MOUNT RAINIER 



this wedge, each ensconced in a hollow inclosed more 

 or less completely by low ridges. By gradually de- 

 ploying each of these ice bodies has enlarged its site, 

 and thus the dividing ridges have been converted into 

 slender rock walls or cleavers. In many places they 

 have even been completely consumed and the ice 

 fields coalesce. The Van Trump Glacier is the most 

 extensive of these composite ice fields. The rapid 

 melting which it has suffered in the last decades, how- 

 ever, has gone far toward dismembering it ; already 

 several small ice strips are threatening to become 

 separated from the main body. 



In glacial times the Van Trump Glacier sent forth 

 at least six lobes, most of which converged farther 

 down in the narrow valleys traversing the attractive 

 alpine region now known as Van Trump Park. This 

 upland park owes its scenic charm largely to its mani- 

 fold glacial features and is diversified by cirques, can- 

 yons, lakelets, moraines, and waterfalls. 



In the foregoing descriptions the endeavor has been 

 to make clear how widely the glaciers of Mount Rainier 

 differ in character, in situation, and in size. They 

 are not to be conceived as mere ice tongues radiating 

 down the slopes of the volcano from an ice cap on its 

 crown. There is no ice cap, properly speaking, and 

 there has perhaps never been one at any time in the 

 mountain's history, not even during the glacial epochs. 



Several of the main ice streams head in the neves 

 gathering about the summit craters, but a larger num- 

 ber originate in profound amphitheaters carved in the 

 mountain's flanks, at levels fully 4,000 feet below the 

 summit. In the general distribution of the glaciers 

 the low temperatures prevailing at high altitudes have, 

 of course, been a controlling factor ; nevertheless in 

 many instances their influence has been outbalanced 

 by topographic features favoring local snow accumu- 

 lation and by the heavy snowfalls occurring on the 

 lower slopes. 



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