Berg Lake

British Columbia. Lake: Fraser River drainage
N of Mount Robson
53.1333 N 119.15 W — Map 83E/3 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1909 (Kinney)
Name officially adopted in 1923
Official in BCCanada
Berg Lake at foot of Mt. Robson. Named by Mr. Kinney. Photo: G. B. Kinney, 1908

Berg Lake at foot of Mt. Robson. Named by Mr. Kinney. Photo: G. B. Kinney, 1908
Canadian Alpine Journal 1909


Tumbling Glacier and Berg Lake N.W. face of Mt. Robson. Photo: A.L. Mumm, 1909

Tumbling Glacier and Berg Lake N.W. face of Mt. Robson. Photo: A.L. Mumm, 1909
Canadian Alpine Journal 1910

Regarding the expedition of Arthur Philomen Coleman [1852–1939] to climb Mount Robson in 1907, expedition member George R. B. Kinney [1872–1961] wrote:

I had said good-bye to my companions and alone started off in the storm to make my high camp. I crossed the gravel bed of the Robson Divide, then scrambled for another mile over the great rocks that strewed the shores of Berg Lake. The short day was nearly done by the time I had passed over the rock-strewn floor of the valley below the lake and bridged its turbulent river; then, for more than two thousand feet, I packed my load of blankets and instruments to a shelf on the cliffs, in mid air.

Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] explored the Mount Robson area with a large party in 1911:

From the elevated ice-field, fed by avalanching snows from the sides of Robson, a gigantic ice cascade tumbles down rock precipices and buries its nose in the waters of Berg Lake. At frequent intervals great chunks of ice break off with a report like cannon, and, bonding and rattling down the steep incline, plunge into the clear water of the lake. I have seen one of these enormous ice-blocks send a spout of water fully twenty feet into the air, while the waves caused by the upheaval wash to the farther shore. The incessant ice-falls soon fill the lake with floating blocks which drift hither and thither as the wind directs. Imagine a lake a mile-and-a-half long, three-quarters of a mile wide, of prefect turquoise-blue, filling the whole width of the valley floor, its surface dotted thickly with miniature icebergs, showing snow white against it.

References:

  • Kinney, George Rex Boyer [1872–1961]. “Mount Robson.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 2 (1909):10-16
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “The mountains of the Yellowhead Pass.” Alpine Journal, Vol. 26, No.198 (1912):382
  • Kinney, George Rex Boyer [1872–1961]. London, England: Royal Geographical Society Archives. Letter to Arthur Hinks (1917).
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