What is the term for a glacier confined to a valley?

A glacier confined to a valley is called a valley glacier. It is a flowing body of ice whose movement and shape are constrained by the surrounding valley walls.

Valley glaciers usually form when snow accumulates in high mountain basins, compresses into dense ice, and begins moving under gravity. They may drain larger ice fields, ice caps, or ice sheets, but their flow follows the underlying topography rather than spreading freely in all directions.

As a valley glacier advances, it erodes and transports rock debris. This process widens and deepens the original river valley, often producing the characteristic U-shaped profile of glacial terrain. When the glacier retreats, it may leave moraines, lakes, hanging valleys, and other glacial features behind.

Valley glacier is a broader category than tidewater glacier. A tidewater glacier is defined by where it ends—in the sea—while a valley glacier is defined mainly by its confined form and setting. An ice cap covers a large mountainous area, and an ice sheet is much larger and obscures most of the landscape beneath it.