Page:Canadian Alpine Journal I, 1.djvu/226

Rh south by the trough of the Kicking-Horse river and Bath creek, comprises the Waputik mountains along the Bow river, the President range along the Amiskwi river, and a high range of peaks, as yet without specific name, extending into the apex of the triangle. It contains approximately 400 square miles and nearly through its centre lies the line of the Continental watershed, attaining a maximum elevation of 10,731 feet above the sea in Mt. Balfour, situated near the centre of the tract.

The accumulated ice and snow collected in the interior basin, or series of basins, of this mountain area is named on Government maps the "Waputik Snowfield." This snow or icefield—the latter a more appropriate term, for the snow is but a shallow covering—is practically cut in two by Mts. Gordon and Olive and the ridges of which they form a part. The northern and larger part is the one with which we have to do at the present, and, for the sake of convenience, it is here spoken of as the "Wapta icefield." It has an area of approximately from twenty to twenty-five square miles, and is enclosed in a basin surrounded by Mts. Gordon, Olive, Thompson, Baker, Aysha peak, Mts. Collie, Habel and McArthur, Isolated and Yoho peaks, together with their connecting ridges.

In its turn, the icefield is divided into three principal component parts by lateral rock ridges having precipitous escarpments facing westerly and covered on the eastern sides by snow, where it has piled up in great mounds and slopes. The most western section drains to the Yoho valley, which opens southward from the centre of the tract, chiefly by the Habel glacier, the source of Twin Falls creek. There is also an outflow to the north, between Mts. Habel and Collie. The next section drains both north and south, but chiefly to the south, the iceshed lying close to the northern edge. It furnishes the supply for Yoho glacier, the