Posted on Sep 2, 2023
Rocketing boulders, dwindling streams: signs of WA's shriveling glaciers
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Zack McGill was guiding a group of climbers down from the icy summit of Washington’s Mount Baker when he saw something few have seen: torso-sized boulders rocketing down the mountain at about 40 miles an hour.
“They were gaining enough speed on the bare ice to bounce high in the air and clear the large crevasses at the base of the Roman Wall and continue down the Deming [Glacier],” said McGill, a mountain guide with Cascade Mountain Ascents in Bellingham, by email.
McGill said the rock projectiles fell about 2,000 vertical feet before disappearing in crevasses or slowing to a stop on the surface of the ice.
As a warming climate shrinks the rivers of ice atop Mount Baker and other mountains around the world, it’s exposing rock faces and cliffs that haven’t seen daylight for millennia.
“The overhead hazard, from rockfall from the melting out of the ice completely to dirt on the upper mountain is INSANE,” McGill said. "It's been getting worse every year I've been here, but this year is just crazy.”
“They were gaining enough speed on the bare ice to bounce high in the air and clear the large crevasses at the base of the Roman Wall and continue down the Deming [Glacier],” said McGill, a mountain guide with Cascade Mountain Ascents in Bellingham, by email.
McGill said the rock projectiles fell about 2,000 vertical feet before disappearing in crevasses or slowing to a stop on the surface of the ice.
As a warming climate shrinks the rivers of ice atop Mount Baker and other mountains around the world, it’s exposing rock faces and cliffs that haven’t seen daylight for millennia.
“The overhead hazard, from rockfall from the melting out of the ice completely to dirt on the upper mountain is INSANE,” McGill said. "It's been getting worse every year I've been here, but this year is just crazy.”
Rocketing boulders, dwindling streams: signs of WA's shriveling glaciers
Posted from kuow.org
Climate Change
State of Washington
Mountain Climbing
Posted 8 mo ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“They were gaining enough speed on the bare ice to bounce high in the air and clear the large crevasses at the base of the Roman Wall and continue down the Deming [Glacier],” said McGill, a mountain guide with Cascade Mountain Ascents in Bellingham, by email.
McGill said the rock projectiles fell about 2,000 vertical feet before disappearing in crevasses or slowing to a stop on the surface of the ice.
As a warming climate shrinks the rivers of ice atop Mount Baker and other mountains around the world, it’s exposing rock faces and cliffs that haven’t seen daylight for millennia.
“The overhead hazard, from rockfall from the melting out of the ice completely to dirt on the upper mountain is INSANE,” McGill said. "It's been getting worse every year I've been here, but this year is just crazy.”
Cascade Mountain Ascents canceled all remaining climbs on that side of the mountain as a result of McGill’s scary experience in late July.
“No summit is worth your life,” McGill said. “I’ve summited Mount Baker 76 times from all sorts of ways and don’t feel the need to push it anymore late in the season.”
The changes are noticeable from the lowlands. Each summer since a record-smashing heat dome in 2021, Mount Baker has been living up to its Nooksack name Kweq’ Smánit (white mountain) less and less."...
..."“They were gaining enough speed on the bare ice to bounce high in the air and clear the large crevasses at the base of the Roman Wall and continue down the Deming [Glacier],” said McGill, a mountain guide with Cascade Mountain Ascents in Bellingham, by email.
McGill said the rock projectiles fell about 2,000 vertical feet before disappearing in crevasses or slowing to a stop on the surface of the ice.
As a warming climate shrinks the rivers of ice atop Mount Baker and other mountains around the world, it’s exposing rock faces and cliffs that haven’t seen daylight for millennia.
“The overhead hazard, from rockfall from the melting out of the ice completely to dirt on the upper mountain is INSANE,” McGill said. "It's been getting worse every year I've been here, but this year is just crazy.”
Cascade Mountain Ascents canceled all remaining climbs on that side of the mountain as a result of McGill’s scary experience in late July.
“No summit is worth your life,” McGill said. “I’ve summited Mount Baker 76 times from all sorts of ways and don’t feel the need to push it anymore late in the season.”
The changes are noticeable from the lowlands. Each summer since a record-smashing heat dome in 2021, Mount Baker has been living up to its Nooksack name Kweq’ Smánit (white mountain) less and less."...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
MSgt James Parker Talk about "Road Splatter" Having One of Those Boulders Hitting You!
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MSgt James Parker
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel we don't put that in a liberty safety brief and I'm sure the OOD doesn't talk about this.
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