It drains the northwest slopes of Mount Wexler and moves northward between steep canyon walls of the Separation Range and Hughes Range to join the ice shelf immediately west of Giovinco Ice Piedmont.

The glacier was observed from nearby Mount Patrick by the New Zealand Alpine Club Antarctic Expedition (1959–60) who gave the descriptive name.

[1] The Canyon Glacier rises to the north of the Pain Névé, below Mount Wexler in the Hughes Range to the east.

The Commonwealth Range is to the west, including Mount Hermanson and Gray Peak, which overlook the upper reaches.

At its mouth it passes the Nadeau Bluff and the Giovinco Ice Piedmont to the east and Mount Cope to its west.