MOUNT RAINIER 



rock debris released by melting that the wind at times 

 whips it up into veritable dust storms. 



Beautifully regular moraines accompany the ice mass 

 on both sides, giving clear evidence of its recent shrinking. 



The partner of the Tahoma Glacier, known as the 

 South Tahoma Glacier, heads in a profound cirque 

 sculptured in the flanks of the great buttress that 

 culminates in Peak Success (14,150 feet). It is in- 

 teresting chiefly as an example of a cirque-born glacier, 

 nourished almost exclusively by direct snowfalls from 

 the clouds and by eddying {.winds. In spite of its po- 

 sition, exposed to the midday sun, it attains a length 

 of nearly 4 miles, a fact which impressively attests 

 the ampleness of its ice supply. 



In glacial times the glacier had a much greater vol- 

 ume and rose high enough to override the south half 

 of Glacier Island, as is clearly shown by the glacial 

 grooves and the scattered ice-worn bowlders on that 

 eminence. As the glacier shrank it continued for some 

 time to send a lobe through the gulch in the middle of 

 the island. Even now a portion of this lobe remains, 

 but it no longer connects with the Tahoma Glacier. 



An excellent nearby view of the lower cascades of the 

 South Tahoma Glacier may be had from the ice-scarred 

 rock platform west of Pyramid Rock. From that point, 

 as well as from the other heights of [Indian] Henrys 

 Hunting Ground, one may enjoy a panorama of ice and 

 rock such as is seen in only few places on this continent. 



East of the South Tahoma Glacier, heading against 

 a great cleaver that descends from Peak Success, lies 

 a triangular ice field, or interglacier, named Pyramid 

 Glacier. It covers a fairly smooth, gently sloping plat- 

 form underlain by a heavy lava bed, and breaking off 

 at its lower edge in precipitous, columnar cliffs. Into 

 this platform a profound but narrow box canyon has 

 been incised by an ice stream descending from the sum- 

 mit neves east of Peak Success. This is the Kautz 

 Glacier, an ice stream peculiar for its exceeding slender- 



238 



