NOTE ON THE HEIGHT OF MOUNT SAINT ELIAS 
BY 
PROFESSOR ISRAEL C. RUSSELL 
Owing to the wide variations in the reported height of mount 
Saint Elias, it has been facetiously remarked that the mountain 
must be undergoing remarkable changes. Now that the accu- 
rate measurements of Messrs MeGrath and Turner, of the United 
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, have furnished reliable data 
for comparison, it is important to note that the height of the peak 
probably does vary, and that future measurements, although as 
refined as those just mentioned, may not agree with them. 
At first glance it might be thought that the snow falling on a 
lofty range would be blown off from the ridges and peaks and 
accumulated to a great thickness only in the depressions. It is 
now known, however, from abundant observations that this is 
not the case, but instead drifts form in a peculiar manner on 
even the most exposed summits, so as to materially increase their 
height. As I have previously attempted to describe,* the drifts 
on mountain peaks frequently have the form of a sharp pyramid, 
set eccentrically on their summits. This is the case on mount 
Saint Elias. The snow pyramid which gives the mountain its 
exceedingly sharp tip is certainly not less than 200 feet high, 
and 1 should not be surprised if, when the top is reached, the 
snow would be found to be 300 or 400 feet deep. The height of 
the pyramid depends on the snowfall, on the direction and force 
of the wind, on eddies in the air currents caused by the shape of 
the summit, and onavalanches. Every storm remodels the pyra- 
mid in the same manner that snow-drifts at lower elevations 
change their shapes, and the great avalanches which start from 
its northern face must affect its height. Still the resulting form, 
so far as is known, is always an unsymmetrical pyramid, with its 
steepest slope to the north. Changes in the height of the pyra- 
* Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. ili, 1891, p. 143. 
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