The Ha-Iltzuk Icefield is an

icefield An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

in the central

Pacific Ranges , photo = Mount Garibaldi (50997016501).jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Mount Garibaldi massif as seen from Squamish , map = , map_image = South BC-NW USA-relief PacificRanges.png , m ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the

Alaska Panhandle Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

, with an area of .Bivouac.com - Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
/ref> It is located on the west side of the

Klinaklini River The Klinaklini River ( Kwak'wala name T̓linat̓łina also spelled ƛ̓inaƛ̓ina) is one of the major rivers of the Pacific Ranges section of the Coast Mountains in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Pantheon Range ...

and the

Waddington Range The Waddington Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is only about 4,000 km2 (1,545 sq mi) in area, relatively small in area within the expanse of the range, but it is t ...

. The highest summit in the icefield is

Mount Silverthrone Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, which is a mountain on the northeast edge of a circular, wide, deeply dissected

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

called the

Silverthrone Caldera The Silverthrone Caldera is a potentially active caldera complex in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located over northwest of the city of Vancouver and about west of Mount Waddington in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The cald ...

. The southern half of the icefield is named the

Silverthrone Glacier The Silverthrone Glacier is a glacier at the northwest head of Knight Inlet in southwestern British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the P ...

and flows west, joining the

Klinaklini Glacier The Klinaklini Glacier is a glacier west of the Klinaklini River and head of Knight Inlet the Coast Land District of British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the ...

just above that glacier's terminus, where its outflow is short but very large, and joins the

within a few kilometres. The Klinaklini Glacier constitutes the northern half of the icefield, and off its northwest edge a glacial tongue produces the head of the

Machmell River The Machmell River, also spelled Machmel River, is a river in the Pacific Ranges of the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. It flows west into Owikeno Lake Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other s ...

. The name Ha-Iltzuk Icefield does not appear in government gazettes. The term is almost certainly a phonetic spelling of hailtzaq - the

Heiltsuk The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...

language pronunciation for the term Heiltsuk.

References

Glaciers of the Pacific Ranges Ice fields of British Columbia {{canada-glacier-stub

See also

References