Boyce Ridge is a 4.4-mile (7-km) ridge that extends westward from Taylor Ledge to the head of

Nimitz Glacier The Nimitz Glacier is an Antarctic glacier, long and wide, draining the area about west of the Vinson Massif and flowing southeast between the Sentinel Range and Bastien Range to enter Minnesota Glacier, in the central Ellsworth Mountains ...

Sentinel Range The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range trends NNW-SSE for about and is 24 to 48 km (15 to 30 mi) wide. Ma ...

Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minnesota ...

in Antarctica. The ridge adjoins the north flank of lower

Branscomb Glacier The Branscomb Glacier () is an Antarctic glacier, long, flowing west from the north-west side of Vinson Massif (the highest point in Antarctica) into Nimitz Glacier, in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. Its upper course receives i ...

. The feature was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) in 2006 after Joseph Boyce, a retired

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

manager who was instrumental in facilitating the U.S. meteorite program in partnership with

NSF NSF may stand for: Political organizations *National Socialist Front, a Swedish National Socialist party *NS-Frauenschaft, the women's wing of the former German Nazi party *National Students Federation, a leftist Pakistani students' political gr ...

and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

; a member of the

ANSMET ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) is a program funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation that looks for meteorites in the Transantarctic Mountains. This geographical area serves as a collection point for met ...

teams in the 2004–05, 2008–09, and 2012–13 field seasons. In 1997, French mountaineer, Jean-Marc Gryzka, was killed in a climbing accident on Boyce Ridge. While descending Boyce Ridge, the sleds used by Gryzka and his climbing partner Bernard Virelaude unexpectedly slipped and dragged them down the slope. They plummeted over a steep drop on the ridge where at its bottom, Gryzka hit his head on a rock, killing him instantly. Virelaude landed in snow and was uninjured (1) .

Location

Boyce Ridge is centred at . US mapping in 1961, updated in 1988.

Maps

Vinson Massif.
Scale 1:250 000 topographic map. Reston, Virginia: US Geological Survey, 1988.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly updated.

References

(1) Mountaineering in Antarctic: Ellsworth Mountains Climbing in the Frozen South. Damien Gildea 2010, Editions Nevicata, Bruxelles, France.
Boyce Ridge.
SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica. Ellsworth Mountains Ridges of Ellsworth Land {{EllsworthLand-geo-stub