When you hike in the alpine in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park, you will often encounter unbelievably hardy and sometimes mangled looking trees. Weathering high winds, freezing temperatures, deep snow and usually growing where most other things can't. These weather battered trees are called krummholz. Krummholz is a German derived word that comes from two words, krumm and holz.
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Ablation Zone Accumulation Zone Aiguille Alpine Zone Arête ARRTI The Barrier Bears Bench Bergschrund Bivouac Cairns Cirque Cloudraker Coast Mountains Deadfall Erratic The Fissile Fitzsimmons Range Garibaldi Ranges Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Gemel Green Lake Hoary Marmot Krummholz Mt Garibaldi Mt James Turner Northair Mine Nunatuk Overlord Peak2Peak Roundhouse Rubble Creek Spearhead Range The Table Usnea
Krumm means bent, crooked, twisted and holz means wood. The lodgepole pine is commonly found in the alpine regions around Whistler. There are many other types of trees that are known to form into bizarre krummholz trees, including spruce, mountain pine, balsam fir, subalpine fir and limber pine. The krummholz tree pictured here is on a cliff above Cirque Lake in the Callaghan Valley. A tremendously hostile place to live in the winter months, however, during the summer Cirque Lake is a tranquil paradise. Most krummholz trees you will see will be found growing out of a rocky landscape with just a thin layer of dirt. Often they have a short, yet very solid shape, pushing the bedrock apart as they grow. Other common krummholz trees form into a flag shape, where high winds have blasted the branches so they form on one side only. Regardless of the shape of krummholz trees, they always appear to have lived through brutal winters in improbable locations. This krummholz tree pictured below is growing out of a rocky island, one of the Battleship Islands in Garibaldi Lake, Garibaldi Provincial Park.
Below are examples of krummholz trees at Brew Lake, Garibaldi Lake and Brandywine Meadows. The Brew Lake krummholz on the bottom left is a great example of a twisted, mangled looking krummholz. The centre picture from Garibaldi Lake shows two, much older, weather battered krummholz trees at the shore of the lake. And the right side picture shows krummholz trees with the characteristic flag shape at Brandywine Meadows with Mount Garibaldi in the distance.
Ablation Zone Accumulation Zone Aiguille Alpine Zone Arête ARRTI The Barrier Bears Bench Bergschrund Bivouac Cairns Cirque Cloudraker Coast Mountains Deadfall Erratic The Fissile Fitzsimmons Range Garibaldi Ranges Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Gemel Green Lake Hoary Marmot Krummholz Mt Garibaldi Mt James Turner Northair Mine Nunatuk Overlord Peak2Peak Roundhouse Rubble Creek Spearhead Range The Table Usnea
Alexander Falls Ancient Cedars Black Tusk Blackcomb Mountain Brandywine Falls Brandywine Meadows Brew Lake Callaghan Lake Cheakamus Lake Cheakamus River Cirque Lake Flank Trail Garibaldi Lake Garibaldi Park Helm Creek Jane Lakes Joffre Lakes Keyhole Hot Springs Logger’s Lake Madeley Lake Meager Hot Springs Nairn Falls Newt Lake Panorama Ridge Parkhurst Ghost Town Rainbow Falls Rainbow Lake Ring Lake Russet Lake Sea to Sky Trail Skookumchuck Hot Springs Sloquet Hot Springs Mount Sproatt Taylor Meadows Train Wreck Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
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