A combination of energy crisis and dry weather pushed the d-word, drought, into an inordinate number of headlines this spring. The lack of hot weather through July may have allayed some fears, but then came August. The thin 2001 snowpack on the glaciers was consumed by the heat of mid-August. The remaining 2000 snowpack was exposed higher on the glacier, and lower the 1999 snowpack was exposed. By mid-September these two snow layers had also been largely removed.
For the first time in three years the terminus of Columbia Glacier
( pictured at right) was exposed, it thinned by 3 m during the latter part of
the summer. Yet, snowpack here was better than in 1992-94 or 1998.
The exception was the avalanche fans where accumulation was clearly less
than normal. We somehow managed to
forget our cookstove though we had fuel and had to cook dinner slowly over
driftwood. Kirk miles proved an
excellent fire tender.
On the Easton Glacier the snowline rose from 6000 feet at the start of August to 7200 feet by mid-September. The crevasses were everywhere, opened to view by the minimal snowpack, in general opening a month earlier than usual, and several months earlier than the previous two summers.
Ptarmigan Ridge largely deserted for 2 years due to the limited opening of the summit road and extensive snowpack on the trail even in September was back in form. The snowfields were tough, the snow by early August was mostly from 1999 and was closer to ice than snow. We spent the three days in a whiteout on the ridge, Sholes and Rainbow Glacier. Did not even see a ptarmigan. Rainbow Glacier, Mt. Baker was a crevasse maze. We use the crevasses to measure snow depth above the snowline, so this was helpful here, but below the snowline the glacier was difficult to navigate. The terminus had retreated 269 meters since 1984 and 30 meters since 1998.
The Cache Col Glacier near Cascade Pass featured its typical relatively uniform snowpack within the main cirque. The depth averaged only 1.5 meters instead of the usual 2.75 m and 4.-4.5 m in 1999. Gunsight Notch had limited cornice development indicating a lack of avalanching in this area as well. Large avalanches off the Upper Johannesburg Glacier showered the reconstituted glacier below the trailhead at Cascade Pass. Yes, that avalanche pile is a glacier, crevasses and all. Another campground was closed this season, Mineral Park. This leaves very little official camping available along the Cascade River Road. Just what is the Forest Service thinking, when use is going up, to continue to reduce campsites?
It took five years to work up the courage to return up the
climbers trail to Colonial Peak-Snowfield Peak.
The hike from Pyramid Lake up the 3500 foot three mile tangle is that
tough. From past experience we did
not lose the trail, but is was not exactly self-evident either. We started at 6 AM to avoid the heat and avid flies that wake
at 9-10 AM. By 10:00 we
had reached the last section of traverse above the brush.
We rested for an hour before crossing the last talus.
Arriving in camp Kirk and Mauri collapsed for the better part of the
afternoon, while Paula enjoyed the lack of any load and strolled nearly to the
summit of 
Colonial
Peak. Camping at the end of the Colonial Glacier we had a
magnificent view north along Ross Lake to Hozomeen.
The lake at the end of the Colonial Glacier (pictured at left) is growing
and the glacier now features an extensive 5-20 foot high ice cliff. This glacier is dying a slow death. The velocity is down to 1-2
meters/ year. The Neve-Ladder Creek
Glacier complex is huge. From the
one square mile 6600-8200 foot high accumulation zone on the north side of
Snowfield Peak the glacier flows down into a pass.
The Neve Glacier turns east for 1 and ½ miles ending at 5400 feet.
The terminus is in a bowl that is covered by avalanches.
Thus, the terminus is retreating very slowly and is mainly just thinning.
The Ladder Creek Glacier turns west at the divide and descends for ¾
mile ending at 5400 feet. This much
steeper terminus ended its advance in the mid-1980’s.
The retreat has been slow, with just 35 m of retreat since 1996.
The
compelling feature of this area is having all three of the glacier behavior
types exhibited on one mountain massif. Observation
of the terminus behavior of 38 North Cascade glaciers since 1890 illustrates
three different types of glacier response 1) Continuous retreat from the Little
Ice Age advanced positions, from 1890 to approximately 1950, followed by a
period of advance from 1950-1976, and then retreat since 1976, Like the Ladder
Creek Glacier. 2) Rapid retreat from 1890 to approximately 1950, slow
retreat or
equilibrium from 1950-1976, and moderate to rapid retreat since 1976,
as is the case with the Neve Glacier.
3) Continuous retreat from 1890 LIA to the present, note the Colonial
Glacier. We did not set up our tent
here and instead admired the stars each night.
A
quick visit to Mt. Watson, fly-mosquito capital for this summer, showed little
change in this small glacier clinging to Mt. Watson’s north slope.
The glacier has annual layering evident as thin continuous dark lines in
the blue ice. We counted a maximum
of 37, indicating that the entire glacier is composed of ice 40 years or less in
age. This glacier will lose all of
its snowpack by the end of the melt season.
The
drive to Mt. Daniels featured a burned out pickup truck delay, too heavy a
trailer in two, and a lightning storm that started the Icicle Creek fire.
Mt. Daniels was dry, even for mosquitoes.
The Ice Worm Glacier had no 2001 snow left by
mid-August. On the summit of
Daniels we watched a group of falcons display their talents.
The Lynch and Daniels Glacier also had a poor snowpack. 
Demonstrating that the 2001 season snowpack greatest
reductions from normal were east of the divide and at higher elevations.
While marching up the Daniels Glacier I ran into Pack and Paddle reader
and Washington Online Weather provider Michael Fagin.
After discussing the intemperate weather he mentioned that he had seen
Ann Marshall in the valley below the previous day, a true convergence.
We
also mapped the surface elevation of the glaciers comparing them to the USGS
maps. Table 1 lists an example from
Columbia Glacier. The glacier has
thinned considerably averaging m but most appreciably at the terminus. This glacier is thick averaging close to 75 meters, so it is
a long way from melting away.
Table
1. The changes in surface elevation
and thickness along the centerline of the Columiba Glacier from 1958 to 2001.
|
Distance from Benchmark location |
1958 |
2001 |
Change |
|
300 meters |
4930 feet |
4895 feet |
-35 feet |
|
600 meters |
5120 |
5075 |
-45 |
|
900 meters |
5260 |
5200 |
-60 |
|
1200 meters |
5330 |
5275 |
-55 |
|
1500 meters |
5480 |
5400 |
-80 |
There
was a statement in the North Cascades Challenger newspaper that” with a 2
degree C warming 90% of the North Cascade glaciers would likely disappear in the
next 40 years. From the above we can see that this is not true.
First of all it has warmed up 2 degree since the Little Ice Age and not
where near 90% of the glaciers disappeared.
In the last 20 years of the 107 glaciers we watch 4 have melted away.
This is indication of the significance of the warmth, but a far cry from
a trend toward 90%. Secondly even
if 90% would melt away, it would happen slowly.
Glaciers like the Whitechuck, Colonial and South Cascade are still
adjusting to the post Little Ice Age warm conditions, and after a century of
retreat, are still a long way from fully melting away.
Our glaciers are shrinking, but they do not shrink as fast as the
Challenger feared or as slowly as many of us wish.
We returned to Easton Glacier on October 8 and 9 found the snowpack
building up on the glacier, the melt season ending on the 6th.
The stream was nearly dry coming out of the Easton Glacier, there was no
snow left below 7300 feet. There
was certainly no need for a bridge on the St. Paul trail.
Based on the dry streambed of the Easton Glacier, we decided to ascend
the riverbed of the Deming Glacier outflow.
The weather was the same as the day before, but the stream was still
large to our chagrin.
We tried wading an thrashing our way, but the going was too slow.
We did find an exceptional waterfall halfway to the glacier, but this had
taken 2 hours to reach and we had to turn back.
October is off to a good start in terms of snowfall in the North
Cascades, and it is needed to replenish the losses from the past year.