For frequent visitors to Wells Gray Provincial Park, it’s not officially winter until Helmcken Falls forms an iconic “snow cone.”
A snow cone, also known as an ice cone, forms when water from the falls creates a wall of ice at the base – notably in the shape of an upside down snow cone. As more water falls, the cone grows – in years past as high as 50 metres up the canyon.
This week, photographer Ellen Monteith sent Black Press Media video of a cone taking shape at the falls, located on the Murtle River in the provincial park near Clearwater, B.C.
Surounded by thick snow and icicles, raging water is seen falling into the inside of the cone.
According to Tourism Wells Gray, the best time to see the cone is between January and March each year. By April and June, the 39 named waterfalls in the park are swollen with spring run off.
|Photo of Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park during February 2019. (Steve Cochran/Contributed)|