The Lillooet Icecap, also called the Lillooet Icefield or the Lillooet Crown, is a large icefield in the

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 , ...

of the Coast Mountains in southwestern

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 about northwest of the towns of Pemberton and Whistler, and about north of

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

. The Lillooet Icecap is one of the largest of several large icefields in the Pacific Ranges which are the largest temperate-latitude glacial fields in the world. At its maximum extent including its glacial tongues it measures east to west and north to south; its central icefield area is approximately in diameter. The Lillooet Icecap is the source of several major rivers which radiate out from it in a wheel pattern. The

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

is fed by the Lillooet Glacier on the icefield's southern flank and runs southeast via Pemberton to Harrison Lake. The

Bridge River The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...

is fed by the Bridge Glacier on the icefield's eastern flank and runs east to the town of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

. On the icefield's north side are the

Taseko River The Taseko River or Dasiqox in the original Chilcotin, is a tributary of British Columbia's Chilko River, a tributary of the Chilcotin River which joins the Fraser near the city of Williams Lake. The Taseko has its origins at Taylor Pass in ...

(a tributary of the Chilcotin River), the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

and Tchaikazan Rivers (tributaries of the Taseko), and the Edmond River which feeds

Chilko Lake Chilko may refer to: *Chilko River The Chilko River is a river in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from Chilko Lake to the Chilcotin River. Its main tributary is the Taseko River. Th ...

, the source of the

Chilko River The Chilko River is a river in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from Chilko Lake to the Chilcotin River. Its main tributary is the Taseko River. The Chilko is the Chilcotin River's ma ...

, which like the Taseko is a tributary of the Chilcotin River. On the west side of the icecap are the sources of the Southgate River runs to Waddington Harbour at the head of

Bute Inlet , image = Bute Inlet.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Strathcona RD, British Co ...

and shares a common delta with the

Homathko River The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...

, and the Toba River, which runs to Toba Inlet. The divide between the Lillooet and Southgate Rivers is on the southwestern flank of the icefield and is named Ring Pass. This was investigated for a possible route for the Canadian Pacific Railway but the survey party led by Stanley Smith was lost and never found. The Stanley Smith Glacier and Frank Smith Glacier in the central area of the Lillooet Icecap are named in their memory. Southwest of Ring Pass is the Compton Névé, another large icecap. The Lillooet Icecap and Compton Névé form one contiguous icemass, but because they are two distinct massifs of the lower elevation and active glacial movement in Ring Pass they have been customarily considered to be separate.

External links

Lillooet Icefield
Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia *
''Bridge Glacier Retreat Acceleration, BC, Canada'', GlacierChange blog
Glaciers of the Pacific Ranges Ice fields of British Columbia {{canada-glacier-stub

See also

External links