On th Rocks
July 2007

The Silent Language of the Peak
by Leopold Hayden Powell

Ice is the silent language of the peak;
And fire is the silent language of the star.
--Conrad Aiken,
And in the Human Heart. Sonnet 10, 1934

This has been a year of near normal snowfall and earlier than normal melting. Early July is the soonest that south and southwest aspects are accessible for hiking. Snow will still be lying in the forest trails. Later in the month is more typical for "Spring" to arrive in the Northern Selkirks. Sub-alpine buttercup, Sweet coltsfoot, and possibly glacier lilies are the only flowers out above the tree line. Map coverage of Glacier Park is on maps 82 N/3-6, from Natural Resources Canada. All of the trails end at the forest limit. From there, routes are determined by the hiker's tolerance for steep terrain. Take advantage of boot-worn tracks, but only the most direct one, even if it is the wetter choice. Otherwise, scatter your traffic, so that tracks will not extend and multiply. We have taken to carrying 150 meters of climbing rope and two runners and carabiners, as part of our off-trail trap. That equipment is not enough for climbing, but may get you out of trouble. Any ice or steep snow travel absolutely requires full mountaineering gear and training!

One of three outings may suit your curiosity. The easiest stays are on or near the Highway. Watch the cliffs and road cuts. The rapid abrupt change of banding and cleavage attitudes -- flat to steep, west to east, in less than a kilometer -- shows off the Selkirk Fan.

Touch a glacier, on a day hike up to the alps of Ursus Major Mountain, from the Balu Pass Trail. You can look west to the subtlety of The Lardeau Group -- dark phyllite and slate. That's the way it is -- mildly altered and mostly covered -- to where we see it as the Maitlen Formation and upper Addy Quartzite in the States. The crenulated battlements of Hammil Group -- quartzite and conglomerate, frame the view through Rogers Pass. The differing layers and higher metamorphic grade of the Windermere rocks create the sweeping, U-shaped valley of the Beaver River.

Take your pick of two possibilities up Asulkan Brook. Backpack to set up a camp near the junction with the Glacier Crest Trail. You might day hike the two trails, or ice climb a loop. Beyond the head of the Asulkan Brook is a trio of kettle ponds, left by stranded ice. A short snow field scramble leads to Asulkan Pass, and look down to the Incomapleaux River gravel fields. Spring melt floods the tarn lake below the Geikie Glacier. The flood carves moraine debris overloading the river, causing the channel to braid over transient bars. A bergschrund opens between Leda Peak and the Asulkan Glacier. Scramble up the ridge to the summit ice of Young's Peak. The view, to the south, is of two more horns, Mount Fox and The Witch Tower connected by an arÍte. A hanging glacier spouts waterfalls, in the northwest cwm of Mount Fox. Climb down the northeast snowfield, tracing its flow, into the Illecilewaet Icefield. The east edge drops away into the sweeping valley of the Beaver River. An energetic stream of the continental glacier cut away layers of Windermere rocks, which had been thrust up by the Beaver River Fault. More recent outlet glaciers clawed a rampart of cirques west from the fault. Late in warm seasons, the ice field is dotted with melt-water ponds. At other times, the melt pours to the base of the ice, through moulins. There may be spots to camp, near the lake, under Perley Rock. This lake was pro-glacial, extending out from the glacier about 200 meters, in 1994. Now the lake can be a measure of the glacier's retreat. The last leg is to weave among the lateral and recessional moraines, to gain the ridge of Glacier Crest and the trail down.

Way up there, in the very highest notes you may hear the song of moving ice.

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