MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK
THE GIANT RIVERS OF ICE
VERY winter the moisture-laden winds from the
Pacific, suddenly cooled against its summit, deposit upon Rainier's top
and sides enormous snows. These, settling in the mile-wide crater which
was left after a great explosion in some prehistoric age carried away
perhaps two thousand feet of the volcano's former height, press with
overwhelming weight down the mountain's sloping sides.
Thus are born the glaciers, for the snow under its
own pressure quickly hardens into ice. Through twenty-eight valleys
self-carved in the solid rock flow these rivers of ice, now turning, as
rivers of water turn, to avoid the harder rock strata, now roaring over
precipices like congealed waterfalls, now rippling, like water
currents, over rough bottoms, pushing, pouring relentlessly on until
they reach those parts of their courses where warmer air turns them into
rivers of water.
There are forty-eight square miles of these
glaciers.
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LOOKING INTO A GREAT CREVASSE IN THE STEVENS GLACIER
Crevasses are caused by the swifter motion of the middle than the sides.
This ice is 1,000 feet deep Photograph by Curtis & Miller
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SNOUT OF NISQUALLY GLACIER WHERE THE NISQUALLY RIVER BEGINS
The melting begins miles up under the ice. Every glacier like the
Nisqually ends in an ice cave Photograph by Curtis & Miller
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CLOSE TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT RAINIER Photograph by Curtis & Miller
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LEAVING CAMP OF THE CLOUDS FOR THE SUMMIT
Nearly every day parties start for the long hard tramp up the glaciers
to Columbia Crest. The climbers must dress warmly, paint their faces and
hands to protect the skin from sunburn, and eat sparingly. Dark glasses
must be worn. None but the hardy mountain climbers attempt this arduous
tramp Photograph by Curtis & Miller
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yard1/mora2.htm
Last Updated: 30-Oct-2009
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