Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

Blue Glacier is on the north slope of Mount Olympus, inside Olympic National Park in Jefferson County, northwest Washington. The glacier sits at the head of the Hoh River drainage, west of Hurricane Ridge and east of the Pacific coast at La Push.

The glacier runs roughly two and a half miles in length from the accumulation basin of Snow Dome at about seventy-three hundred feet down through an icefall to a terminus near forty-two hundred feet. It is the largest of the eight named glaciers on Mount Olympus and one of the larger glaciers in the contiguous United States.

Mount Olympus rises to 7,980 feet (2,432 metres) and is the highest peak in the Olympic Mountains. It is not exceptionally tall by Cascade standards, but its position near the Pacific coast and the wettest forest in the lower forty-eight gives it heavy snowfall and large glaciers for its elevation.

Yes, by a long backcountry trip. The standard route is the Hoh River Trail from the Hoh Rain Forest visitor centre, about seventeen miles up to Glacier Meadows, then a mile and change up to the lateral moraine. The glacier itself is climbing terrain and requires rope, crampons, and crevasse experience.

Glacier ice scatters short-wavelength light and absorbs the longer wavelengths, so dense, well-compacted ice reads as blue to the eye. Blue Glacier's deep ice and clean late-summer exposures are an exceptionally clear example of the effect, which gave the glacier its name.

The University of Washington has measured Blue Glacier in the same place since 1957, one of the longest continuous glaciological monitoring programs in North America. The annual UW team remeasures mass balance, surface velocity, and terminus position each summer from a small camp on the lateral moraine.

Yes. The UW monitoring record shows substantial area and mass loss across the last seven decades, with a particularly steep loss since the early 2000s. The icefall has thinned, the terminus has pulled up the trough, and the Snow Dome accumulation zone has lost late-season exposed ice.

It has been a gift for many of our customers with ties to the Olympic Peninsula. The Blue Glacier route is held by Northwest climbers and by Hoh River regulars. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The piece sits well in Pacific Northwest modern, in alpine modern interiors, and in cool, light-toned rooms that lean toward stone and water. The blue-ice palette pairs with white oak, brushed nickel, pale concrete, and Hudson Bay wool.

Yes. Current alpine-modern direction favours art that names a specific peak or glacier rather than a generic mountain. A named glacier on the highest peak of the Olympic Range reads as place-anchored and pairs with the cool-tone wood and metal direction popular in Pacific Northwest interiors.

Above a standard sofa, the Large is the everyday choice. Above a wider sectional or a tall stairwell, a four-tile Mural is right; over a fireplace mantel running the full chimney, the nine-tile Mural carries. Above a console or in a hallway, a Medium or Triptych works.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish rather than Glossy. Both are scratch-resistant and tolerate humidity. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it does not fade in steam.

A microfibre cloth with water, or a microfibre with a mild non-abrasive cleaner. Avoid bleach, abrasive scrub, and acidic cleaners. The colour lives in the surface, beneath a thin glossy finish, and stays put with normal care.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original work by Reid Wender, hand-finished in the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The artwork is not licensed from any third party and is exclusive to Wender Studios.