Foggy Foggy Dew

The summit of Mt. Revelstoke is shrouded in white fog. We are up here to photograph the summer bloom of alpine flowers, at their prime in early August. A cup of hot tea helps pass the time as we wait for the fog to lift. If it doesn't, I will at least try to capture some of this beauty with a long exposure before we head back.

The Columbia Icefield

In the meantime a bit of interesting information on the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park. This Icefield is the largest ice sheet in the Rockies. It spans 325 sq km and is up to 350 meters thick. The Icefield feeds six glaciers that sprawl like tongues into the valleys below. Glaciers are continually being created at the top while their toes melt away at the bottom.

The Icefield straddles the continental divide and feeds four of the continents major river systems; the Columbia, Froser, Mackenzie and Sacketchewan. From the hydrological apex, meltwaters flow to three different oceans - west to the Pacific, East to Hudson Bay and the Atlantic, and north to the Arctic.

The Icefield was first explored in 1898 by Norman Collie and Herman Woolley. After their difficult climb to the top of Mt. Athabasca, Collie wrote:

"We stood on the edge of an immense ice-field which stretched mile upon mile before us like a rolling snow covered prairie. The peaks rising only here and there like rocky icelets from a frozen sea."