden winds from the 

 Pacific Ocean to condense and to discharge. It fol- 

 lows that the storm clouds are seldom much elevated 

 above the sky line of the Cascade Mountains ; they 

 cling, so to speak, to its crest and ridges, while the cone 

 of Mount Rainier towers high above them into serener 

 skies. Many a day may one look down from the sum- 

 mit, or even from a halfway point, such as Camp 

 Muir (10,062 feet), upon the upper surface of the 

 clouds. Like a layer of fleecy cotton they appear, 

 smothering the lower mountains and enveloping the 

 volcano's base. 



Clouds, it is true, are frequently seen gathering about 

 the mountain's crown, usually in the form of a circular 

 cap or hood, precursor of a general storm, but such 

 clouds yield but very little snow. 



No accurate measurements have been made of the 

 snowfall at the mountain's foot, but in the Nisqually 

 Valley, at Longmire Springs, the winter snows are 

 known often to exceed 20 feet in depth. The summer 

 heat at this low level (2,762 feet) is, of course, abun- 

 dantly able to remove all of it, at least by the end of 

 May. But higher up every thousand feet of elevation 

 suffices to prolong appreciably the life of the snowy 

 cover. In Paradise Park, for instance, at altitudes 

 between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, huge snowdrifts encum- 

 ber the flowering meadows until far into July. Above 

 an altitude of 6,000 feet permanent drifts and snow 

 fields survive in certain favored spots, while at the 

 7,ooo-foot level the snow line, properly speaking, is 

 reached. Above this line considerable snow remains 

 regularly from one winter to the next, and extensive 

 ice fields and glaciers exist even without protection 

 from the sun. 



It is between the 8,000 and 10,000 foot levels, how- 



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