__NOTOC__ Peyto Glacier is situated in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, approximately northwest of the town of

Banff Banff may refer to: Canada * Banff, Alberta, a town in Alberta, Canada ** Banff Airport ** Banff station ** Banff National Park ** Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity ** Banff (provincial electoral district) (1905–1909; 1975–1979) ** ...

, and can be accessed from the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through Banff Nat ...

Geography

Peyto Glacier is an outflow glacier from the

Wapta Icefield The Wapta Icefield is a series of glaciers located on the Continental Divide of the Americas, Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, in Yoho National Park in the Can ...

, which rests along the

Continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. The glacier snout is subject to high melt rates from season to season and there is marked surface lowering on several parts of the glacier. Glacial

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

, which is carried from the glacier by streams, ensures a turquoise appearance to

Peyto Lake Peyto Lake ( ) is a glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The lake is near the Icefields Parkway. It was named for Bill Peyto, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area. The lake is formed in a valley of the W ...

, a popular touring destination. As is true for the vast majority of glaciers worldwide, Peyto Glacier has been retreating rapidly, especially since the last half of the 20th century, and has reportedly lost 70% of its mass since it was first researched (Demuth and Keller, 2006). Between 1896 and 1966, the total volume loss of the Peyto Glacier was 1088.5 million m³ (Wallace, 1995). A 1896's photograph by

Walter D. Wilcox Walter Dwight Wilcox (1869–1949) was an early explorer of the Canadian Rockies, especially in the Lake Louise region. Life Wilcox was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover (Class of 1889) and Yale University (1893). Walter Wilcox is known for ...

was the first record of this glacier, although the significant research did not start until 1965. In 1987, an automatic weather station was constructed near the glacier that monitors temperature changes, radiation and precipitation. Peyto Glacier provides the most direct access to

Peyto Hut The Peter and Catharine Whyte Hut, also known as the Peyto Hut, is an alpine hut located on the northern tip of the Wapta Icefield in Banff National Park. It is nicknamed the Peyto hut due to its proximity on the Peyto Glacier. The hut is main ...

, a base of both summer and winter mountaineering.

Geography

See also

References

Further reading