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.
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.