GLACIERS OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES AND SELKIRKS. 1 9 



CHAPTER II. 



VICTORIA GLACIER. 



i. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



THE VICTORIA GLACIER originates at Abbot's Pass, upon the crest of the 

 Great Continental Divide which separates British Columbia from Alberta, 

 flows due north for a mile between the precipitous walls of Mts. Victoria and 

 Lefroy, makes an abrupt turn to the northeast and pursues a straight course 

 for another two miles before wasting away in the Lake Louise Valley. The 

 collecting area at the Pass is much restricted and narrows down to 600 to 700 

 feet, where the rocky cliffs upon either side begin to frown at each other from 

 beneath the snow. These cliffs become higher and separate gradually, allowing 

 the glacier to broaden to about one-third of a mile as it approaches the bend in 

 its course. Rounding the nose of Mt. Lefroy the glacier receives its double 

 tributary from the southeast, attains its greatest breadth of one-half mile, 

 and for the last mile narrows regularly to its debris-covered nose. In this 

 lower third of its length it lies between Mt. Aberdeen (elevation 10,340 feet) 

 and Castle Crags upon the east and Mt. Whyte (9,776 feet) upon the west. A 

 general view of the lower two-thirds of the glacier, with the tributary entire, 

 is shown in plate iv, figure i, while plate iv, figure 2, shows the upper portion 

 and gives a lengthwise view of the tributary. 



A Watkin mountain aneroid was carried to the crest of the Pass, July 22, 

 1904, and gave an elevation, when corrected, of 9,370 feet above sea-level. The 

 more accurate methods of the Canadian Topographic Survey gave Wheeler 

 9,540 feet elevation for this same Pass, from which the descent through the 

 so-called "Death -Trap" is rapid, requiring the cutting of steps in the snow 

 when it is hard from freezing. Owing to the north-south direction of this part 

 of the valley and the height of the bounding cliffs, the sun has little direct 

 power and the glacier is permanently covered with snow which assumes a granu- 

 lar form, owing to the partial melting of the flakes, and constitutes the ne"ve". 

 This condition of the snow causes it to resemble granular tapioca and may be 

 seen in the snows which, in more southern latitudes, linger until late in the 

 spring. The ne"ve"-covered portion of the Victoria reaches an altitude of about 

 7,500 feet, or about 2,000 feet below the Pass, when, as the glacier turns to the 

 northeast, the ice makes its appearance through the snow. The line of separa- 

 tion between ice and snow, as seen at the surface, is irregular and uneven, 

 shifting with the season and from year to year. Winters of scanty snowfall, 

 followed by bright warm summers, will send the neVe" line up the glacier; while 

 winters of heavy snowfall and cool summers will cause this line to move toward 

 the nose. Plate v, figure 2, shows the upper third of the glacier, leading to the 

 Pass through the "trap, " and the ne"ve" line in the foreground, as it appeared in 

 July, 1904. Rounding Lefroy, the glacier descends rather abruptly some 400 

 to 500 feet, owing apparently to a sudden change in the inclination of its bed, 



