The glacier is of the alpine type. It has its origin in the Wapta icefield, a wide snow covered tract of ice with an area of some twenty-five square miles, and affords one of the principal overflows that maintain the yearly accumulation of snow on this great basin at a constant level.
The glacier presents a splendid opportunity for study and observation. It is readily accessible by the pony trails that traverse the valley and can be reached in a day from either Emerald lake chalet or the Takakkaw falls summer camp, to both of which places good driving roads are open from the village of Field on the C.P.R. railway.
From glaciers at the summit of Balfour pass, lying some two and a half miles east of Yoho glacier, Waves creek flows westward and is the main source of Yoho river. Until recently the bed of Waves creek, a deep, narrow rock canyon, lay, at its terminal point, beneath the icefall of the Yoho glacier and there joined with the flow from it, reappearing at the nose of the glacier as the Yoho river. As a result of this combination, during the summer months, a very beautiful ice cave was formed at the nose of the glacier, which was a source of much delight to visitors. The ice, however, has been in retreat for many years and has now gone back so far that the bed of Waves creek is quite clear of it and the great ice arch formed yearly by its torrent is no longer seen.
In 1906, the Alpine Club of Canada, through the writer, began observations and measurements of the flow and advance of retreat of the ice. Such observations were carried on steadily, year by year, until 1919, when, owing to the ice tongue having shrunken very greatly and having become much crevassed, they were discontinued.
During the period of twelve years it has been found by measurements from marked rocks that the ice has receded 396 feet; also by means of metal plates placed on the surface of the forefoot the movement of which was annually measured, it was found that the mean average rate of surface flow of the ice has been 3·3 inches per day for the period mentioned.
The Yoho glacier is but one half a dozen that flow from the Wapta icefield, and the icefield itself one of many such wide snow-filled basins that lie among the crest of the Main Range of the Rocky mountains and culminate in the great Columbia icefield with an area of 110 square miles of ice and snow, reaching out with numerous ramifications and many magnificent ice-falls.
Victoria Glacier.
The Victoria glacier is of the alpine type, that is, has its origin in the snow that accumulates at the summit of the Abbot pass, and is fed by snow and ice avalanching from the adjacent slopes of Mts. Lefroy and Victoria.
It flows in a narrow channel between the precipitous sides of the two mountains named, which is known as the death Trap, owing to the number of avalanches that are precipitated from side to side directly across its bed. It is wise to make the traverse of this part of the glacier during the early morning hours before avalanches begin to fall. The altitude of the pass is 9,588 feet above sea level. The snow covered part of the glacier, or névé, below the pass lies at an altitude of about 7,500 feet. The Lefroy glacier comes in as a tributary from the southeast from below the cliffs of Mt. Lefroy.
The length of the Victoria glacier is about 2¾ miles. The Lefroy glacier is about 1 mile in length. The combined glaciers flow down the valley. The forefoot or tongue of the glacier is covered by a thick veneer of rock detritus carried down by the flow of the ice and fallen from the cliffs of Popes peak on the west side, and Mt. Aberdeen on the east. The ice terminates at from 1½ to 2 miles from the end of lake Louise. Owing to the close proximity of the glacier to Lake Louise Château, the C.P.R. tourist hotel, and its easy access therefrom it is of great interest on account of the many spectacular features it present and its unique setting of cliffs and snow clad mountains. Particularly may be mentioned the number of avalanches that thunder into Death Trap daily and the exhibit of semi-circular markings, known as “Forbes dirt bands” seen on the body of the ice opposite the junction with the Lefroy glacier.