The Kautz Glacier is a narrow

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

on the southern flank of

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. Named for

August Kautz August Valentine Kautz (January 5, 1828 – September 4, 1895) was a German-American officer. He served in the Rogue River Wars and Puget Sound War. He served as a general in the Union cavalry during the American Civil War. He was the author of s ...

, who is sometimes credited for the first ascent of Mount Rainier, covers and contains 7.8 billion ft³ (221 million m³) of ice. Upper Kautz Glacier extends south from the summit ice cap to Kautz Ice Cliff at about . Immediately west of the main ice cliff, the glacier continues down Kautz Chute which terminates in another ice cliff just above the lower Kautz Glacier at . Usually reached by a short descent from Camp Hazard at on Wapowety Cleaver, climbers following the Kautz Glacier climbing route ascend this chute to the upper glacier. Starting from the Kautz Glacier Headwall at about , the lower glacier flows generally south-southwest between the Kautz and the Wapowety Cleaver. Just before it meets the

Success Glacier The Success Glacier is a small glacier located on the southwestern slopes of Mount Rainier in State of Washington, Washington. It covers and contains 500 million cubic ft (14 million m3) of ice. The glacier is bounded to the northwest by the Suc ...

, the Kautz makes a right turn and heads west for a short distance. After the two glaciers meet, the resultant glacier reaches down to about before terminating. Meltwater from the glacier drains into

Kautz Creek Falls Kautz Creek Falls is a waterfall on Kautz Creek in the Mount Rainier National Park in the state of Washington. It was formed when the Kautz Glacier retreated in the last 50 years, creating a series of long and slender cascades totaling about i ...

and into

Kautz Creek Kautz Creek is a tributary of the Nisqually River, flowing from the Kautz Glacier, with its watershed in the Mount Rainier National Park of Washington. It drains southwest from Mount Rainier for about before it joins the Nisqually River near Mo ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Nisqually River The Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southeast of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of ...

Debris flows

The glacier is one of four on Mount Rainier that are known to have released debris flows. Similar flows have stemmed from the

Nisqually Nisqually, Niskwalli, or Nisqualli may refer to: People * Nisqually people, a Coast Salish ethnic group * Nisqually Indian Tribe of the Nisqually Reservation, federally recognized tribe ** Nisqually Indian Reservation, the tribe's reservation in ...

, Winthrop, and South Tahoma glaciers as well. The glacier released a particularly large mudflow on October 2–3, 1947, when heavy rains melted and eroded the lower part of the glacier. The meltwater transformed into a 14 billion ft³ (40 million m³) mudflow replete with large boulders up to 13 feet (4 m) in diameter. The flow buried Highway 706 in 28 feet (9 m) of sediment and watery debris. Deposits from the 1947 mudflow can still be seen today. Smaller flows occurred in the years 1961, 1985 and 1986.

References

{{Authority control Glaciers of Mount Rainier Glaciers of Washington (state)

Debris flows

See also

References