Something AmissWe have all experienced moments when we thought the map was incorrect in some aspect. Today climbing in glaciated alpine ranges, often a map is incorrect necessitated by the retreat of a glacier. I remember my first experience climbing through the fog of a mountain whiteout to aptly named Pea Soup Gap on Mount Daniels. Peering through this gap we expected to find a glacier filling a basin, not the beautiful but uncrossable jade colored lake, pictured above right. Today ascending in a glaciated range you may encounter a new alpine lake formed where your map shows ice. An easy route up a glacier may be replaced by impossibly steep, smoothed slabs. A gentle glacier slope in the valley bottom, may now feature a steep canyon with a difficult to surmount waterfall. The classic guidebook route description no longer is accurate. Changes in these areas are outpacing our slow paper remapping process. Below are a few examples of changes not reflected on maps of the North Cascades and a sample from other regions. I hope you will help me expand the latter sections with further examples.
However, in 1976 the terminus of the glacier which spread out across a flat basin, with some evident water shown on the map, much like a moat around the edge of the glacier, began to break up. By 1978 the breakup was complete and Pea Soup Lake was born, albeit filled with large ice bergs. Passing through Lynch Gap you were now confronted by a 400 m wide deep alpine lake with cliffs along both shores to your left and right. Since 1985 the lake has turned from a pea green to a jade color as the glacier flour has been diluted. The lake still does not exist on the Mount Daniels Quadrangle. I have accessed the base of the glacier by a small raft, but unless the lake is ice covered there is no other practical means of reaching it. This is a small glacier that calves small ice chunks occassionally. This happened during our crossing giving us a good rocking in our little raft.
Mount Formidable: On the north side of Formidable is the Formidable Glacier which in 1980 flowed down to meet the Middle Cascade Glacier. This provided an access to the mountains north slopes. Today the Formidable and Middle Cascade Glacier have jointly shrunk to the point that 300 m of very steep, smooth, talus filling every crack, slabs separating the two. I have found on a number of occasions that the retreat up the sidewall of a glacier tongue provides the slope at the base an uncomfortable bombardment of rocks. This many of you have experienced I am sure.
White River Glacier:
Mount Hinman: In the Beckey guide Hinman Glacier is noted as the largest glacier between Rainier and Glacier Peak. On the map it is a gently sloping 1.4 mile long glacier on the northwest slope of Mount Hinman. In reality a skinny lake fills the former terminus area with steep slopes on either side. You can ascend the entire former length of the glacier near its center without touching ice. Only two small glacier fragments remain. The approach up the valley is not practical except when the lake is ice covered. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness has gained a new lake along with Pea Soup Lake. On the northeast face of Mount Hinman is Foss Glacier. This glacier covered almost the entire face of the mountain 30 years ago. Today the peak is beginning to resemble a Sierra Nevada Mountain, lots of bare rock and some snow and ice patches. North Cascade Glacier Climate Project
Pyrenees: Monte Perdido north side in 1910 featured a steep glacier climb. In fact you could ascend from the valley to the ridgeline almost entirely on glacier. The 1998 picture taken by Eduardo Blanchard shows a steep 55 degree 300 m cliff band exposed by the retreating ice. For those who like to stay off ice a route improvement.
Rhone Glacier has experienced a substantial retreat since 1850, retreating from the community of Gletsch more than 2 km. In the last decade a tributary feeding the Rhone Glacier in the center flowing in from the right has detached from The Rhone Glacier. This makes the climb that much more difficult. The image is provided by David Collins Unversity fo Salford.
Olympics: Anderson Glacier: The ascent of this glacier and the crossing of Flypaper Pass to reach the Eel Glacier used to be a relatively shore steep ascent. With the thinning of both glaciers the steep rubble filled chute on both side of this pass is not considerably longer. This same phenomenon is evident at the head of other retreating glaciers such as at Cache Col in the North Cascades.
Now it is your turn to provide examples, with evidentiary pictures and I will add them to this article.