TRAAIPS ACROSS GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 



469 



days — a rate of nearly a foot and three- 

 quarters per day. 



From later measurements of this gla- 

 cier by George and William S. \aux, 

 Jr., and the Canadian Topographical 

 Survey (1902), the average maximum 

 rate of how for several years is made 

 to be about 6 inches per day.* 



The Asulkan Glacier for 10 days in 

 1906 had an average daily motion of 6.7 

 inches, t 



We unanimously decided that the Gei- 

 kie Glacier was the finest we had seen in 

 the Selkirks. Longer there are and 

 greater, but for purity, variety of ice 

 formations, and general interest the Gei- 

 kie is unsurpassed. The stream descends 

 for two miles below the lUecillewaet 

 neve, reaching the extremely low altitude 

 of 4,200 feet. 



Not long after our day on the Geikie 

 Glacier we struck camp and packed the 

 outfit over Donkin Pass (8.600 feet), 

 the lowest notch in the Dawson Range 

 to the south. Crossing the boiling tor- 

 rent from the Bishops Glacier, 2,000 feet 

 l^elow the pass, we found a beautiful 

 camping spot on the westerly flanks of 

 the Bishops Range, and set up our tent 

 for a week's stay. 



BISHOPS GLACIER AND DEVILLE NEVE 



From here we made an interesting trip 

 ■over the glacier last mentioned to the 

 •divide and then down the icy slopes be- 

 yond to the Deville neve. This excellent 

 glacial pass forms one of the few well- 

 defined ways across the long rampart of 

 the Selkirks. though it is hardly practi- 

 cable for any but mountaineers. A sur- 

 vey party, while traversing it. in IQ02. 

 very nearly lost one of its members 

 through the breaking of a snow bridge. 

 Mr A. O. Wheeler writes of the incident 

 as follows : 



"We were descending the Mitre Gla- 

 cier (now known as the Bishops Glacier) 

 some distance from the sides, and were 

 threading our way among the crevasses, 

 when a shout behind caused the leaders 



* See "Selkirk Range," by A. O. Wheeler, p. 

 360. 



t Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. i, p. i47- 



to turn quickly around. No one was to 

 be seen. My assistant had apparently 

 vanished from the face of the earth. A 

 second shout drew attention to the brim 

 of a hat and an arm appearing above the 

 edge of a crevasse. He had broken 

 through the snow, fortunately catching 

 his ice-axe on the opposite edges of the 

 ice. The pit apparently led to the center 

 of gravity, for we could perceive no bot- 

 tom. It was a lucky escape."* 



The beautiful Deville snow-field lies 

 two miles south of the lUecillewaet neve, 

 severed from it by an ice-walled gap 

 called Glacier Circle. The two bear a 

 striking resemblance to each other. They 

 are of about the same area, both lie north 

 and south at the same elevation, and both 

 are buttressed on the east by a line of 

 small rock peaks which rise with great 

 regularity above the valley of the Beaver 

 River. The Deville neve, however, is 

 nourished by three large feeders, in this 

 respect differing from the lUecillewaet. 



BLACK GLACIER AND PURITY RANGE 



A second expedition from our Bishops 

 camp was made over the ridge of that 

 name to the south. In the valley beyond 

 a most interesting glacier is to be found 

 flowing parallel to the Bishops Glacier 

 in the same direction. But instead of 

 being a single stream, this glacier is the 

 product' of four magnificent confluents, 

 and, instead of having a uniformly white 

 surface, a series of high moraines is 

 freighteel along, one from each member. 

 For this reason it has been named the 

 Black Glacier, though rather inappropri- 

 ately, as a glance at the photographs will 

 show (pp. 472. 478. and 479). 



The panorama of this glacial basin as 

 viewed from the Bishops Range is one 

 of the most imposing to be found in the 

 Selkirks. It is as if a bit of arctic land- 

 scape had been carried south and dropped 

 down upon a rock-ribbed range far above 

 tree-line. 



The "Puritv Range" seems a fitting 

 name for the chain. Tts dominating peak 

 from this viewpoint is the glacier-draped 



* .\ppalachia, vol. X, p. 133. 



