Talk:Stikine Icecap

source of Stikine and Taku Rivers?

Uh, I'm not so sure about this:

An extremely large icefield, the icecap is a primary source for both the Taku and Stikine Rivers.

Nix, nay, not, zip. The Stikine is already a very large river long before it gets anywhere near this area, and only a few of its major tributaries come from the west/northwest; the Chutine River, though, is indeed very large and maybe the largest of the Stikine's right tributaries (I think the Iskut is larger). And the Yaku seems a long way north of this, as the Whiting River is in between; either the Stikine Icecap spans the Whiting River valley (doubtful) or it ends there. The Taku is also already large when the Inklin and Nakina meet and form it, and it has few tributaries from there on down, other than the Tulsequah which meets it virtually at its end/the boundary.

citation/name issue

Now, it also happens that "Stikine Icecap" does not occur in the BC naming system (I haven't check GeoNames database at the national level yet, though); but it was me who made the Bivouac.com article in the first place, so I must have had some reason to; but in many (many) cases on Bivouac. we jerry-rigged names when nothing else was possible; the admin (or me, it's been 4 years since I wrote it) may have lumped in the area between the Whiting and Taku - quote: "Includes the small icecap between the Whiting and Taku rivers"; I don't recall it being marked as such on USGS topos, but I don't have topozone access anymore since it's gone pay-for so can't check. Oh, one other thing - the Great Glacier link goes to some fictional glacier in some Dungeons&Dragons spinoff; so I'll disambig that to redlink Great Glacier (Stikine).....Skookum1 (talk) 03:28, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Nope, not in Canadian Geonames Database either - here's the results for "Stikine". Is there a USGS name-cite here, or is this a coined name? Something in the back of my head does say so, i.e. re Bivouac-invention; unless there's an Alaskan source?Skookum1 (talk) 03:31, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

No, it's not in USGS, I just used their query page, so this seems to be a bivouac-invented name and I don't think it's appropriate to use; bivouac is not an authoritative source and has too many coined names, often created by the site-owner's whim (one reason I left my overly-extensive volunteerism there). I had a look at the link to the Sumdum quad used as a reference here but it doesn't say anything about Stikine Icecap, which is not surprising since it's not in USGS and won't show up on a trails.com/USGS map anyway; also such links are now useless as you can't zoom out or examine them except at the close-up small window that comes up; there's no way to "back out" and see if "Stikien Icecap" is scrawled over the ice-mass; but I can tell you it's not. I'm gonna look around google for other citations on "Stikine Icecap" and "Stikine Icefield".....and I think some are quite likely to show up re the big iceifled in the angle of the Stikine and Iskut. If I can't find a citation I'm sorry but I can't live with bivouackisms, they're not appropriate, and will post a delete tag on this article. Please respond/discuss if you don't like this - or have a better cite.Skookum1 (talk) 03:39, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

OK, I found a few, and will automatically discount those I knew came into creation since the Bivouac.com article was created;

• photo/article in Alpinist magazine, Dec 1, 2002
• American Alpine Club Journal, 1980
  • Well, that's how it's filed, but I just read through it and it only names the Baird Glacier, Mount Burkett and the Devil's Thumb; the name "Stikine icecap" is nowhere to be found; so I'd blame this on post-facto post-bivouac naming; it does indicate that hte climbing community is accepting the usage; but does anyone else?
• image from azote.se image service "Stikine Icefield (Stikine Icecap" - again, likely generated/ caused by the bivouac designation.
• Jon Krakauer review, but once again the mention of a 1977 trip there doesn't say that that's what the Icecap was called then.....

That's on the second google page and I'm not interested in digging fruther; it does appear that this name has become current, but it is not official and the article should say so....I also think it's nuts that the name refers to two icefields, not one....and Chutine Peak, which is where I found this article through, is not in the icefield, but on the other side of Chutine Lake from it......Skookum1 (talk) 03:51, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Move/rename

OK back again (see previous section) - I just googled "Stikine Icefield" and 4,120 hits came up, compared with 1,400 for Stikine Icecap; nearly all US-side citations, but I'll keep on looking; but "official" citations, like US govt reports/agencies, ratehr than climbers' accounts/pics. So the thing to do, it seems, is to change this article name to Stikine Icefield and rewrite it a bit.....Skookum1 (talk) 04:09, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

You're probably right. The article mentions: "sometimes referred to as Stikine Icefield", but per your statement it seems to be the other way around. Black Tusk (talk) 03:33, 7 November 2008 (UTC)