Alpine glaciers are formed high up in the mountains in bowl-shaped hollows known as cirques. As the glacier grows, the ice slowly flows out of the cirque and into a valley. Many cirque glaciers can join together to form a single valley glacier. When valley glaciers flow out of the mountains, they spread out and join to form a piedmont glacier.
The ice in contact with the valley walls contains a lot of rock and sediment which makes the ice dark grey or brown. When several cirque glaciers merge into a single valley or piedmont glacier the ice has a striped appearance.
Alpine glaciers pluck and grind up rocks creating distinctive U-shaped valleys and sharp mountain peaks and ridges.
