The terrain of Nepal has changed a lot since George Mallory braved the slopes of Mount Everest back in the 1920s. Though the rugged terrain makes it difficult for scientists to collect the data they need to determine just how quickly it’s happening, there can be no question these icy rivers are disappearing, as demonstrated here by photographer David Breashears, who’s scaled mountains and delved into historical archives to present stark visual proofs of glacier retreat in the Himalayas.
At left, the Main Rongbuk Glacier and the north face of Mount Everest, photographed by Mallory in 1921. At right, the same landscape, photographed in 2007. Rongbuk has shrunk by an average of 330 feet in the interim. (Mallory photo courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.)
A close-up of the Main Rongbuk Glacier. Apart from the North and South polar regions, the Himalayas contain the largest concentration of glaciers on Earth.
At left, a 1921 photo of the West Rongbuk Glacier by Major E.O. Wheeler; at right, a photo of the same location in 2008. Himalayan glaciers lost an estimated 174 gigatonnes of water (nearly 400 trillion pounds) between 2003 and 2009.
Some of the remaining ice pinnacles on the Main Rongbuk Glacier, with a human (upper right) climber for scale.
Up at 17,000 feet above sea level, David Breashears holds Mallory’s 1921 photograph up to compare with the present. Rising temperatures and increased occurrences of intense rainstorms are thought to contribute to the glacier retreat, but another important factor that scientists are starting to investigate is black carbon. This pollution, which stems from diesel exhaust, wood and coal fires in South Asia, is made up of dark particles that can settle on the tops of snowy landscapes. Once blanketed with black carbon, a surface is darker and thus absorbs more heat, accelerating warming.
At left, Nepal’s Jannu Glacier, photographed in 1899 by Italian mountaineer Vittorio Sella; at right, Breashears’ photo from 2009. In a little more than a century, the frozen river-like glacier has almost entirely disappeared. (Sella photo courtesy of Sella Foundation.)
At top, Major Wheeler’s 1921 photo of the Kyetrak Glacier, located on the northern slope of the 26,906-foot-tall mountain Cho Oyu in Tibet. At bottom, a 2009 photo by Breashears. Glacier melt has created a new lake. The melting of glaciers, in the Himalayas and in the Hindu Kush and Karakoram regions, has already contributed to terrible floods and complicated south Asian governments’ plans for hydroelectric power generation. (Wheeler photo courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.)
The 1921 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Team, with Mallory at front left. Mallory died in 1924, along with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine, high on Mt. Everest’s north slopes.
All photos (unless otherwise noted) courtesy David Breashears.
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